The last years of branch line steam are to be celebrated this weekend, at a special event on the Kent and East Sussex Railway. Resident USA tank 30065 has been re-liveried in late BR black to match A1X Terrier tank locomotives 32670 and 32678 with the Swanage Railway’s Ex-LSWR M7 tank engine 30053.
Last May, Simon reported on the Kent and East Sussex Railway Saturday Gang and I thought it time for an update. The gang have their own blog (saturdaygang.blogspot.co.uk) that is well worth watching. The group work in the locomotive workshops, overhauling and repairing the light railway’s fleet of locomotives. The gang provides video updates of…
A celebration of either the preservation or history of the Kent and East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) would never be complete without at least one ex-London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) terrier and the fortieth anniversary was no exception. Only one of the railway’s two terrier tanks was in action and luckily for me it…
The picture above shows one of the highlights of a ride on the Kent and East Sussex Railway – Tenterden Bank. The section from Rolvenden to Tenterden has an impressive gradient of 1 in 50, requiring the driver to open the regulator and fireman work very hard indeed! Today we look at yet another star…
Today’s blog post looks at locomotive that has been looked at in some detail before on this blog, both in model and real form. This locomotive used to haul heavy coal trains in Wales, but now hauls heavy tourist laden trains. It was the most powerful star of the Kent and East Sussex Railway’s…
Moving home continues for this author, but here’s another blog post looking at a star of the Kent and East Sussex Railway’s gala (click here for more), a USA dock tank. Charismatic and varied, the fleet of light steam engines working on the Kent and east Sussex railway gala had two locomotives that could be…
Fortunately, another quick break from moving home has allowed another blog post to be squeezed in! After looking at what is a common prototype (albeit a locomotive with a story to tell) in austerity saddle tank 23 Holman F Stephens (click here to read), today we look at something very unusual. It is was avery…
Thanks to the joys of moving home, this blog has been in the very capable hands of Simon, Alex and Jonathan for the past couple of weeks. Today I have a rare respite to moving, allowing a brief chance to write a blog post before getting back to the stress of moving home! Today we (at long…
The Kent and East Sussex Railway used to be my local railway when I was growing up. I used to regularly visit with my father. The railway was always in the background, even when at home, as the thunderous sound of steam engines climbing Tenterden bank echoed for miles around. When I heard that the…
As many long term readers of this blog will know, Dave’s local heritage childhood railway was the Kent and East Sussex Railway and ever since it has been one of his favourites. I recently had a nice chat with one of the volunteers working in there Saturday Gang and thought I’d dedicate a post to…
Loco Yard 