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UPDATED JANUARY 2010
Details of these service charities are given at the foot of this page.
Help For Hero's ;-'We believe that anyone who volunteers to serve in times of war, knowing that they may risk all, is a hero. These are ordinary people doing extraordinary things and some of them are living with the consequences of their service for life.'
This website is dedicated by a 100% War Veteran & Pensioner injured at 18 years of age to those service men & women killed in service to the United Kingdom, and as an inspiration not to give in, to those many like me who by the grace of God,'survived' when my 'oppo's' with me did not...We hope our achievement in creating the 'Sanday Light Railway' against all the odds, as displayed on this site, sharing what we created giving pleasure to others from all walks of life, from all over the world and supporting the RNLI and a school in Africa,inspires those forgotten, 'aged' veterans who return to also live their lives with pride, as equals in our society.... Least the United Kingdom forgets, we boys it sends to war for the rights of all to live in a civilized world without fear of persecution abuse or discrimination...That our country does not on our return discriminate or label us or deny us the right of all to live and work in our own society with equal dignity and respect regardless of physical or mental scars. We veterans so young who return aged war pensioners beyond our years... Society has no excuse for ignorance in the way it treats us without fear of persecution by UK authorities or denial of medical care in discrimination for those very same reasons we boys were first sent to war to defend others in 'Foreign fields'....In memory and respect of the fallen and the many returned...
We have a son -in -law serving in Afghanistan at this time and daughter due to go December 2009. (Both also served in Iraq.) Our other eldest daughter, a mother with two children, just completing a parachute jump from 13,000ft in aid of service charities stated on this site.Donations to Service Charities links welcome...
SANDAY LIGHT RAILWAY. ( R.I.P.) SANDAY ISLAND, ORKNEY ISLANDS, SCOTLAND,KW17 2BA.
THE U.K'S MOST NORTHERLY PASSENGER CARRYING RAILWAY.
( LAST UPDATE:-January 2010.)
(C) COPYRIGHT.All Photos, drawings & text Copyright Sanday Light Railway 1999-2010
This website replaces the original Sanday Light Railway Website created in 2001. ( Updated between 2005-2008.) Visitor hits to our site totals over 40,000 between 2001-2009 and is carried over to this new website from numbers logged to those displayed on this page.
THE SHAMEFUL PERSECUTION BY THE ORKNEY ISLAND LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT AND ITS LEGAL SYSTEM denied any 'Meaningful Access to Justice in Scotland', is listed before and remains pending in 2010 that of a full hearing before the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg. (Ridley V the United Kingdom/ Case no 31786/08) All facts here that we have been subject to, over three years, the shocking and wretched suffering and persecution by both the Orkney Island authorities and the Scottish Government, its courts and in final humiliation, forced from our beloved home in Scotland into sheltered accomadation in England with enforced bankruptcy as a direct result of those atrocities documented on this site is now before the European Court in full documented and cronological appendixed evidence. ( In excess of 1,100 documented pages.)
We remain today at the start of a new year, with no less resolve and a profound faith that justice will be done in Europe, where it has failed, shamefully, within our own country and Scotland. We now look forward in 2010, belatedly, however long it may take, to the ECOHR for ruling on all documented human rights abuses, and redress against the United Kingdom and the Scottish Government and Local Authorities responsible, for those multiple documented abuses under European Law. We pray in that ruling, all we suffered with our family, will never again happen in the Orkney Islands, or indeed in any 'Civilized' democratic and a free society..
Let the European Courts now decide....
January 2010
Sanday Light Railway. No. 1. on the map the first and last welcome to the island.Somewhere to come on those often inclement days and 'watch the trains go by'..A warm welcome to Sanday was always assured.. ( Larger map in our 'Gallery'. )
We were and remain today, the only 'Visit Scotland' 'Visit Orkney'family tourist attraction on Sanday,with especially built EEC standard toilets facilities for disabled visitors, somewhere to go rain or shine, now lost forever through shameful politics and persecution by those local authorities involved.(See Guestbook Archive for some of our visitor comments over the years.)
(C) Copyright. From Humble beginnings to this in seven years.(Grand reopening,Aug 11th 2006.)
This site is currently being added to on a daily basis in answer to the many supporters who continue to contact us.( January 2010.) All information given and events described are stated under the Freedom of Information Act 2005. (Scotland Act 2002.) and under those Articles of European Law pending ECOHR Case No. 31786/08, under Article 2. Article 3.Article 6,Article 8, Article 9, Article 10, Article 11. Article 13 & Article 14 .& Protocol One,Article One, ( In detail listed ECOHR page.)
(C) Copyright.Full trains with islanders and tourists were a regular site even before the late summer of 2006.
Full history, stunning photographs and a cherished taste of what was, is shared on this site with humour on the 'History' page,(Updated 8th January 2010.) and in movie rides behind steam locomotives on this unique line, now gone forever.Additional material is being added with an overview of the railways development, existence and its sad loss with the documented facts to those thousands of tourists ( Recorded in tickets given & visitors books retained.) who came to Sanday over the years, to the remote island that was our home & following the wonderful 'Official' re opening of SLR from humble beginnings by Master of The Queens Music Sir Peter Maxwell Davies in August 2006...
(C) Copyright
Our new 'Brief Encounters Tearooms 11th August 2006, the day before the wretched storm which would be the begining of the end.
Throughout its existence, Sanday Light Railway shared its charm and appeal with over 26,000 visitors from all over the world.No monetary charge was ever made for rides on our trains with all donations going to our two charities:- Minga School in Malawi Africa, & the RNLI. We complied with HSE guidelines for the Safe Operation of Miniature Railways and all Orkney Islands Council planning conditions and requirements up to the significant investment of our tearooms, B&B, & A la Cart restaurant.
VISIT SCOTLAND VISIT ORKNEY 2007. /SILVER SERVICE A LA CARTE ON SANDAY.(C)
WHERE TO EAT.SANDAY LIGHT RAILWAY. NOTE NO BEAMS FITTED.
HOW CAN ORKNEY ENTERPRISE/ HIE EVER SAY, WE DID NOT FULLFILL OUR CONTRACT? (SEE ECOHR PAGE.) WE WORKED SO HARD TO ACHIEVE THIS STANDARD FOR OUR ISLAND AND THE PEOPLE OF ORKNEY TAKEN AWAY SO SOON AFTER COMPLETION IN OUR TRUST OF THE BUILDERS, COUNCIL PLANNING & CONTROL, AND ALL WE SACRIFICED IN OUR COMMITMENT AND RESPECT OF THE ISLANDS..
Briefly our tea rooms for those cherished few months, giving the island a high quality 'Family' all weather attraction, tearooms, & freshly sourced in an 'isolated' location Pullman standard,silver service menu,( See archive.) and a hard earned wonderful extension to the railway.
Indeed the Orkney Islands Council and Orkney Enterprise, both providing grants in 2002 & 2005/6 to develop our railway and tearooms for much needed tourism to our remote island 2 hours north of the Orkney mainland.
(C) SLR. High quality track & stock and increbile island views.
It was therefore a cruel irony, first in us being defrauded of precious rolling stock through the society we were proud to be a part of so far north the Seven & Quarter Inch Gauge Society 
( See stolen page.) and that significantly inflicted by both the Orkney Islands Council, and shockingly Orkney Health Board, & Highlands & Islands Enterprise, HIE/Orkney Enterprise. ( Ref ECHR page.) in the courts after all we achieved for the Orkney Islands. The railway complying with all legal requirements over 9 years and with multiple worldwide media interest and visitors coming to mainland Orkney and crucially supporting our fragile island economy over the years in action taken by the authorities, in persecution as a direct result of our duty & Human Rights stance for an island resident.
Promoting the Orkney Islands. Sir Peter with Sanday Light Railway August 2006 during filming Grampian Televison & Article for 'The Times' newspaper.(Following a story 'Do the Locomotion with Charlie' in 'The Scotsman' by journalist Julia Wellstead 'Island life') Both stories were at the time reported by local press. No conditions then placed on railway by OIC. We having passed and complied fully with a second planning application Nov.2005. See ECOHR Page.) (C)
Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977. CHARLIE RIDLEY, Appointed Resident Registrar by the GENERAL REGISTRARS OFFICE, EDINBURGH, For the Orkney Islands district of SANDAY./ NO Restrictions in performing that legal responsibility.( Original Sent to Buckingham Palace on resignation OIC having demanded it to be placed in safe on collection.Issued by GRO & not OIC.) NOTE DATE:- 16th NOVEMBER 2006 BEFORE OIC U TURN. Full Size in Gallery & ECOHR Pages.
Sanday Light Railway remains marked on HMSO Land Ranger Maps.No.5 Northern Isles/Sanday/Miniature Railway. ( Burness / 2 miles north Loth Ro Ro Ferry Terminal. As a lasting epitaph.) 
No accidents or injuries ever occurred on the railway or our property and we maintained a 100% safety record with no claims ever made carrying over nine years in excess of 26,000 passengers..We remain today, proud of that achievement
It is ironic still today at Loth pier on Sanday, having left the ferry from mainland Orkney, visitors still ask to be taken to, or for directions to the 'Sanday Light Railway'. It is also for us heart breaking and a terrible loss still three years on to the island...
(C)'Northern Lights Station (For Tearooms.) before double platform extension to take the volume of passeners was added autumn 2006. Vicotria simmers outside the new Sanday Central signalbox waiting for its sign to be fitted. (The finials on all our signals were made on the island by an Orcadian gentleman on his wood turning lathe..They were each different and wonderful additions to the overal 'Look' of the railway.
This site is therefore to answer those many ongoing queries from all parts of the world about our railway and to serve as a reminder of a terrible persecution within our own society, through 'Conflict of authority interests' in Orkney, that has caused total loss,and a profound miscarriage of Justice in Scotland and perjury by a Sherrif against those who,'Least they forget', served our country and its people with pride, for the rights of all, to live and work in a society without fear of persecution, intimidation or victimization.....
'Driver Josh' with children from Malawi & the Sanday Headmistresses son.(See SLR Malawi Africa page.) (C) Copyright SLR 1999-2010.
They were all special days for us we will always cherish. This site is therefore a small part as the documented factual record to answer those many queries we continue to receive ( Including those from our 7 1/4''society friends.) to our email address from all over the world. Especially from and in information to the people of Orkney under the Freedom of Information Act 2000-2005 / Public Sectors / Local Authorities & Employee's and of the creation, achievements, sacrifice and the sad loss of the Sanday Light Railway.....
GRAMPIAN TELEVISON (David Hartley/Ken the camera.) FILMING AT SLR MAY 2002 AND FOR A SECOND TIME FILMING AT SANDAY LIGHT RAILWAY AUGUST 2006 for 'North Today' PROMOTING THE WONDERFUL ORKNEY ISLANDS & SANDAY IN TOURISM AND SUPPORTING THE FRAGILE NORTHERN ISLES ECONOMY WITH PRIDE. (C) Copyright SLR
Waiting to depart 'Brief Encounters to Sanday Central.(The island of Eday lies in the background.) (C) SLR
'I have a dream' ... I swear that on some days even now three years on, living in enforced accommodation three hundred miles from our beloved home on Sanday,when the wind is from the west,that I can hear the seals calling on the rocks in Lashey Sound between us and the Calf of Eday at low tide.... As I work on the railway in therapy still healing after all these years from the horrors of war,Oyster Catchers,Curlews & Skylarks call above my head on the wing and in the fields around me..Migrating whales in the sound, erupting plumes of spray as they come up for air, distract me from my labour and remind me summer is once again here...and Mother Nature in the Orkney islands,truly reigns supreme.....
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Then if I close my eyes,.. I can hear the laughter of the children and see the faces of so many visitors who came to our home,that haunt me joyfully still...A trains whistle sounds, carried on the wind, as loco 'Molly' leaves 'Sanday Central' Station and the car park with another train full of visitors, thrilled to have discovered such a 'Magical whimsical nostalgic gem tucked away in the remotest Orkney islands'.( See sample of 'Guest Book' comments this site.)
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As the train comes through the tunnel and approaches Northern Lights Station, driver Josh gives me the token... Looking at our passengers who see our tearooms for the first time,a peace I never knew in uniform washes over me.... I knew then, from the ruins of a tumbledown croft and an awareness of how precious life is, that we had truly created something so very special, to share with visitors from around the world, and the Orcadian people we have come to love and respect, on an island a world away from the tragedy of wars... Somewhere magical,we thought beyond persecution,that we were proud to call our home..... 
R.I.P. SLR January 2010.
( Last steam train January 2007.)
(C) COPYRIGHT.All Photos, drawings & text Copyright Sanday Light Railway 1999-2009
Thank you for visiting Sanday Light Railway.
For the story & history of the railways creation, the laughter, the pain, and the pleasure, we shared with so many, please view our 'History' 'The story of SLR', page with many unseen photos. *More photos also to follow in our 'Gallery'.
*SANDAY LIGHT RAILWAY STILL HAS AT THIS DATE, OCTOBER 2009, A LOSS OF STOCK WORTH IN EXCESS OF
£30.000.00. THOSE ITEMS ARE LISTED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS ON THE STOLEN PAGE. ANY INFORMATION OF THE WHEREABOUTS OF THOSE GOODS PENDING REDRESS WOULD BE GRATEFULLY RECEIVED, IN CONFIDENCE, TO THE CONTACT PAGE & EMAIL ADDRESS ON THIS SITE.
No photos may be copied from this site without our written permission. All photo's images & text
(C) Copyright Sanday Light Railway 1999-2010.
Sanday Light Railway were proud members of:- 
MEMBERS OF:- ORKNEY TOURIST BOARD 2005/2006/2007. VISIT SCOTLAND 2006/07. VISIT ORKNEY 2006/07. PLACES TO VISIT NORTHERN ISLES. SANDAY LIGHT RAILWAY./ EATING OUT NORTHERN ISLES. SANDAY. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS TEAROOMS & SANDAY LIGHT RAILWAY A LA CARTE. / WHERE TO STAY B&B SANDAY.
www.britishlegion.org.uk www.helpforheroes.org.uk www.ssafa.org.uk www.blesma.org www.rmashoebox.com (Royal Marines ShoeBox Appeal.)