Pensioners Treat Kent & East Sussex Railway Tenterden

Selected dates in May, July and September 2017 

Pensioners Treat, an opportunity for those aged 60 & over to travel at specially discounted fares. Travel by steam train through the picturesque countryside with the Kent & East Sussex Railway and if you are aged 60 or over take advantage of the special price of £13. Travel Card which allows all day travel. Adult Travel Cards are normally £18.

Everyone travelling on the railway can enjoy a relaxing steam train ride in beautifully restored carriages as the train takes passengers on a 21 mile return journey through Tenterden, Northiam and Bodiam stations. The return journey from Tenterden to Bodiam takes around 1 hour 45 minutes.

Visitors can choose to pre-order a delicious cream tea or ploughman’s lunch to enjoy during the trip and if grandchildren come along there is a children’s munch box option available. There will also be a warm welcome for visitors choosing to dine in the railway’s licensed restaurant at Tenterden station where you will find a choice of daily specials and a children’s menu.
 

Tenterden station is a short walk from the idyllic high street in Tenterden with its beautiful Georgian and Victorian buildings which is home to attractive boutiques, quaint antique shops and attractive cafes and restaurants.

At Bodiam station passengers can choose to take the short walk to Bodiam Castle and explore the romantic ruins, moat and impressive ramparts with their breathtaking views across the surrounding countryside.

For those who love to picnic, the railway offers an alfresco lunch option and pre-ordered picnic hamper can be ready to collect when you arrive at Tenterden station complete with napkins, cutlery and condiments.

The railway’s facilities have been carefully designed with disabled, elderly and less mobile visitors in mind. There are parking spaces for Blue Badge holders next to the platform at Tenterden Town and Northiam stations, and accessible toilets at Tenterden, Northiam and Bodiam stations. The railway has a specially designed coach for wheelchair users called ‘Petros’ which is fitted with ramped access, wide aisles, an accessible toilet and moveable seating. There is full wheelchair access to the shop and restaurant at Tenterden Town, and the Colonel Stephens Railway Museum has level access with 42” space aisles.

When at Tenterden Station why not visit the Colonel Stephens Railway Museum? Colonel Holman Fred Stephens was an English eccentric, a brilliant railway engineer, and the man who built the Kent & East Sussex Railway (and amazingly 16 other light railways). His legacy is commemorated in the award-winning museum next to Tenterden Town Station. Open every afternoon when trains are running and entry is FREE with your ticket

Well-behaved dogs on leads can travel on the railway for £3 on normal operating days (excluding Day Out With Thomas and Santa Special event days).
to book follow the link below to the Kent And East Sussex website
https://goo.gl/uHHP7h 

Dates for May

Thursday, 4 May 201710:30 AM  -Tuesday, 9 May 201710:30 AM  -Wednesday, 10 May 201710:30 AM  -Thursday, 11 May 201710:30 AM  -Tuesday, 16 May 201710:30 AM  -Wednesday, 17 May 201710:30 AM  -Thursday, 18 May 201710:30 AM  -Wednesday, 24 May 201710:30 AM  -Thursday, 25 May 201710:30 AM  -

VISITING ENGINE - 7822 FOXCOTE MANOR outings this weekend on the Kent and East Sussex RAILWAY

VISITING ENGINE - 7822 FOXCOTE MANOR DATES FOR THE KENT AND EAST SUSSEX REVEALED

Saturday 6th May - Green Service  Departures from Tenterden:  10:40, 13:15, 15:35

Sunday 7th May - Green Service  Departures from Tenterden:  10:30, 13:15, 15:35

Saturday 13th May - Green Service  Departures from Tenterden:  10:40, 13:15, 15:35

Sunday 14th May Manors in Miniature at Bodiam - Red Service  Departures from Tenterden:  11:45, 14:20

Saturday 20th May 1940s weekend - Gold Service  Departures from Tenterden:  11:30, 13:45, 16:00

Sunday 21st May 1940s weekend - Gold Service  Departures from Tenterden:  11:30, 13:45, 16:00

Saturday 27th May - Red Service  Departures from Tenterden: 10:40, 13:15, 15:35

Sunday 28th May - Red Service  Departures from Tenterden: 10:40, 13:15, 15:35

Monday 29th May - Made In Swindon - Gold Service Departures from Tenterden:  11:30, 13:45, 16:00

DISCLAIMER - Every effort will be made to provide the advertised services but unforseen circumstances may entail alterations and cancellations at short notice.

THE LOCOMOTIVES IN TEST FOR THREE DAYS 

No. 19 Norwegian NORWEGIAN STATE RAILWAY 21C CLASS 2-6-0 TENDER LOCOMOT...

Kent and East Sussex Railway magnettes and Steam day . Some lovely MG with the GWR PANNIER at Tenterden

Magnettes & Steam
Saturday 15 April 2017 at Kent and East Sussex Railway

For more than 20 years 'Magnettes and Steam' has been the traditional start to the MG Magnette events season. Vehicles were on display throughout the day at Tenterden Town Station

And there' was opportunity to talk with owners of these popular 1950's sports saloons. Entry was free to K&ESR ticket holders

here a video of the day

Booking.com

Kent and East Sussex Railway April 2nd service with the DMMU And GWR Pannier 1638

The first weekend in April on the Kent and East Sussex Railway 

Trains running 

The GWR pannier 1638 

DMMU 

Pictures from the station and at level crossing 

Plus on the morghew park estate 

Thanks for watching 

Tony B

DMMU Rolvenden

Also the amazing lego exhibition at Tenterden Station

Forgotten relics of the Rother Valley Railway

https://framemeplease19.wixsite.com/trackbedwalker

 Its easy to take for granted the awesome endeavors of 19th Century railway pioneers which thread us through, around or over the nation's natural barriers. It was an age of speculative adventure, built on innovation, will power and elbow grease.

But many magnificent creations were abandoned during the industrial vandalism of the Fifties and Sixties.

today armed with my go pro

and my cannon

we capture these forgotten,abandoned and disused relics

https://framemeplease19.wixsite.com/trackbedwalker

https://framemeplease19.wixsite.com/trackbedwalker

https://framemeplease19.wixsite.com/trackbedwalker

    

Kent and East Sussex Railway and Rother Valley Railway Extension to Udiam Farm from Bodiam . Watch from the start to March 2017

The Rother Valley Railway, a preservation group set up in 1991

And  by March 2009 they had laid track from Bodiam to within 200 yards (180 m) of the site of Junction Road Halt at a cost of £200,000.

Track was relaid through the site of the halt in June 2010.
On 18 March 2011, a VIP dining special was the first passenger train to traverse the rebuilt line.
The following weekend of 19/20 March saw Kent and East Sussex Railway services run as far as Junction Road

Now planning is agree , take a look at the next stages 

Booking.com

Derelict carriages on the Kent & East Sussex Railway

Derelict carriages on the Kent & East Sussex Railway

One of the endearing features of most preserved railways is the various coaches and wagons to be seen from the train, not always at a station. Inevitably they are in various states of repair. These ones have some way to go.

This view is from a Tenterden-bound train on the Kent & East Sussex Railway, and these coaches are at the side of the line at Northiam.

Why not take a trip through the country 

GWR LOCOMOTIVE 0-6-2T NO: 5668 on the Kent and East Sussex Railway

This locomotive, was built at Swindon in 1926 and spent its working life in and around  Cardiff Valley hauling both freight and passenger trains.  Like many others, 5668 ended up sold to Woodham’s  scrap yard at Barry in November 1964 as steam was phased out in favour of diesel.  It languished there, slowly losing parts, until rescued  and moved to the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway in 1987.  A very similar story to that of GWR 4253.

Towards the end of 2012
The kent and East Sussex Railway offered this locomotive as part of a package deal involving a substantial quantity of parts that were required to progress the restoration of 4253.

The agreement was that The 4253 Locomotive Company Limited would undertake the restoration of 5668 but that no work would commence until such time as 4253 had been completed and returned to steam.

At the 2013 AGM, shareholders voted in favour of proceeding with the deal and suggested an appeal be launched to raise funds to pay for the transportation of the loco from Blaenavon to Rolvenden.  In excess of £2.6k was raised and, in late 2013, 5668 was moved to its new home.

Although no restoration work will begin for some years, it is important that the loco does not deteriorate
5668 was moved to Rolvenden yard where it was cleaned up and greased as necessary to provide some protection.
 It has now been carefully sheeted and returned to Wittersham Road siding for storage to await its turn to be bought back to life.

As a result of this deal our railway, the Kent & East Sussex, will be assured that yet another powerful steam locomotive will be added to its fleet in due course to haul passenger trains on the extended line from Tenterden to Robertsbridge

Ford Bth

In 1931 the Ford Motor Company ordered from the British Thompson Houston Company (BTH) three diesel-electric shunting locomotives for use at their new car plant at Dagenham in Essex. They were intended for hauling hot metal and slag ladles and to carry out general shunting operations between the Company's jetty on the River Thames and the Tilbury main line, a distance of about one mile. Since they were required to work across the main line to the Company's sidings on the north side, they were built to the LMS loading gauge. These locomotives owed something to an American ‘switcher' design which first appeared on the Central Railroad of New Jersey in 1925 and which were used at Fords American plant.

At the time of building they were

unique in Britain and created considerable interest at home and abroad. Locomotive frames and bodies, of all steel construction, were produced at the Sheffield works of the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co. Ltd. The engines, manufactured by W. H. Allen Sons & Co. Ltd of Bedford, were supplied to the BTH works at Rugby. The original specifications noted that the locomotives would have a weight of 44 tons and be provided with one 150 hp engine, coupled to a generator powering four traction motors, one to each axle. American fixed-pattern buckeye couplers were fitted. The locomotives were also fitted with sanding equipment, automatic bell, air whistles and a ‘dead-man's' handle to the driver's master controller. Driving cabs were provided at each end with an open platform for the shunter to ride on in safety. Finally, the specification stated "all materials will be of British manufacture..." Upon completion in 1932 the locomotives were turned out with Oxford blue bodies, gold lining round battery box covers and windows, dark grey roofs and black platforms, underframes and bogies.

https://framemeplease19.wixsite.com/trackbedwalker

The locomotives worked for 34 years at Dagenham, during which time each one is estimated to have run well in excess of 250,000 hours. Maintenance staff expected them to run without any major failures between annual overhauls. Just after world war 2 the diesel power units were stripped down, for the only time, for rebuild and it was found that less than 0.005 inches had to be removed from the crankshaft journals to restore them to true.

Ford No. 1 was acquired for the K&ESR in 1966 through the generosity of AEI Ltd (successors to BTH) but fitted with the engine from No. 2 which had been previously been cannibalised for spares. Arrival at Tenterden was on 7th July 1966, the locomotive being in green livery and having still been in use by Ford just two days previously.

After arrival, the buckeye couplings were replaced with screw couplings. In 1967 No. 40 (at first numbered 16) earned its keep on hire to work the mill siding at Robertsbridge. In February 1972 it hauled the last train from Robertsbridge to Bodiam prior to the dismantling of that section.

From 1976 the locomotive was the subject of an exhaustive rebuilding. Much of the bodywork was replaced, the generator completely overhauled by a contractor and all electrical components renovated or replaced. A vacuum exhauster was installed and the existing air brake pipework either replaced or adapted to allow the locomotive air brake to work in conjunction with the train vacuum brake. The fan and the cooling radiator were also overhauled. Refurbishment of the bogies and traction motors together with re-profiling of the wheel sets, was completed in 1983.

No. 40 was re-commissioned during 1986. It saw occasional service on passenger trains between Wittersham Road and Hexden bridge during times of high fire risk, but more usually worked permanent way works trains or as yard pilot at Tenterden. It was now again turned out in the Oxford blue livery also appropriate for the K&ESR. Following derailment during work on the extension to Northiam, suspicion fell on the locomotive's springing. No. 40 was accordingly laid aside during 1989. It was returned to operating condition in 2000 but is only used on special occasions because of its great age & operational limitation.

https://framemeplease19.wixsite.com/trackbedwalker

The Planning Permission for the reinstatement of the railway line from Robertsbridge to Bodiam HAS BEEN APPROVED! "WOW"

GREAT NEWS

Well done all involved

But there is a lot of hard work a head still ? after walking the old trackbeds recently

im sure the restoration work donewill be first class . just looking at the work done between Bodiam and Udiam Farm

and then we can all look forward

Rother Valley Railway Extension to Udiam Farm from Bodiam

Rother Valley Railway Extension to Udiam Farm from Bodiam granted planning permission

Kent and East Sussex Railway and Rother Valley Railway Extension to Udiam Farm from Bodiam

Kent and East Sussex Railway and Rother Valley Railway Extension to Udiam Farm from Bodiam

The Rother Valley Railway, a preservation group set up in 1991, had by March 2009 laid track from Bodiam to within 200 yards (180 m) of the site of Junction Road Halt at a cost of £200,000.

Track was relaid through the site of the halt in June 2010.

On 18 March 2011, a VIP dining special was the first passenger train to traverse the rebuilt line.

The following weekend of 19/20 March saw Kent and East Sussex Railway services run as far as Junction Road

U.SA Tank of the Kent and East Sussex Railway No. 65 ,DS 237 No. 22. climbing Tenterden bank

Built for the United States Army Corps of Engineers as No 1968, and sent to the UK under Lend-Lease. Stored at Newbury Racecourse. One of fourteen purchased by the Southern Railway and sent to the Melbourne Military Railway for running in. Entered service with the Southern Railway in November 1947 as USA Class number 65. Renumbered 30065 by British Railways. Worked at Southampton Docks. Withdrawn, and entered Departmental service as DS237 at Ashford Wagon Works. Withdrawn in April 1967 and sold to Woodham Brothers, Barry, Wales in March 1968. Developed a hot box en route and dumped at Tonbridge. Sold to K&ESR in August 1968 and delivered the next month. arriving at Rolvenden a month later became  DS 237 No. 22.

No. 22 was the first large locomotive in service in 1974, proving itself very capable of hauling five coach trains up Tenterden bank. She was fitted with an extended bunker and a improved lubrication to overcome its bearing problems. In 1978 it exchanged boilers with No. 21 and after overhaul re-entered service in April 1981 in black livery lined out in red. Various mechanical problems occurred and were overcome before the boiler certificate again expired and the locomotive was taken out of traffic at the end of the 1990 season. Another extensive overhaul followed, the locomotive re-entering service as Southern Railway No. 65 in the summer of 1997. Its original post-war livery of black with sunshine lettering was now carried. However by 2002 a new firebox was required. This was fitted and a further overhaul undertaken the engine returning to service in 2008. has been  withdraw service on 1st January 2017 when its boiler certificate expired 

Kent and East Sussex Railway and Rother Valley Railway Extension to Udiam Farm from Bodiam

The Rother Valley Railway, a preservation group set up in 1991

had by March 2009 laid track from Bodiam to within 200 yards (180 m) of the site of Junction Road Halt at a cost of £200,000
.

Track was relaid through the site of the halt in June 2010.
 On 18 March 2011, a VIP dining special was the first passenger train to traverse the rebuilt line.
The following weekend of 19/20 March saw Kent and East Sussex Railway services run as far as Junction Road

The Colonel Terriers . Kent & East Sussex Railway (Rother Valley Railway)

The K&ESR owned two Terriers, the first bought in May 1901 and the second in February 1905, becoming No.3 “Bodiam” and No.5 “Rolvenden” respectively. Both were from the initial batch of six engines, four of which eventually came to Stephens’ railways. “Rolvenden”, the former LB&SCR No.71, had the honour of being the first Terrier built. “Bodiam”, although having the first number of the batch as LB&SCR No.70, was actually the last, having bequeathed her cylinders to 71, when a faulty casting had delayed her introduction into service (strange how these sisters were twinned from birth).

from the framemeplease collection

Both engines were painted in Stephens’ favourite blue livery with red lining, but without a polished dome. With regular overhauls, including that of “Bodiam” at Eastleigh in 1919 and “Rolvenden” at Brighton in 1917, they gave excellent service until the depression years.

from the framemeplease collection

 They were alike as two peas for much of their lives together even to the near simultaneous acquisition of three rail coal bunker extensions (the LB&SCR extensions had four); the only difference being a long-strapped A1X type door carried by “Rolvenden”, probably acquired at Brighton. Although the two Ilfracombe Goods engines acquired in 1910 and 1914 became the favoured engines, the Terriers were the mainstay of the line in the Edwardian era, and much used thereafter.

Both engines seem to have received their last partial re-tube in late 1928, with “Bodiam” falling into disuse around the time of the railway’s receivership in 1931. (There is photographic evidence of her apparently in steam questionably dated as 12th September in that year.) “Rolvenden” seems to have lasted a little longer. They were then dumped in the works yard but “Bodiam” was resurrected in 1933 and repaired over the next two years, mainly by a Southern Railway fitter at weekends. Although much reported, there is little evidence, apart from anecdotal, to suggest that she incorporated many major parts from her sister, except possibly her tanks.

However some Terrier parts most certainly came from the Shropshire & Montgomery Terriers mentioned below. In the process “Bodiam” acquired her enlarged and distinctive bunker. Re-entering service on 27th December 1934, she was repainted in a bright apple green with yellow lining and, according to Austen’s usual practice, lost her nameplate becoming simply No.3, with the company’s initials appearing on the tank side above the number. Officially withdrawn in 1937, the hulk of “Rolvenden” was finally disposed of by T W Ward in October 1938.

from the framemeplease collection

“Bodiam” was replaced by a hired Terrier when its boiler gave out in September 1940. She was out of use until repaired in February 1943 with an A1X pattern boiler and smokebox. She may also have been fitted at this time with the S&MR’s Dido’s tanks acquired in 1941 (see below). Re-boilering was a difficult job for Rolvenden Works, so two K&ESR fitters undertook the work at St Leonards Shed under wartime’s cooperative arrangements. Finished in April 1943 the engine became to all intents and purposes an A1X, whilst retaining the sandboxes on the front splasher like some earlier Isle of Wight rebuilds. Some reports suggest that she did not return home until 7th March 18944 but this cannot now be verified. Further repairs were carried out at Brighton Works in September 1947 where she was repainted a darker green. After Nationalisation, the
engine was taken into British Railways’ stock and further repaired at Ashford in the second half of 1949; remarkably she was repainted again in apple green with yellow ling but as British Railways No.32670.

From then on she worked on the K&ESR until dieselisation; then working at Newhaven and elsewhere [including Hayling Island] with occasional returns including the last day special. She returned in 1964, to preservation – a true living embodiment of the continuity of the K&ESR – on whose metals she has been present for all but 9 of its 105 years of operation.
Thanks to Colonel Stephens Archives at the Kent and East Sussex Railway

Abandoned and Disused at Barry Scrapyard to the Kent and East Sussex Railway 4253

A Old Abandoned Rusty Train In Barry Scrapyard. 

now plan are at thought to rebuild the loco to support the future extension of KESR to Robertsbridge when larger motive power with more capacity will be required.
for 4253, which will be able to take a full five car train the length of the line with little difficulty. 

Please help if you can at http://www.4253.co.uk/

Rother valley railway . URBAN INVESTIGATION into Austins bridge . March 2017

Rother valley railway . URBAN INVESTIGATION into Austins bridge . March 2017

Spring 2017 on the planned Rother Valley Railway Extension

love the way the tree is eating the bridge

 Spring 2017 on Austins Bridge framemeplease

Spring 2017 on Austins Bridge framemeplease

Spring 2017 on Austins Bridge framemeplease

Wittersham Road . and the World war 2 big guns at the Kent and East Sussex Railway

the original station site was largely cleared by British Railways

But for the reopening in 1978 the railway provided a station platform using coping stones from Heathfield station in Sussex.

The platform footpath is flanked by railings retrieved from Cranbrook, another station on a Stephens' railway, and lamp standards from Ashurst and Cowden. The Station nameboard also originated from Cranbrook. The signal box is a Saxby and Farmer type 5 box from Deal Junction, Dover built about 1882 and transported here for the opening of the rebuilt station. The yard here is somewhat extended from its old role as a busy agricultural goods yard and is currently used as the Permanent Way Headquarters for the Railway and as a relatively vandal free storage site for rolling stock in need of renovation.

The station building is set at right angles to the line and closely resembles the original but came from the Cambrian Railways at Borth in West Wales where it had been since the 1890's. Opposite this building across the station yard, where stock coming to and from the railway is loaded, is a relic of World War II. By the picnic site the small Blockhouse was built as an ammunition store for one of a pair of 'super heavy' 9.2" rail-mounted guns that were based on the railway from February 1941 to 8th August 1944. They had a range of some 20 miles and would have been used to fire on the beaches edging Romney Marsh in the event of invasion.

Abandoned Railway tunnel - St Michaels Tunnel on the Kent and East Sussex Railway

The line was engineered and operated by Colonel H F Stephens. One of his 'bigger' feats was St Michaels Tunnel, located just north of the halt. Opened in 1905 as part of an extension from Tenterden to Headcorn, it is just 31 yards in length and curves to the east on a radius of approximately 30 chains.

Comprising a single platform and small corrugated hut, the modest halt at St Michaels was added to the Kent & East Sussex Light Railway in 1912.

Provided by colonel Stephens Museum

To serve a small community on the outskirts of Tenterden. Its ticket office - if you could call it that - closed in 1938 and the local infrastructure's decline continued until services were withdrawn on 4th January 1954.

The portals are neat, brick-built affairs with a masonry string course and copings. Wing walls extend outwards parallel to the track - the east-side wall at the south end is cracked top to bottom. Horseshoe shaped in profile, the lining comprises four rings of brick and features a single refuge. Timber brackets supported telegraph wires.

Provided by colonel Stephens Museum

Despite 60 years of redundancy, the structure remains in fair condition except for the cracked wing wall and some spalling of the north portal's headwall. The interior has found function as a wood store, used by the householder whose property it stands on.

 Abandoned Railway tunnel - St Michaels Tunnel on the Kent and East Sussex Railway 

Provided by colonel Stephens Museum

Provided by colonel Stephens Museum

 Abandoned Railway tunnel - St Michaels Tunnel on the Kent and East Sussex Railway