The WLR is a small estate railway inspired by the minimum gauge railways built by Sir Arthur Heywood at Duffield Bank and Eaton Hall, as well as the minimum and narrow gauge lines that served many quarries, mines, factories, peat works, sewage works and farms around the UK and elsewhere.
The WLR is built to a gauge of 10 1/4 inches, and currently has a single wagon, with a new locomotive under construction in the workshops.
The WLR also operates a temporary timber railway on an adjacent site when required.