Photos:
Tony Lyster - Narrow Gauge Wagon Turntables in store (both)

One of these identical turntables came from the car park of the local paper, The Bucks Herald, in Aylesbury in February 2006 when the area was being developed as the Waterside Theatre. Originally there had been a timber yard here, and it was next to the canal which extended further than it does now. The other wagon turntable came from Watlington, Oxfordshire, 20 miles away, where again the site was being redeveloped for housing. Watlington is at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, renowned for its beech trees and chair making and originally there had been a timber mill here. Despite overtures we had been refused this turntable, but when the Aylesbury turntables recovery was reported in the Bucks Herald, QRS were offered one of the two they had found - Quainton got the incomplete one, whilst the other was kept as garden furniture.

These turntables revolve on grease filled steel spheres held apart by a frame in their own "cup". Both turntables were cast in Leeds and are typical of the light railways used in the First World War to supply the trenches. We acquired a little track from Aylesbury and all parts are due to be assembled as a single static display of industrial archaeology.

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