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Press Release
2 June 2011
Martello No. 662 at the Great Central Railway Nottingham on 25 April 2011, before being painted black at Loughborough for its visit to the K&ESR. Photo by John Bagshaw
Tickets available for 50 Year Commemorative Train Journey on 11 June 2011 with the Kent & East Sussex Railway
Tickets have been released for a very special 50 year commemorative train journey on the Kent & East Sussex Railway on 11 June 2011, exactly 50 years to the day after BR closed the line in 1961. The event is a re-enactment of the last train journey made and passengers will include people who travelled on the last train between Robertsbridge and Tenterden and special guest Denis Roberts, from Eastbourne, who was a fireman on one of the two locomotives (Terrier 32662) on this historic journey 50 years ago.
The commemorative train will be hauled by the same locomotives used in 1961 and the train will depart Tenterden station for Bodiam at 10.40 am. The locomotives Martello No 32662 and Bodiam No 32670 will be painted black to ensure complete authenticity.
On this date the railway will also be celebrating the formation of the Preservation Society, which restored the Railway after its closure due to lack of passengers in 1961.
After a thirteen year struggle the Railway was saved and the society set about restoring the line, reaching Tenterden in 1974, Wittersham Road in 1977, Northiam in 1990 and finally Bodiam in 2000 - one hundred years after it first opened.
Today, the Kent & East Sussex Railway is a historical landmark, which welcomes 100,000 visitors each year to experience the nostalgic past of steam train travel, when travelling by train was the superior form of transport.
Over 400 volunteers give their time to keep the railway alive and help preserve this important legacy in British history.
To book tickets for this event please call the booking office on 01580 765155.
Tickets: Adult £13.50, Senior Citizen £12.50, Child (3 - 15 years inc.) £8.50 and Family (2 adults + up to 3 children or 1 adult and up to 4 children) £37.00.
For further information about the railway visit www.kesr.org.uk
Press enquiries to:
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or call 01892 616647.
History of the Railway
In 1896 proposals were put forward to construct a railway from Robertsbridge on the Tonbridge-Hastings line to Tenterden. The engineer appointed to build the new light railway was Holman Fred Stephens.
Opened in 1900, success quickly saw the line expand, with stations opened at Tenterden in 1903 and Headcorn in 1905; offering a much needed service to local residents.
Despite proposals for further line extensions, the Railway's prosperity was short lived and by 1931 financial losses, bankruptcy and the growing threat of more convenient transport on the roads threatened the Railway's future. Nevertheless, maintaining its independence under the care of Colonel Stephens, (as he was then known) the Railway continued to provide an essential service.
Following the death of Colonel Stephens in 1931, W H Austen engineered the Railway's survival throughout the 1930's and the Second World War, until 1948, when the Railway lost its independence following the nationalisation of every railway.
Although nationalisation of the railway companies brought material benefits to the railway, traffic was slowly ebbing away to the roads and on 2 January 1954, traffic was stopped on the Tenterden and Headcorn lines and they were pulled up.
Goods continued to be hauled on the original line, along with occasional passenger trains for ramblers and hop pickers, until 1961 when nearly all traffic had stopped and the Railway was finally closed.
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