Just to let you know that the Hastings Press has a new book about the East Kent Railway by John Scott Morgan currently going though the production process. I cannot give a publication date yet but it will definitely be in 2010.

Perhaps someone from the railway could contact me with a view to John holding the book's launch there?

We currently have one other railway history book and two railway detective novels in print and in production we have a book about the closed Isle of Wight Railways.

For more details follow these links:

http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/smoke.html

http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/footplate.html

http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/crows.html

http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/railwaywomen/railindex.html

If anyone would like to contact me you are most welcome.

Helena Wojtczak

The Hastings Press

Firstly well done to all with the superb effort both on the website and on the railway itself! I had my first trip tp the railway on the 9th of Aug and was very impressed. I musy say though that the signs to the station need to be much better as I had problems finding Sheperdswell. I have joined since going and intend to go down and help out at least once a week. The one thing the line lacks is STEAM and I know you guys who work there realise this and it's down to funds but from an attraction and bringing in money point of view it's needed. I'm sure this will all come and there are many other things to be paid for. How big is our current line (in miles) and have we the potential to expand further?

thank you for supporting our railway

kind regards

Tim

THESE GATES MUST NOW BE OPENED AT LEAST 15 MINUTES BEFORE ANY SCHEDULED DEPARTURE OF FIRST TRAIN.

This is in the recent interest of any problems occuring so they are able to be rectified without causing any problems as far as passengers,

Regards,

David

Already done 2 weeks ago - simply click the red link button on the home page and it takes you to a special tribute .

Regards Tim

Thank you

David

jackolittle@hotmail.com

Im living in Heathfield in east sussex now so dont get to see the old place much but when i see pictures im amazed, its looking like it did about 10years ago before the dreaded Almagest/Concept Training groups came along and basically wrecked the site, i think its now recovered and all traces have dissapeared. iits really a big step forward and you should all be very proud

if anyones intersted what i get up to at the spa valley railway i have my own fotopic site its

www.75f.fotopic.net

Thanks Tim

More than happy to send you PDF file if you can forward to me your email address

Tim

thanks

callum

Free tea and coffee!

But please bring food , we have a microwave,fridge and grill.

Look forward to seeing you. John

I'm assuming his occupation was to do with the railways and was wondering if anyone knows where I maybe able to get more information about him and his job?

thanks for your message . You will be more than welcome to help with vegetation clearance and /or any other jobs you would you like to do . If you could post me your email address I will be happy to give you details

many thanks Tim

upcroft591@btinternet.com

I will be able to help you with gradient profiles for the whole track as it was , as i managed to get hold of a booklet by A R catt published in 1975 which details same. If you email me with your email address i will scan relevant page and forward to you .

The connection to the mainline has been severed presumably in 1986 when the line officially closed - by way of points removal . The spur nowadays stops just short of the mainline.

best wishes

Tim

--- tupcroft 

I have not been up to where the line from the ekr joined the siding at shepherdswell lately but I remember BR removing a rail at the gate seperating the two sites as I think they where concerned we would run onto their siding!

David Latham

I am currently working with online viedeo in producing a DVD to celebrate 100 years of the East Kent Railway. This is an appeal for anyone who wqould be able to provide photographs or film footage. If anyone is able to then please contact me.

Cheers Neil

--- miniaturepwayguard 

Dear Neil,

If you look in the archive section of this website you will find photos of the last p-way gang to work on the railway in BR days.

David Latham

I am currently working with online viedeo in producing a DVD to celebrate 100 years of the East Kent Railway. This is an appeal for anyone who wqould be able to provide photographs or film footage. If anyone is able to then please contact me.

Cheers Neil

I will be able to help you with gradient profiles for the whole track as it was , as i managed to get hold of a booklet by A R catt published in 1975 which details same. If you email me with your email address i will scan relevant page and forward to you .

The connection to the mainline has been severed presumably in 1986 when the line officially closed - by way of points removal . The spur nowadays stops just short of the mainline.

best wishes

Tim

One of the railway members has kindly answered the colour of the station buildings. I managed to get hold of a 32 page booklet called East Kent Railway Locomotive Papers by A R Catt from EBAY . It was published in 1975 by Oakwood Press and contains a history of the railway, remains as they were in 1975 when the bridge for Eastry Station still stood and all the gradient profiles for the whole line. Hope this helps . Do you live near the railway ? I will be happy to show you around sometime if you want including the original locomotive reservoir in the Knees at Shepherdswell which still survives intact , the high level embankment and cutting down to the main line , Elvington Platform which is still there amongst the trees etc..

best wishes Tim

I will be interested if you have any published books on the EKLR that I haven't managed to get my hands on. I am now trying to find all the magazine articles that might have been published. I was hoping that some descendants of the staff might still remember.

I have a suspicion that the second colour was a deep red. I grew up in Kent, and remember at Maidstone the East Kent bus company colours were cream and red, and it looked very nice alongside the green of the 'normal' buses.

There are some screenshots and details of what I have been doing on my site http://www.semleystation.com/EKLR/index.php

Regards

Adrian

Very good question - I will browse through my EKR books to see if it mentions this . As you know all the old photographs are black and white so really hard to judge !!! I am with you on that they were probably cream but I will see what i can dig out and email you directly .

Very interested in what you are doing , if you have any screen shots of this in progress i would be happy to see them -

best wishes - Tim

I have been creating MSTS models of the EKLR as it was between the wars, and although I have found details of the engine, carriage and wagon colour schemes, I can find no mention in any of the books on the EKLR as to the colour of the wooden stations. All I have found is that the round tin hut at Shepherdswell was red.

From the black and white photos I can guess that the principal colour of the buildings was yellow or cream, but there is also a darker colour used to pick out the framing, and the waiting room areas of Eastry, Woodnesborough Road and Wingham Canterbury Road also seem to have been done in a darker colour.

Also, does anybody know what the lettering and background colours of the stations name boards were?

If you have any connections with steam engine owners who might be interested or any model engineer enthusiasts please let me know . Thanks Tim

I may be able to help you with what may may want to know you can contact me by email jackolittle@hotmail.com

cheers neil

Just to say how well my 2 days doing santa went. This was down to the good organisation especially clive and karen. I found it very easy with the names already on the presents and it made it a smoother operation. The grotto was also great and I think we have an advantage with excited small people going on a journey to see santa. It was also nice to have proper toilets on site, thanks ron and others. All being well I will be available to don the red suit in 2009.

I have been told by my sister-in-law, jayne, that the children ,who are under the care of the William Harvey Hospital, had a good time on sunday 21 december 2008 on their special train. As you know they all have various illnesses such as leukemia and cystic fibrosis to name two. Jayne will be sending a letter of thanks but has agreed to me writing on the forum to say what a nice time was had by all. I would also like to say thank you also. As many of you know I work for the NHS and see the effect that illness can have on families. Looking after a sick child can be very challenging physically and mentally and I admire those mums and dads especially those with children who only have a short prognosis. There is talk of another visit next year.

happy christmas.

David

This is my first post on the forum. I have been to the railway a couple of times a fair while ago and enjoyed it very much. I don't think you can get much better than a preserved Southern Railway route with some of the most interesting diesel stock about!

I am looking for a gradient profiles for the route and any track diagrams. If you have some I would really appreciate it. Also my memories faded a bit is the railway connected to the national rail network at Sheperds Well or not? You may be wondering why I want this information it is because I am hoping to build the route in a train simulator, this will be freeware release. Any help is gratefully received.

Regards,

Richard Fletcher

Many thanks for the great photos - for everyone else please check them out on the archive photo gallery link at the bottom of the main photo gallery . I hope we can build this up into a great collection . One excellant point to note is how well the banks are kept free from vegetation .

Once again David , many thanks and by the way if you are interested in volunteering at any time please give me a shout as membership numbers shot up after the last weekend

Tim

David

good to see you at the teddies event - always good to put a face to a voice if you know what i mean ! With regard to brown signs , this is a subject that comes up at Committee meetings about 3 times a year , our treasurer is hoping to receive a grant from Kent Tourism to finally get the signs we need as they are devilishly expensive - due i suspect to the council utilising one of their departments to undertake making erecting and maintaining them . Hopefully some positive news on this front shortly

Tim

Will the railway now be spending some money on brown signs from the main roads now that money has been spent buying the land as this can only help bring in more revenue?

I have scanned the photos I have of the last p-way gang on the EKR but I cannot find your email.

Can you please send to locolatham@hotmail.co.uk.

Thanks

it is always dissappointing to cancel an event , unfortunately our main exhibitor who normally brings 5 buses dropped out only a few weeks ago citing fuel costs as the reason which is quite understandable given today's climate. Our 2nd main exhibitor dropped out with 2 buses leaving us with potentially only 1 or 2 which would not have made a very exciting rally !! It was therefore with reluctance we had to cancel the rally . It is not expected to be re-instated as a special event anytime soon as attendances have not been good for this particular display despite in recent years being both advertised and with up to 14 buses on display at Eythorne Station.

Tim

hopefully this is an even more prompt response !!! We are just updating the Knees Project in the current projects page and have posted up a couple of pictures of the old reservoir which i am sure you remember only too well.More to follow shortly.

Sorry to hear about your fellow collegues ,I'm sure they could have recounted many an interesting tale from the railway in it's heyday. I would be delighted if you have any old photos of your time at the EKR which i can post up onto the site or any documents as there is a massive interest amongst the current day members for anything relating to the old EKR not least of all myself. Putting them on the website not only shares it with everyone but ensures they won't go astray !!

best regards Tim

thank you for your prompt reply. As the railway now own the yard i guess the points to the main line will have to be severed and a fence put up. On a new subject John Fagg who worked on the East kent in William Austins reign as manager passed away at christmas. He was the storeman at Canterbury East when I was p-way from 1982-1987,1983 onwards included the east kent as part of my area for maintenance. I saw the last coal trains running. I wish I had taken more photos. I have pictures of the gang fishplate greasing. Also Peter Talbot who was a patrolman in my gang also passed away at christmas.

The gang consisted of ten of us and our area was Nunnery Fields bridge to the end of Lydden tunnel and the EK. Our gang number was 170. Over the years I have had copies made for the railway archives but the always seem to disappear although I think Tony Larkins may have a set for the museum as we were the last to work on the EK.

Finally your girlfriend is very talented marry her!

Regards

David

many thanks for the comments on the website.For our sins it was my girlfriend Mary who did most of the layout and myself with odds and sods and ideas.With regard to who owns the old mainline from Eythorne to Elvington now that we have purchased the trackbed this will be registered with Land Registry who will automatically discover exactly what we own.Anyone who is on any piece of the East Kent Railway land will be notified by them accordingly.With regard to the old Shepherdswell yard , as of April this year when we purchased the Knees this included the whole of this area.The site of the original engine shed has already seen tree clearance work and it is the definate aim of the railway to rebuild the shed on or as near to this exact spot when funds permit.I will soon be posting photos on the site of the clearance work in progress,the site of the original shed,the reservoir which still exists and the North Bank high level embankment.

Please feel free to email me at any time with any further enquiries you might have and thanks again for your support of the railway . Best wishes Tim

Do the people at eyethorne who have extended their gardens up onto the trackbed which branches left have any rights to keep it now? I believe if you maintain an area for 12 years you can claim it. The railway may want to extend that way in the future. Any thoughts on purchasing the yard at shepherdswell?

best wishes Tim