light railway

English

Noun

light railway (plural light railways)

1. (rail transport, UK) A railway built at lower cost, with lighter track and to a lower standard than a main-line railway.
   • 1939 June, “Pertinent Paragraphs: The Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 459:

     Under a Light Railway Order of 1904, the line was extended to Appledore, and opened thence on May 1, 1908, bringing the route length up to a fraction over 7 miles. The whole system was worked under this Order as a light railway, but this caused some friction with the local authorities when, under the authority of the Board of Trade, the gates were removed at five level crossings in May, 1905.

   • 1948 September and October, G. E. C. Webb, “By Light Railway to Fawley”, in Railway Magazine, page 307:

     Although the line is officially a light railway, it is of standard gauge, and the traffic, particularly during and since the war years, is anything but light.

See also

• light rail

Further reading

• Light Railways Act 1896 on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “light railway”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.