William Henry Austen (8 May 1878 – 26 February 1956) was a British railway engineer who took over the running of Colonel Stephens'

light railways A light railway is a Rail transport, railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and may have more Grade (slope), steep gradients and Minimum railway curve radius, tight curves to ...

on the latter's death in 1931 until his own retirement in 1948, by which time the lines had either closed due to competition from

motor bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

and

lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructio ...

, or became part of

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

External links

* http://www.hfstephens-museum.org.uk/pages/himself.htm 1878 births 1956 deaths British people in rail transport {{rail-bio-stub