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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2017 :: RMTnews
26
Today the Kent and East Sussex
Railway heritage railway runs
for over 11 miles through the
stunning Rother Valley from the
historic town of Tenterden
through to Bodiam station, a
stone’s throw from Bodiam
Castle.
Economically, while it
struggled to survive for most of
its commercial history, it is now
a fundament part of the local
economy attracting over 80,000
visitors to the area each year.
And there is a lot to see
including an interesting fleet of
steam engines, dating from the
1870s to the 1950s, looked after
at a busy locomotive works and
carriage shed established at
Rolvenden station.
This has also been a thriving
centre for young people to get
involved in the heritage
industry for over a decade with
its innovative Saturday Gang
programme. The brainchild of
driver Lawrence Donaldson,
young people of all ages get
involved in the workshop
cleaning, maintaining and
overhauling loco engines.
Veteran Saturday Ganger of
over eight years James Alan
reveals that the youth group,
which currently has around 15
volunteers, are just finishing a
total rebuild of the KESR’s
Hunslet Austerity class 0-6-0PT
25 first built during World War
Two.
He explains that many young
people have passed through the
Saturday Gang and some have
even gone on to study various
forms of engineering at
University.
James himself has just
finished a history degree where
he specialised on the role of the
southern railways in the war
effort during World War Two.
“We run courses and work
closely with groups like the
Boiler Engineering Skills
Training Trust and the
Association for Black and Ethnic
Minority Engineers, teaming up
with their apprentices, and give
everyone a good hands-on
insight into the work we do,” he
says.
This type of work can be
seen on James excellent
monthly video blog which can
be viewed on youtube and
facebook or by going to the
KESR website.
There is also a carriage shed
and works at Tenterden with
sets representing the Victorian
age right up to the 1950s.
At the museum at Tenterden
curator Brian Janes explains
that the line opened at the start
of the Twentieth century as a
rural light railway but,
following World War One, its
fortunes declined rapidly and
passenger as goods traffic
dropped.
“Only during the brief hop-
picking season did the bustle
return as the hop-pickers and
their families descended from
London for their annual
invasion,” he says.
During the Second World
War the KESR housed a large
rail-mounted gun and assisted
in Operation Pluto, the
construction of undersea oil
pipelines under the Channel in
support of the Allied invasion of
Normandy in June 1944.
The line was finally closed in
1970 but plans to preserve the
KESR were already well under
way despite the fact that British
Railways had demolished
virtually all the buildings at
Tenterden.
The current station building
came from Borth near
Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast
and the signal box once stood
at Deal Junction, near Dover.
In contrast Bodiam station is
the most unaltered and every
care has been taken to maintain
its original atmosphere. The
station became the line's
western terminus on April 2
2000 exactly 100 years to the
day since the first passenger
train pulled in.
The KESR has also led the
sector by providing luxury
Pullman style on-train catering
since 1974. Full-time caterer
STEAMING ON THE
HOPPER EXPRESS
The picturesque Kent and East Sussex
Railway heritage line specialises in
encouraging young people into the sector
Picture: KESR