An Oxford and District Society of Model and Experimental Engineers was in
existence in 1946, but seems to have lasted only a few more years. Several
of the names of its members appear again in the Witney and West Oxfordshire
Society of Model Engineers, which was founded in Witney in 1955, meeting at
the Technical College in Witney. The Society ran trains on a portable track at various
shows in the area, but was unable to find a local site for a permanent track. After
running regularly on the portable track in the grounds of Blenheim Palace from 1955,
negotiations for a permanent site were finally successful, and for some years the
Duke of Marlborough was the President of the Society.
Members of the Society built the track in Blenheim Park in only 6 months. Articles describing the
work appeared in the Model Engineer for May and June 1961. The operation involved
cutting 4000 oak sleepers and fixing the rails with 25,000 screws driven by hand
(no cordless screwdrivers in 1959), not to mention laying 250 feet of water pipe,
drainage, and two swing bridges.
Public running continued on summer weekends for 27 years, from 1960 to 1987. During the
storms of February 1974 a good many old trees, particularly elms, were blown
down in Blenheim Park. Three of these trees caused considerable damage to the
track, narrowly missing the station. The damage took several weeks to repair.
In April 1962 the Marchioness of Blandford and three of the Duke of Marlborough's
grandchildren were thrown off when a train stopped suddenly. Apart from a few
bruises nobody was hurt, and there seem to have been no hard feelings.
After rumblings for some years, in the summer of 1987 the Blenheim Estate
required the Society to operate trains
seven days a week during the tourist season. The members of the Society could not
undertake this commitment, so the track had to move; the last trains ran at Blenheim
on 6th September 1987, and the dismantling of the track started on the following day.
Plans for a new site in Cutteslowe Park had already been drawn up by May 1987, and a lease
on the site was arranged with Oxford City Council. The new track was ready for
Easter 1988; press reports of the Opening Ceremony refer to the WWOSME, but about
this time the society changed its name to the City of Oxford Society of Model
Engineers. In spite of the new name it is still the same Society, and in 2005
it has been celebrating its 50th anniversary. Two more landmarks were
reached in 2005: for the first time the Railway carried 20,000 passengers in
one year, and also it carried its 250,000th passenger.
(
for details )
The Cutteslowe Park railway has now been running for 18 years
on the first and third Sundays in each of the summer months. The Dreaming Spires
Rally is held each year in July. A special Charity steaming day was held
each year up to 2005.
