The Butlin's Miniature Railway Story
At one time or another seven of the Butlin's camps were home to passenger-carrying miniature railways, only Barry and Mosney being the odd ones out. Most of these lines were simple amusement rides, offering short trips around the camp grounds. The line at Filey criss-crossed the boating lake, the line at Ayr ran beside the beach and the line at Clacton gained fame for appearing in the credits of the BBC sitcom 'Hi-de-Hi'. The exception was at Pwllheli, where the line fulfilled a genuine transport need by running some 3/4 of a mile from the centre of the camp to the beach. Some of these lines remained pretty much the same for their entire lives, but others saw various changes, notably the Minehead railway which operated on three totally different sites within the camp. The locomotives used on each line were also subject to change and were often swapped around between the different sites.
