Fawley Museum
Welcome to the Fawley Museum website.
Fawley Museum is a private museum established in the 1960s by the late Sir William McAlpine at his estate near Henley on Thames. It hosts a fine collection of memorabilia and models relating to railways and other forms of transport together with a working standard gauge railway operating on the steepest gradient in the country.
Since its inception, the railway and museum have grown steadily with artefacts and buildings arriving from locations all around the the country. Many buildings have been rescued and reassembled at Fawley Hill to save them from demolition, creating a unique urban landscape in a country estate. More detail of this can be found at our History of the Railway page.
The museum includes a wide range of interesting and unusual transport artefacts which will appeal to visitors of all ages. The park contains a variety of animals including rheas, peacocks, wallabies and many species of deer.
The museum and railway are open on a limited number of days during the year and admission is only by prior application and invitation. Capacity is limited and tickets are not available on the day. For more information, please visit our Events page.
Fawley Museum is run and staffed entirely by a group of friendly volunteers who undertake almost all of the necessary maintenance tasks associated with a working railway. If you would like to join our team and contribute to the day-to-day operation of the museum in a highly sociable environment, further information can be found on our Volunteering page. We have a need for a variety of skills so you don't have to be an expert on railways.
January Update;
Firstly, a Happy New Year to all our web-site visitors. We are looking forward to a sparkling year in 2026.
Replacement of the track between the signal box and Somersham station has progressed well despite heavy rain creating a paddling pool where the old track was dug out. A photo diary of the work can be found on the Images of Fawley page and this will be updated as the works progress. Our deadline for completion is the end of March in time for our Volunteers Training Day.
Our resident steam loco, No.31, continues her 10-year refurbishment at Didcot Railway Centre. Following the successful hydraulic test carried out prior to Christmas, No 31 has now raised steam. (Click the video clip to see for yourself). This is a real milestone.
Formal sign-off by the insurance inspector is expected shortly following which, reassembly will be carried out. We are looking forward to seeing No 31 being run in at Didcot prior to her coming home to Fawley.
We are already receiving a lot of enquiries and bookings for our programme of events for next year. We will be hosting the same number of Invitation Days (seven) as 2025, and we have started contacting applicants with the available dates. If you are not yet on our mailing list and would like tickets, please contact us through the e-mail address on our Events page or by using the contact form at the bottom of the page.
If you would like to join us a volunteer, we would love to hear from you. There is a wide range of activities open to newcomers, both on the railway and in the Museum, and rail-related experience is not necessary (but it is welcome). Please contact us through the e-mail address on our Volunteering page or by using the contact form at the bottom of the page.
Wishing you all a peaceful, healthy and happy 2026, and we look forward to seeing you at Fawley soon.
Our enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers look forward to welcoming you to Fawley Museum soon.
Details about the Fawley Hill Estate can be found at www.fawleyhill.co.uk
We hope that you enjoy browsing the pages of the web-site. If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch using the contact form at the bottom of each web-page.
