It was of 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge, relatively unusual amongst British narrow gauge railways. It operated from 1895 until 1939, connecting Rye to the coast. It was about 13⁄4 miles (2.8 km) in length, and had three stations - Rye, Golf Links and Camber Sands. It operated mainly to transport golfers to the golf links and holidaymakers to the coastal dunes.
3⁄4 miles (2.8 km) in length, and had three stations - Rye, Golf Links and Camber Sands. It operated mainly to transport golfers to the golf links and holidaymakers to the coastal dunes. The railway was constructed between January and July 1895 and ran entirely on private land. It was the first designed by consulting engineer Colonel Holman F. Stephens, who went on to build and run small railways all over the Country.
The line was built to convey golfers to the Rye Golf Club and ran from Rye station to the golf club. In 1908 the first extension to Camber Sands station was opened and the intermediate station renamed "Golf Links". Camber terminal was moved to a more accessible site and a tea hut was opened at the end of summer 1938, but this only used for a few months as the war intervened the next year.
Although initially quite successful, increasing competition from automobile and bus transport eventually caused the tramway to enter a gradual economic decline, as was the case with many small railways. Passenger service was ended at the outbreak of World War II but it was extensively used by the Government to convey parts for the P.L.U.T.O. (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) project for which a special siding leading to a new pier near Golf Links Station was constructed by Canadian troops.
The line was in such a run-down a condition by the end of the war that it was deemed irrecoverable and was sold for scrap in 1947. The Rye & Camber Tramways Co. Ltd was liquidated in February 1949. Remains A number of relics, including the frame and bogies of one of the carriages, can be seen at the Colonel Stephens Museum at Tenterden. Golf Links station building survives virtually intact. Some track is embedded in concrete near the station as the trackbed was used as a roadway during wartime. Most of the route is a footpath, although a short section has been destroyed by gravel workings. The line plays a prominent part in several novels by Rye resident E.F. Benson.
Camber golf links, Rye and Camber Tramway was a railway in East Sussex in 1895 the Rye and Camber Tramway was opened to connect Rye with a new golf course at Camber.
Rye Tramway
Designed to cater for the transportation needs of golfers and their caddies, the steam railway also took fishermen from Rye to their fishing boats moored opposite Rye Harbour village, where a river ferry could be hailed.
Rye (Tramway top right )
The line's promoters cunningly decided to build the line entirely on private land, thereby avoiding the necessity of having to obtain an Act of Parliament.
Built to a 3ft gauge with economy in mind, the 1.75 mile line ran parallel to the River Rother from its Rye terminus as far as Broadwater Beach, before heading across Northpoint beach and terminating opposite Rye Harbour Village
The track was spiked directly to wooden sleepers to save cost, and there was two loops at each end of the line to let the engines run around the coaches.
you tube clip of the tramway
The two termini were both built of corrugated iron and wood, offering a canopy, waiting room and booking office.
With only one engine in steam at any given point, there was no need for signalling.
When it opened on Saturday, 13th July, 1895, the line was equipped with one steam engine and a passenger coach, divided into first and second class compartments.
The engine, named 'Camber' and accompanying carriage were built by W.G.Bagnall Limited of Stafford.
Although capable of better things, the engine normally sauntered around the track at a stately 10mph, pulling a three ton passenger car.
The coach, divided into first and second class sections, was around twenty-six feet long with entrance platforms at each end.
The first class portion could accommodate 12 passengers and came with cushioned seats and curtains, while the cheapskates in second class had to make do with longitudinal strip-wood seating .
Traffic was encouraging, with 18,000 tickets being sold in the first six months, prompting the company to invest in a second, more powerful, steam engine in 1897, patriotically named 'Victoria'.
The company continued to prosper, adding a half mile extension to a deserted location at Camber Sands on 13th July, 1908.
The station was extremely low on facilities, offering nothing more than a raised platform made from old standard gauge sleepers, with a small hut being added later.
Endeavouring to make the most of its remote location, the timetable described the station as being 'far from the madding crowd' and a perfect location for picnics.
With the extension complete, the original Camber terminus was renamed as Golf Links, and the service ramped up in the summer months to 13 trains each way daily, of which only seven ran through to Camber Sands.
A special Saturday late night train ran for golfers at 8:15pm.
In the winter months, the service was cut back to seven trains each way daily, nine trips on Saturdays and four on Sunday, with all trains terminating at the Golf Links station.
Road competition, rising coal prices and high maintenance costs forced economies on the line in the 1920s, with the steam locomotives being replaced by a four wheeled petrol tractor in 1924. The winter service was abandoned completely in 1925-6 and a long period of decline set in.
With the outbreak of war in 1939, the line was closed to the public and used by various military and naval purposes.
Unhappily, the track and rolling stock was in such dreadful condition at the end of the war that the company decided to wind up the railway forever.
Although the Golf Links/Camber station has survived remarkably well for a corrugated iron structure, no trace remains of the Rye terminus or the station at Camber Sands.
