A little 'hop' into Kent

There are several heritage railways in the south east of England that have long been on my 'to do' list, and having enjoyed our Cornish holiday with 'Inside Track' tour company, I booked onto their five-day 'Kentish Man' holiday.

Please click on any picture for a larger image

Thursday 16th May

 The 06:58 Virgin Pendolino whisked me first class to Euston, with a rather good breakfast served on the way. Very civilised (apart from the early hour!).

From Euston I battled through the crowds on the packed, rush-hour, Victoria Line to London Victoria for a 'Southern Railways' electric multiple unit to Hayward's Heath, where the holiday commenced. There I met Nigel, our tour manager, assisted by Steve, who had been our tour manager in Cornwall, our coach driver Aron, and the rest of the holiday group.

A short drive from Hayward's Heath took us to the Bentley Miniature Railway, where we rode their track behind two 7.5" gauge steam locomotives.

Here's 'Elaine', a 7.5" gauge Quarry Hunslet of the 'Alice' class. My own live steam Quarry Hunslet is a model of the larger 'Large Penrhyn' class, but in the smaller scale of 5" gauge. 

For comparison to 'Elaine', here is my 5" gauge Quarry Hunslet 'Penrhyn' at Urmston track

We set off in 'sit in' coaches behind 'Elaine' at the Bentley Miniature Railway

7.5" gauge BR Standard Class 2 loco was the other locomotive in steam. Its train comprises 'sit on' rather than 'sit in' coaches.

The two trains meet, ours heading outbound, the Class 2 heading inbound

Two more Quarry Hunslets at Bentley 

Here's a video of the railway.Please click on the link below:
Sitting astride the 'coaches' behind the BR Standard Class 2 loco

The 'Class 2' handled this load with ease

From Bentley we headed across to Sheffield Park for the Bluebell Steam Railway; complete with bluebells at this time of year!

Several of us sounded out some rather pleasant Kentish ale which we enjoyed on the platform at Sheffield Park while awaiting our train 

Jim looks happy as we enjoy a cream tea aboard the train to the other end of the line, East Grinstead

Looking back from East Grinstead station over Imberhorne Viaduct to the cutting beyond. This had been infilled by some 300,000 cubic metres of household rubbish in the 60s and 70s, which had to be dug out and disposed of to re-open the railway to East Grinstead.

Our locomotive, Maunsell S15-class 4-6-0 No.847. Built in 1936, runs around its train at East Grinstead

A nice pint of 'Sussex Best' enjoyed as we steam along

From Sheffield Park our coach took us to Uckfield for a ride on the Southern Railway service train along the branch to Ashurst, where we re-joined our coach for the journey to our home for the next four nights, the Mercure Hotel in Royal Tonbridge Wells.

Mercure Hotel, Tonbridge Wells

Nice to see the Mercure provides a double room for single occupancy, unlike some hotels which fob off those booking a single room with a glorified broom cupboard

Friday 17th May

After a leisurely and rather good breakfast, our coach took us the thirty seven miles to New Romney for the Romney, Hythe, and Dymchurch Railway, with plenty of time to admire the model railway display there before the arrival of our train to Hythe.

'Hercules' arrives at New Romney with a train from Hythe

'Hercules' ready to depart for Dungeness

Shortly afterwards, our train for Hythe arrived from Dungeness in the charge of 'Samson'

The coaches of this 15" gauge railway are a tad 'cosy'

Approaching Hythe the Romney Marsh gives way to higher ground at Lympne. The railway has traversed Romney Marsh from New Romney, and Walland Marsh from Dungeness to New Romney. 

'Samson' turns through 180 degrees on the Hythe turntable

As a volunteer signalman on the Churnet Valley Railway I was interested in the signal box at Hythe. Apparently it is one of the few original features of the railway having been in use ever since the railway opened in 1926. The horizontal handles sticking out of the front of the panel are the releases for the levers in the frame; the equivalent of the 'hand triggers' on conventional signal levers.  

Samson's builder's plate

Samson's flight deck

Here is a video taken as we travel the line. Please click on the link below:
Rattling along on the 15" gauge Romney, Hythe, and Dymchurch Railway

From Hythe station our coach took us to nearby Peene, to the Elham Valley Line Trust Museum & Countryside Centre for a superb buffet lunch. Peene is close to the entrance to the Channel Tunnel and as well as the Countryside Centre they have a miniature railway and some Channel Tunnel memorabilia including a 'man hauling' train used by workers to reach the tunnel cutting face.

We ride the Elham Valley miniature railway

The Centre also hosts a superb working model of the Channel Tunnel UK approaches and portals, with automatically operated Eurostar and car transporter trains. This was constructed over several years as a publicity aid by the Channel Tunnel Company and spent some years touring before finding a permanent home here. The French also had a model of their side of the Tunnel, but after it had been used for a few publicity events, that one was broken up to save storage and maintenance costs. Our host at the Trust said it cost them around £6,000 per year to maintain the model, so maybe the French had a point!

I spoke to a couple of volunteers at the Trust who are local residents and asked them what effect the building of the tunnel had on the village of Peene. "Absolutely devastating" said one. "Everything got filthy because of the constant dust and grit in the air, and the months of pile driving almost drove me up the wall", he continued. "The vibration never stopped.... thump, thump, thump all day and night, the house shaking with each one. If a Tunnel worker bought a house in the village, they wouldn't let on where they worked!". 

After our visit here, our coach took us to Hawkinge for the Kent Battle of Britain Museum. They don't allow photography for security reasons (all that top secret 1940s technology!) so here are some pictures from their web site.

Reconstruction of a Messerschmidt BF109 G downed in Kent. A big fuel-injected Daimler-Benz inverted V12 engine, 5 powerful cannon, a tiny cockpit, and nothing else that isn't essential to a lethal killing flying machine.

 Two Spitfires

Three Hurricanes

One Boulton-Paul Defiant. None of the aeroplanes in the museum are capable of flight.

Back on the coach by 15:30, we headed back to Hythe station on Romney, Hythe, & Dymchurch Railway to head down to Dungeness for 'nuclear powered fish & chips'! 

Inside Track had arranged for this last train of the day to be steam-hauled (it's usually a diesel) and to run the entire length of the line to Dungeness (it usually terminates at New Romney).

A very strange place is Dungeness. Shingle, shacks, an old lighthouse, and a nuclear power station.

Samson brings our train to the station at Dungeness. The grey extension to the white building is the station cafe where our fish & chips will soon be served.

Fish, chips, mushy peas, bread & butter (for making chip butties!) and a 'help yourself' bar. Lovely!

Our coach, by the old lighthouse

The somewhat less charismatic new lighthouse

We re-board our coach for the journey back to our Tunbridge Wells hotel, with the nuclear power station in the background

Strange shacks, like over-grown garden sheds, litter the scrubby landscape here

Aron steers us between the shacks as we leave Dungeness

More Dungeness dwellings. One or two are quite posh, but most are not. This one has a tower!

In nearby Rye an illegally parked car temporarily blocks our coach's way 

Saturday 18th May

A late departure from the hotel had us at the old Tunbridge Wells West station, today the terminus of the Spa Valley Railway, in plenty of time for our 10:20 train to Eridge.

Our train will be topped and tailed. This Robert Stephenson Hawthorne 0-6-0 austerity saddle tank loco 'Ugly' will be on the back on the way to Eridge...

....While this Class 33 'RJ Mitchell' will be on the other end. For the return journey, the steam loco will therefore be on the front and the 33 on rear.

The final section of the Spa Valley Railway runs alongside the National Rail line we travelled on for Thursday evening's run from Uckfield to Ashurst.

After this trip we were off to Bodiam for the Kent & East Sussex Railway. It was their 1940s weekend so there was much re-enacting and 1940s entertainment at Bodiam and Tenterden, and even a fly-by by a WW2 Spitfire.

One of the steam locomotives had failed, so was replaced by a Diesel Multiple Unit which we boarded at Bodiam for the intermediate station on the line, Northiam. It was only a 2-car unit, so somewhat overcrowded.

Aboard the inadequate 2-car DMU which we rode from Bodiam to Northiam

The view of the line from the DMU as it makes its way to Northiam

There was absolutely nothing going on at Northiam, so as some folk made their way to a local Indian restaurant for a drinkie or two, I walked up to the signal box and was invited in. Northiam is a passing loop on the K&ESR, much like my own 'box at is at Consall on the CVR, so it was interesting to compare notes with the signalman.
One thing that surprised me was the apparent lack of FPL (Facing Point Lock) levers in the box, which are by normal convention painted blue. The signalman explained that his points are motor-operated, and it's Southern Railway convention to use plain black levers for those even though a motor point incorporates a form of FPL. 
Normal convention elsewhere is black for a point lever and blue for an FPL lever, and at Consall we have a mechanically operated point with those two levers, and a motor-operated point with a single lever painted half black and half blue indicating a motor point with built-in lock. That does seem more logical to me.

Here are some videos of our visit to the K&ESR. Please click on the links beow to view them. Sorry about the 'shaky camera' on the Spit vid. I was filming from the open window of a moving train:
Our train leaving Northiam for Tenterden

Our loco working hard on the climb to Tenterden

A Spitfire displays over our train during its climb to Tenterden

A Class 17 'Teddy Bear' at Tenterden

After a beer in the sunshine, listening to Glen Miller and other '40s hits, we caught the last train from Tenterden where Aron and the coach met us to run us to Hastings station for a service train to Tunbridge Wells where Aron again met us to run us back to the hotel.

The train journey from Hastings was interesting in that the narrow tunnels outside Hastings station required the use of narrower than normal multiple unit trains. When those trains became life expired, the future of the line was in doubt because of the high cost of building new non-standard trains. Instead, the obvious solution of single-tracking the former two-track  tunnels was adopted, and now trains built to the standard UK loading gauge can access Hastings station.

Sunday 19th May

A non-railway beginning to this day! Our coach covered the 35 miles or so to Chatham Naval Dockyard Museum in plenty of time for their opening at 10:00am.

Launched in 1878, HMS Gannet was steam screw and sail powered

Built in 1944, HMS Cavalier was once the fastest ship in the Royal Navy. A Destroyer, she was paid off at Chatham in 1972. 

The open bridge of 'Cavalier', with canvas 'roof'. This the captain's chair, but there is no ship's wheel on the bridge. Immediately beneath the bridge is 'steering station' where the helmsman stood at the ship's wheel, taking orders from the bridge above. It was deliberate that the helmsman had no outside view in order that he would not hesitate in following 'steering' orders even if such an order might be to deliberately ram an enemy ship.

The dockyard had an extensive railway system, and this Robert Stephenson Hawthorne locomotive, Ajax was built in 1941 and worked at Chatham until all the steam locomotives except this one were disposed of in 1972. She is still in working order and regularly steamed. She is a sister locomotive to 'Agecroft No.1' which I used to drive and fire at the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester when that organisation had a working railway.

Next stop was Sheerness station on the Isle of Sheppey to board this 'Southern' train to cross the River Swale on a lifting bridge, to leave Sheppey with its flat, pylon-inhabited landscape, for Sittingbourne on the mainland.

The Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway was built by papermaker Frank Lloyd in 1904 to transport raw materials in and finished product out, between Ridham Dock and his Sittingbourne paper mill after the creek which originally served the mill silted up. The mill later became part of the Bowater Group.

Kerr-Stuart 'Brazil class 0-4-2 'Melior' saddle tank was our train loco. It has Hackworth valve gear.

Much of the railway is on a reinforced concrete viaduct, which is in poor condition

Another Brazil class, 'Leader', in the Kemsley loco shed.

'Melior' runs round her train at Kemsley ready for the trip back to Sittingbourne

Leaving Sittingbourne we headed just a few miles to 'the middle of nowhere' to the most immaculate railway I have ever seen, the Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway. It is a two foot gauge private line which has been built up as a hobby by a group of friends since the early 1970s. It has a station, engine sheds and workshops at Warren Wood station, and a smaller station at the other end of the line, known as Stony Shaw.

Immaculate locomotives in the shed

They even have a Quarry Hunslet, 'Alice' class 'Lady Joan'

Bagnall 'Armistice' is just one of many 2 foot gauge locos in the shed. There are also some miniature locomotives, including a 10.25" gauge Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway loco and a 7.5" Dholpur loco. Sharing the shed are several vintage tractors, traction engines, cars and other historic vehicles.

Adrian enjoys a ride on a coach balcony

Setting off into the immaculate parkland

Through the woods....

Stony Shaw station with its signal box

Our steam loco for our visit was Orenstein & Koppel 0-4-0 'Helga'

Seen from the coach balcony, 'Helga' crosses the drive to the house

Douglas observes the fully-working beam engine, with condenser and operating water pump system, at the back of the loco shed

This railway was absolutely superb. Everything was in top condition - it all, stations, track, signal boxes, stock, locos - everything, looked as if it had just been built. David, the owner, told me the coaches are not only stored indoors, but they are polished after each day in use.

We boarded our coach for Headcorn to travel on part of one of the longest straight sections of railway in Britain - the 25 miles from Ashford to Tonbridge. We travelled Headcorn to Tonbridge, then changed trains to reach Tunbridge Wells where Aron met us to drive us back to the Mercure.

Monday 20th May

Our last day of the holiday began with a 32 mile drive to Eastbourne, where we transferred to an open-top double deck bus for a trip up to Beachy Head.

Eastbourne pier, from the bus top deck

The high pressure which has brought us dry weather for this holiday has its downside. Its descending air and lack of wind traps pollution close to the ground leading to much reduced visibility as this view of Eastbourne from Beachy Head shows.

Looking west the visibility is no better

The Belle Tout former lighthouse, west of Beachy Head, is now a B&B! The cliff edge is constantly eroding here, so in 1999 the Belle Tout was moved seventeen metres further back from the cliff edge. 

A closer look at Belle Tout

Aron picked us up from Beachy Head and drove us to Seaford from where we caught a train to Brighton, from where I headed home.

I decided to sample one of the new Thameslink Class 700 trains from Brighton to St Pancras International. 

What a super train the Class 700 is; fast acceleration, quiet, big well-positioned windows, and despite complaints in the railway press about hard seats, I found them far more comfortable than those on the old-tech Class 319 trains which the 700s have replaced. 

Those old 319 trains have been foisted onto us long-suffering northern oiks, and are now whining their glacial way between Crewe and Liverpool lime Street, having replaced the far superior Class 323s we have enjoyed for many years. It's indicative of the vast difference in spend on public transport in the capital and in the regions that we get their cast-offs and they get nice lovely new trains like the 700s to replace them. 

It's a short walk from St Pancras International to Euston where I arrived in plenty of time for my Advance First Class booking (so very good value!) on the Pendolino home to Wilmslow. A lovely salmon, haddock, and cod linguine was served on the journey, followed by lemon cheesecake, all washed down with white wine and followed by a large G&T  as the countryside flashed by at 125mph. This sort of train travel is magical.

It will be a sad day indeed if the anti-rail DfT succeed in removing that thorn in sides, the excellent Virgin Trains, from the UK rail scene.

So ended a short but intensive break of an enjoyable few days in the far south east of England, with many heritage and national railway lines travelled.

Thank you 'Inside Track'. I look forward to the next one - the Harz Mountains revisited, in July.

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