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  -

Folkestone harbour renovation update April 2017

While the heavy machinery and activity connected to the dredging and level raising has caught our attention at Folkestone harbour, the works to repair and renovate the viaduct have been progressing.  This area of work focusses on preserving the structure and connecting the former railway station and viaduct to the town.

It will create new access to Folkestone Harbour Arm by using the viaduct that carried trains across the harbour as a pedestrian walkway.  The aim is to provide a direct route between the town and the Harbour Arm, via the former railway station platforms, and will ultimately link with a boardwalk along the beachfront towards the Leas Coastal Park. This will improve connectivity around the harbour itself and help enhance access between the Coastal Park, the Stade and beach areas, the Creative Quarter and other parts of the town centre, anticipating the wider opportunities that the seafront development will bring.

During the coming months the area will be landscaped and new railings will be added. A staircase and lift will be constructed to provide access between the viaduct and Harbour Square, adjacent to the fountains. Care is being taken to respect the listed status of the structure and to preserve and enhance its heritage value, whilst introducing a function that is relevant to the area’s future.

The work is an important step towards the transformation of one of Folkestone’s most iconic sites, which will help redefine the relationship between the town and the sea. To date this has included the opening of Rocksalt, a signature restaurant overlooking the inner harbour, the creation of interactive fountains in a new public square and the Harbour Arm itself.  

We took a trip to see how the huge development was progressing at Folkestone harbour railway station

Who remembers the good old days a good Sunday Market and a pound to spend in Rotunda funfair ?

And then some seafood. 

Well them days are gone . But now things are starting to look up as a Victorian-style benefactor in the shape of billionaire Sir Roger De Haan, whose charitable trust has helped regenerate the whole town, including a £7m facelift of the Creative Quarter.

Houses planned to be built on Folkestone seafront

A £5m cash injection from Kent’s economic and business champions the South East Local Enterprise Partnership has helped get this seafront project going, but it is otherwise funded purely from the pockets of Sir Roger, who made his fortune through the sale of the Saga group in 2004.Just over two years ago, outline planning consent was granted for up to a thousand residential units, including beach houses, apartments and town houses, with a range of commercial spaces and leisure facilities designed to serve a new community.The scale of the project is huge, with the refurbished Harbour Arm - re-opened last year 

WELL LETS SEE HOW MPS TAKE

The Abandoned Folkestone Harbour Branch Line, Kent

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 The branch line is now officially closed, and has been since 2014. Passenger trains stopped running on this line in 2001 and then to freight and steam trains in 2009. Up until now, the line is starting to be dismantled as Network Rail concluded it is not going to be worth spending millions to get the line up and running again. The old branch line from the South Eastern Main Line at Folkestone Junction served the port of Folkestone and provided a rail connection for boat trains from London which connected with the ferry services to Calais and Boulogne in France.


 At the start of the video, we see the remains of Warren Road Level Crossing, originally an MCB-CCTV level crossing type. Originally, before wigwags came along, this crossing was an MWG type crossing (Manually Worked Gates) with white swing gates and a red circle in the middle. Luckily, Google Maps still have images of the crossing in 2009 when it had NRS Halogen Bulb Wigwags, very old GWE Barriers with Halogen Barrier Boom Lights and intermittent bells. These were taken out between 2012 and 2014, with a fence put in place. All that remains now are red Trespass notices and beware of the live rail, despite the railway being abandoned with no trains for 5 years

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Following the line south along the A260, we eventually pass a foot crossing. Pedestrians can still cross here but either side of the pathway are the same fences seen at the Warren Road crossing. The road slowly goes downwards and the railway crosses the harbour. A very unique railway swing bridge is placed right beside the old Folkestone Harbour Station and Level Crossing. It looks to be in the process of being restored as its a grade 2 listed building. Some of the photos here do not belong to me (i.e. ones from Google Maps). These images can be found on the Google Maps street view on Warren Road in Folkestone in May 2009. The remains of the Folkestone Harbour Station and Level Crossing can be seen in a different video taken at night to make it more ere, abandoned and old!
were just cutting the video for the station update 

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Booking.com
x

This is a video showing a drive down the abandoned (or more appropriately called "to be dismantled") Folkestone Harbour Branch line from the former Warren Road MCB-CCTV Level Crossing to the end of the branch line at Folkestone Harbour Railway Station. It was recorded in April 2017.

Lydd Town station a forgotten relic

Lydd Town Station a forgotten relic

Lydd station today

The Lydd Railway Company (LRC) obtained authorisation to construct a standard gauge single track line from Appeldore to Dungeness with stops ay Lydd and Brookland . the line opened in December 1881

Dungeness station today 

Many Army trains traveled to Lydd , where a private military railway system had a connection onto the main line

This saw the ''Lydd Military Railway'' come into use, which connected the nearby Army Camp with the branch, via the goods yard. As this connection was southward-facing, as per the goods sidings, a reversal manoeuvre was required to proceed from the Army Camp, to Appledore. The Army Camp did provide an interesting traffic of regiment horses in box vans, these quite often being handled at Lydd station itself.

Following the opening of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in 1927, the extra holiday traffic generated persuaded the Southern Railway (who had taken over the line upon the railway grouping) to realign its branch to New Romney by moving it nearer to the sea and opening two new halts 



 Lydd-on-Sea and Greatstone-on-Sea - in 1937. The opening of Lydd-on-Sea Halt led to the renaming of Lydd station as "Lydd Town" to avoid any confusion. 

lydd on sea halt today

The station closed on 6 March 1967 in the face of dwindling passenger traffic and insignificant freight returns, yet the line remained open through Lydd Town as far as a siding near Dungeness for freight traffic to serve the BNFL nuclear power plant at Dungeness.


The future who knows !!
I think it will come down to the outcome of Lydd Airport myself

Booking.com

The video below shows the history of Lydd Station

Initially passenger trains terminated at Lydd. 

The line's promoters hoped that creating a rail link between London and Dungeness would lead to the development of a port from which cross-channel steamers could operate. 

But this grand plan failed to materialise and the branch was left to stagnate. It did though carry some shingle traffic as well as flints for the Potteries .

Rye and Camber Tramway revisited 2017

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A little known lost railway in Sussex is the former Rye and Camber Tramway, which operated for 44 years as a passenger service from 1895 until the outbreak of World War II.  At that point the railway passed into military hands for use with the PLUTO project designed to supply the front line troops for the D Day landings. 

this video tells you all

 Sadly the state it was returned to the owners in meant that it was no longer in a fit state to carry passengers and it was therefore closed for good as the cost of renewing the track was prohibitive.  Yet, at its height this remarkable railway carried as many as 18000 passengers during a six month period.  Designed and built by the famous light railway builder Colonel Holman Stephens, the railway ran for about three miles from the eastern edge of Rye to a rather inconvenient location at the western edge of Camber.  It was intended to carry passengers to the seaside, but also to a nearby golf club for which an intermediate station was built.

https://framemeplease19.wixsite.com/trackbedwalker 

As with many Colonel Stephens’ railways, the line was built on a shoestring and this rather contributed to its untimely end.  It also meant that once gone, few reminders of its existence still remain.  Yet, remarkably despite all this most of the trackbed is still available for walking.

so if you need a little Sunday walk i recommend it 

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if you really would like to know more visit the Colonel Stephens Museam at Tenterden

Lydd Town Station (formely Lydd Station) April 2017 VISIT

Urban Exploration: Abandoned Train Station in Lydd Kent .
APRIL2017

One of my favourite abandoned stations
Lydd Town Station (formerly Lydd Station) (Closed) and Lydd Town Crossing
Opened on 7 December 1881 as Lydd Station, on 4 July 1937 the station was renamed Lydd Town to prevent confusion with a newly opened station at Lydd-on-Sea.

THIS VIDEO WAS SHOT IN APRIL 2017

APRIL 2017

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Lydd Town Station was a substantial facility, with a large goods yard and much passenger and freight traffic generated by nearby army camps. A branch ran south from the goods yard into the army camps, which were served by Lydd Military Railway. A passing loop was provided at the station, but this has subsequently been lifted. The station was closed to passenger traffic on 6 March 1967 and to freight on 4 October 1971. Part of the site is now used as a recycling facility. There is a possibility that gravel extraction will restart south of the station, and, if so, the passing loop may be reinstated to allow locomotives to change ends and shunt the train.

If open today Lydd Town Station would serve a growing town, which is just south west of the site, and a short extension to the line could also provide much improved transport facilities to Lydd Airport (also known as London Ashford), linking directly to Ashford International Station.

The branch actually runs south east from Appledore. The convention adopted in these collections is that Appledore is north, Dungeness is south, the New Romney side of the branch is east, and the Lydd side of the branch
Urban exploring is a great way to explore your local community

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Harbour to be sealed off as bomb is dug up at Folkestone harbour redevelopment.

Harbour to be sealed off as bomb is dug up at Folkestone seafront

 

Will this hold up the eagerly awaited Folkestone Seafront redevelopment will see the harbour station renovated. work is now pushing ahead at full steam ..

with no sign of a train in site !!!!!

Work is already being carried out to restore and repair the historic and listed harbour viaduct and swing bridge and the harbour station

The viaduct, which once carried trains into the harbour, will become a new pedestrian walkway for people to walk along the old platforms, down the tracks and onto the Harbour Arm pier.

another development will see the arrival of

 These  historic carriages, which have sat on the Wearside seafront for decades, will house a restaurant at Folkestone harbour’s historic railway station.

Parts of Folkestone Seafront redevelopment to be completed by late summer

Parts of a harbour's long term redevelopment will be finished by late this summerFolkestone Harbour is undergoing mass construction with a plan to transform the area with up to 1,000 homes and 10,000 sq metres of commercial space.

Designs released by Folkestone Harbour Company, which owns the land and is overseeing the multi-million pound project, show what the restored harbour station will look like.Today it looks like this 

The new plans form part of the town’s seafront regeneration and when it is completed, the work to the station will connect the town centre, Creative Quarter and the hugely popular Harbour Arm.Work is already being carried out to restore and repair the historic and listed harbour viaduct and swing bridge and the harbour station work is in full progree

The viaduct, which once carried trains into the harbour, will become a new pedestrian walkway for people to walk along the old platforms, down the tracks and onto the Harbour
Work can be seen all across the harbour and there are plans for refreshment outlets to set up within the station when work is completed. The viaduct which used to see trains transporting passengers to ferries has been renovated and will also open in the coming months with a fresh lick of paint. The viaduct will have stairs leading to it and a lift. There will be gates on-site to shut it off, weather permitting. It will provide a vital link from The Stade across to the seafront and Harbour Arm