Volunteering To Keep The Railway Running

Almost everyone you see at the Kent & East Sussex Railway is a volunteer and behind the scenes there are many more. The directors are volunteers, as are many of the people who are restoring and maintaining the locomotives, coaches, signalling, track and stations.

Without the commitment of our volunteers we would not exist. Can you Help? We would love to welcome you. There is always lots to do. We have a dedicated Volunteer Support Officer, Stan Kemp who holds regular induction days and is always on hand to offer advice and guidance. Here is just a small selection of opportunities in our various departments:

Operating

Keep our visitors on the move as Drivers, Firemen, Cleaner, Guard, Signalmen or Crossing Keeper.

Forestry & Conservation

Keeping our railway safe and attractive by maintaining trackside vegetation.

Locomotive Department

Keep our visitors moving and aware of our railway experience by helping with Steam & Diesel restoration and maintenance.

Carriage & Wagon Department

Keep our visitors conformable and aware of our railway experience by restoring and maintaining our Rolling Stock.   More information and photos

Signals & Telecommunications

Keep our visitors moving by providing, restoring and maintaining our signals and telephones.

Civil Engineering and Permanent Way

Giving our visitors a safe and attractive railway experience by planning maintaining and developing the railways infrastructure and Trackwork.

Catering

Helping to improve our visitors' pleasure through on-train catering plus station buffets.

Travelling Ticket Inspectors

Checking tickets on trains, collecting any necessary moneys to make sure we have enough to run our railway.

Booking Office & Platform Staff

Providing Visitor assistance through ticket sales and as Station Masters and Station Assistants.

Museum

Caring for the Museum and its visitors.

Gardening

The Gardening Group, co-ordinated by Veronica Hopker (01303 862811), is going from strength to strength. Tenterden Station especially has looked lovely all year with a lot of the plants donated by Bodiam Nursery (well worth a visit - only 20 yards from Bodiam Station). The Winter season should see a great deal of progress. Work has begun on tidying Northiam Station. During October the gardening group will be planting a hedge along the platform and generally clearing the small garden area in readiness to plant "rabbit proof" plants! There is a need to appoint a gardener for Northiam Station to keep the hedge trimmed - once a year - and the grass cut and the small flowerbed weeded and watered. This will not be a huge task as help will be given whenever possible. However, it would be helpful if someone were prepared to adopt the garden. Please contact Veronica if you feel able to help in any way.

Gift shop

Caring for our visitors and encouraging them to spend enough to help us run our railway.

K&ESR Terrier Club

In order to provide an opportunity for children between the ages of 9 and 15 years to take an active interest in the running of the Railway, we have set up a club within which youngsters will be encouraged to work in small groups under experianced adult supervision.

You do not have to be a "railway person" to get involved. Full training is given and many of our people come from backgrounds that have nothing to do with railways.

You must however become a Member of the Kent & East Sussex Railway Company Limited before you can become a volunteer, as it is an insurance requirement. For some jobs involving operating trains it may be necessary to take a medical.

Please contact us . We will always need your help.

Download a Volunteer registration form in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format

If you do not have Adobe Reader, it can be downloaded here