Kent & East Sussex Railway
Members e-newsletter No.52
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Welcome to the September issue of the e-newsletter |
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We have had a good summer. Taking the August and September passenger figures together we exceeded the targets we set ourselves and our finances remain in a healthy state. We even managed to run a new-look Hoppers and a 40s weekend, both of which contributed to the feelgood factor. As I said last month, many people have worked hard to achieve all this, and we owe them our thanks.
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Again as I said last month, we cannot be complacent, and we must continue to ensure that as an organisation we have the resilience to withstand any future shocks that Covid or anything else might have in store for us. Indeed, as I write these words the internet is full of stories about fuel shortages and other supply chain issues. |
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The evenings are now drawing in and we are planning the autumn season and, crucially, the all-important Santas. The former will feature, for the first time, a small model railway exhibition; this will be mounted by our friends at the City of Canterbury Model Railway Society, a number of whom are regular volunteers at our Railway. |
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The Santas will become all-consuming as December approaches. We are seeking to understand and mitigate or manage all the risks to their delivery, and we must fervently hope that events beyond our control don’t force curtailment or cancellation. This of course happened last year and we really don’t want to go there again. |
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We will need a lot of volunteers if we are to give our visitors the Christmas experience they are used to, and the requests for help will soon be going out. Please do look out for them, and please commit to whatever you feel you can. Not all the roles are specialist or require training, but all of them will bring the satisfaction of being part of the rather special atmosphere that is the Kent and East Sussex Railway during the festive season. |
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As well as keeping the show on the road (or the rails) in the short term we are also looking ahead and investing in the equipment we need to make us fit for the future. There will always be a wish-list longer than we have the money or the people to support, but we now have a process for ensuring that we spend wisely, and we are beginning to tackle the investment backlog as well as taking increased steps to keep the safety of all our activities up to the mark.
Talking of safety, we recently hosted a meeting of the Operations Committee of the Heritage Railway Association, which was attended by two representatives of the Office of Rail and Road, the safety regulators for the heritage movement. It was clear from this that while the ORR approach is supportive (and we must remember that this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case) they will be increasingly less tolerant of any shortcomings in the heritage sector. It’s a challenge to which all of us must be prepared to rise.
Finally, we have of course been able to close our extant headline appeals, although that doesn't mean that fundraising has been dormant in recent weeks. We are carefully considering what the next headline appeal should be, and how we might approach it. We want to get it right, and we’ll make an announcement as soon as we are ready.
Simon Marsh
Chairman
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 Pannier Tank 1638 and 2678 "Knowle" arrive at Tenterden. September 2021. Image courtesy of C Warne.
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From the Boardroom
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The board of trustees had its monthly meeting on Saturday 28th August. We met in the function room of the White Lion in Tenterden High Street. All were present.
The e-newsletter provides an opportunity to give a brief flavour of some of the most important points. It should not in any sense be regarded as a formal record.
In a break with tradition, we started with a discussion of the Field 51 project alongside the loop and loco shed at Rolvenden, noting that this was a strategic opportunity and we needed to get it right. We agreed in principle that the specific works authorised by the Certificate of Lawfulness (Phase 1) should come first, but in such a way that all options for wider development (Phase 2) were kept open.
The next stage would be to develop robust costings for submission through the Project Assessment Committee process alongside other demands on our money. It made sense for the Permanent Way Department to be in the lead for Phase 1. A project manager and a lead trustee would be sought. The Board responsibility was to ensure adequate governance for the project; the what and the how should be for the managers and other experts.
Turning to the main agenda, we applauded the fact that despite the pressures on paid and unpaid staff we had so far been able to run all our scheduled services. We wished to record our thanks to all who had made this possible. We also noted progress across wider Railway activities, although some areas had been impacted by the necessary concentration on service delivery.
The trading position remained healthy, as did our finances. There was no room for complacency and we would have to be able to stand on our own feet going forward. Hopefully there would be no further lockdowns, but Covid and its effects could be expected to be around for a long time yet.
We noted a report from the Safety Director and in particular we welcomed the fact that the new Safety Management System and the supporting documentation would be published on HOPS in the coming days – as would the updated document setting out the governance structure for the Railway.
We noted a report from the Risk and Compliance Committee and agreed that developing a risk register for the 2021 Santa operation would be a means of beginning to embed the K&ESR’s new Risk Management Policy. The RCC was gaining in maturity and the range of risks being monitored was increasing all the time.
In a discussion on strategy we noted that increasingly it was thinking and planning capacity rather than the availability of finance alone that constrained development.
We noted the positive impact that the Project Assessment Committee was having. Its role was still developing; the next stage might be for it to exercise a greater oversight role of the delivery of projects.
We discussed the IT project. While much had been delivered, there was still some dissatisfaction on the part of users. Some of this might be due to scope creep leading to expectations that had not been met. We agreed that the lead trustee should summarise for the managers what had been done; what was being done at the moment; and what would be done in the future. We also agreed that there should be a second phase to build on what had been achieved to date.
We noted that a major review of our use of the "HOPS" system https://www.hops.org.uk/about.php was under way; it was likely to suggest improvements to communications and training. Used to its full potential, HOPS could be a major and beneficial driver of culture change on the K&ESR.
We had a brief discussion on the way in which the K&ESR drew up its contracts and agreements with third parties. We believed there was scope for improvement and we logged the issue for further consideration.
The next scheduled meeting would be on Saturday 25th September.
Simon Marsh
Chairman
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 Time to Go! Tenterden September 2021
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It been another busy few weeks for the volunteering committee. After nearly a year of meetings via Zoom and the challenges of technology the committee finally came back to face-to-face meetings in September. The work of each working group has been steaming ahead and progress is being made in all areas.
Social Events - Sarah Tagart, Paula Oliver, Pete Salmon and Sheila Mckenna
The first of the new programme of Social Events took place over the 1940’s weekend with a period disco, catering from Kashmir Kitchen and a barrel of beer kindly donated by Rother Valley Brewery - what was not to like!
This event is just the start of what’s to come with the next one already in the diary for Saturday 6th November at Tenterden with a firework night theme - look out for further details. The aim is to achieve events for everyone, with ideas currently including: Quiz nights, coffee mornings and maybe even an outing to the bowling alley for some healthy interdepartmental competition.
Recruitment Material - Mike Pearson, Martin Forder and John Chapman
The team are looking at the material we use to promote volunteering are continuing their research. Their next big job is to work with the commercial department to develop a new leaflet ready for the 2022 operating season. The aim of new material is not only to keep things fresh and informative but to also ensure everything is up to date.
Recruitment Process - Peter Lamont, Phil Wiles, and Barry Lee.
Work on the process is continuing with the early stages currently being trialled and adapted as we go along, with the recently developed webform helping in this. So far we have held six of our new Volunteer Welcoming Days with a 100% success rate for attendees signing up for volunteering and starting in role.
A key part in the development of this process is the introduction of the Volunteer Recruitment Team, which is currently being covered by just myself in the interim. The target is for this team to be formed of a Volunteer Recruitment Manager and three (or more) Recruitment Officers. The role descriptions have been finalised for these and will soon be advertised.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Volunteer Recruitment Team, please don't hesitate to email me via stagart@kesr.org.uk
Retention - John Ascher, John Cobbett, Joe Gluza and Becky Goodsell
The newly introduced Volunteer Recognition Officers have started their work sifting through the records to find out who is eligible for what award, whilst the two John’s are liaising with other railways to share best practice when it comes to volunteer retention.
Volunteer Numbers
Following on from the success of the webform, it is heartening to note the numbers of new volunteers coming through. Applications have been arriving daily and since late May 2021, we have welcomed over 90 potential new volunteers. A remarkable 43 have already gone on to start volunteering in a whole host of different departments and roles - if you're not already, why not join us too?
https://kesr.org.uk/volunteering/
Sarah Tagart
Volunteer Committee
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Austin Counties Rally 2021 |
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We are delighted to welcome back the Austin Counties organisers for their annual rally on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th October 2021. We greatly missed their presence in our calendar last year and are keeping our fingers crossed for dry, fine weather for the weekend! |
 Image courtesy of Stuart Kirk Photography
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We are expecting a display of around 20 Classic Cars on Saturday 9th October and more than 30 vehicles on Sunday 10th October 2021. There will be a varied display of members and guests vehicles – some of which have celebrated their centenary! Models on show will include Austins from Longbridge, Morris’ from Cowley and Ford’s from Dagenham.
Vehicles will be on display all around Tenterden Station, including outside the Colonel Stephens Railway Museum and the Station Refreshment Rooms at Tenterden Station, which will be open from 10.00am serving a range of light refreshments.
Further details and timetable for the weekend can be found on the website at https://kesr.org.uk/austin-counties-car-rally/
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Autumn Wonders |
As the weather turns truly autumnal, we will be promoting travel on the railway this October as an opportunity to enjoy the changing colours of the season.
Following an excellent August and September in terms of passenger numbers we have, at this late stage, added additional capacity to our October weekends - adding diesel observation train departures from Tenterden for the first three weekends to supplement the planned steam departures.
The activities at the railway for the half term holiday will take place on board the train and will focus on the wildlife that can be seen from the line and specifically educating our visitors about the hibernation habits of wildlife. Younger visitors will receive a hibernation activity sheet in addition to our usual eye-spy "Wildlife Detective" exercise, plus our popular Terrier activity sheet. Pre-booked customers will also be given a craft activity to create a hibernating "creature" mask during their journey.
This year will see the return of Fright Night on Friday 29th October 2021 and details will released shortly via digital and social media
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 Painting courtesy of Rick Hatfield for K&ESR Commercial 2021.
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Our Celebration of Hops and 1940's weekends earlier in September were well supported and it was truly heartwarming to welcome so many passengers for these weekends and feel the spirit of events at the railway return after such a long absence. The vintage vehicle owners, stall holders, entertainers, re-enactors and many external stakeholders for the event were extremely supportive and delighted to be able to support this first major at the Railway since the outbreak of the pandemic. Our thanks go to each and every person who assisted with delivery of these events following an extremely busy summer!
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 Colin (reinactor) & Colin Duncan meet and greet during the 1940's weekend!
We were also thrilled to welcome five local schools for a day of "Evacuation" following the 1940's event. These schools do not attend when we operate in May as this doesn't suit their school calendar, but we are delighted that they wish to return again in September 2022. Plans are afoot to operate an additional Evacuation event independent of the 1940's event, which we intend will return to May in 2022!
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 Students from Rolvenden Primary School experience "Evacuation" at KESR. September 2021. Image courtesy of C Warne.
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 "Ministry of Food Jude" demonstrates rationing and how chocolate spread was made in the war...good 'ole Potato Pete! Image courtesy of C Warne.
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 Viv the Spiv presents his "black market goods" to school pupils for Evacuation experience.
Image courtesy of C Warne.
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Helen Douglas
Sales & Marketing Manager
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Heritage Railway Association Visit |
We were delighted to welcome Steve Oates, Chief Executive of the Heritage Railway Association to the Railway for an informal visit on Thursday 30th September.
As well as touring the railway and meeting managers, trustees and staff, we took the opportunity to discuss issues affecting the wider heritage railway sector such as safety, environmental and sustainability with Steve as part of our strategic objective of closer collaboration.
A number of actions were agreed that will further enhance our engagement with the HRA to mutual benefit, particularly around sharing information and supporting the various HRA sub-committee’s on key subjects.
Neil Sime
Trustee
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 Steve Oates climbs aboard Knowle at Rolvenden Loco works.
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 Steve Oates with Safety Trustee Neil Sime at Rolvenden.
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 4253's left hand piston Photo courtesy of Kelvin Williams
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Well, here we are! Another big step forward in 4253’s restoration – on Sunday 22nd August - the fitting of the pistons!
OK, what’s so special about the pistons I hear you ask? Anyone who has stripped their old internal combustion engine, be it bike, mower or car, will know that when it comes to refitting the pistons with their new rings it can be quite a fiddly exercise.
So, imagine your three inch diameter pistons are now nineteen inch pistons and you’ll understand that it was not an easy task getting them installed.
Firstly, the cylinders needed to be cleaned and inspected to ensure they were ready to receive the pistons, then oiled to allow for easy installation.
The pistons themselves were manufactured by Tyseley Locomotive Works. The piston heads were constructed hollow to reduce weight and screwed on to the piston rods that were then turned by Tyseley, who also cut the ring grooves into the heads.
With the assistance of an electric winch, each piston was positioned at the entrance to the cylinder, oiled ready and rings inserted.
Using steel extension tubes fitted to two of the lower cylinder cover bolts, the piston was pushed in to the point where the rings contact the entrance. Then, with the assistance of 4 thin pieces of tin measuring 4in by 1in inserted between the rings and the cylinder walls, the piston is gently ‘tapped’ into the cylinder using a long handled 5lb copper headed hammer.
Eventually the fireman’s side piston slid home. Success! Simply repeat the process for the driver’s side piston and job done! Alas not so! Several ‘problems’ arose that resulted in some choice words muttered, but eventually, with several taps of the hammer, it slid home, much to the relief of everyone involved.
Kelvin Williams
4253
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Touring Terrier |
Following her visits to several heritage railways earlier this year, Terrier 2678 "Knowle" will shortly be off to visit our friends at the Didcot Railway Centre. Just a matter of weeks afterwards, Didcot based Prairie Tank 4144 is destined to join us here at the K&ESR to support our steam fleet through our all-important Santa Special season. Operating dates for 4144 will be released in due course.
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 Terrier 2678 runs round at Bodiam September 2021. Image courtesy of Caroline Warne.
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With Knowle having enjoyed more holiday than most of us during 2021, we are working behind the scenes on exciting plans for our Terriers during 2022 - the 150th anniversary of the Terrier locomotive class.
We look forward to sharing the exciting plans that we have to mark this very special anniversary in future editions of your Members e-newsletter.
Helen Douglas
Sales & Marketing Manager
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Newsletter Archive
Have you missed a newsletter? Have you recently joined us? Whatever the reason, you can browse recent editions of this newsletter at https://kesr.org.uk/members-e-newsletter-archive/
Tenterden Terrier Online
As a member of the K&ESR, you can access ‘The Tenterden Terrier’ magazine in electronic format by registering your details at https://kesr.org.uk/tenterden-terrier-online/
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Support the K&ESR when you shop!
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Did you know that whenever you buy anything online – from your weekly shop to your holiday – you could be raising free donations for the Kent & East Sussex Railway with easyfundraising?
There are over 4,000 shops and sites on board ready to make a donation – including eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com and M&S – and it won’t cost you a penny extra to help us raise funds.
All you need to do is:
1. Go to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/kesr/?utm_campaign=raise-more and join for free.
2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.
3. After you’ve checked out, the retailer will make a donation to Kent & East Sussex Railway at no extra cost to you whatsoever!
There are no catches or hidden charges and we’re really grateful for your donations.
Amazon Smile
If you’re an Amazon customer, you can support the K&ESR at no additional cost by using Amazon Smile – simply click the link below and setup the K&ESR as your selected charity.
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If you use Chrome, there’s a browser extension that will automatically turn your everyday Amazon purchases into AmazonSmile donations https://couponfollow.com/smilematic
Thank You!
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From all of us here at the K&ESR, our very best wishes |
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Kent & East Sussex Railway
Tenterden Town Station, Station Road,
Tenterden, Kent TN30 6HE
www.kesr.org.uk
Registered charity 262481
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