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‍Kent & East Sussex Railway

Members e-newsletter No.82

‍Welcome to the latest edition of the K&ESR's e-newsletter

‍‍From the Chairman

I had the privilege of attending the volunteers’ meeting on 16 March. The excellent presentations, which covered a range of topics of interest to all of us, will be made available as soon as we have the resource to do so. As ever, there are too few people to do all the jobs as quickly as we would all like.

The presentations demonstrated that we face a challenging but exciting 2024.  We need to meet a tight budget while at the same time continuing to ready ourselves for Robertsbridge. The latter will require a fundamental re-evaluation of everything we do.

We used the meeting to launch our Fiftieth Anniversary Appeal, which is to raise the funds to restore Pannier tank 1638, an engine that has the potential to again be very useful in the years to come. Please support it if you can; I have already signed up.

Among the events planned to celebrate our anniversary are two galas, of a scale not attempted for many years. That in June, in conjunction with our friends in the Rother Valley Railway, promises to be truly spectacular. Please do all you can to support it; we will need a lot of people on the ground.

A word about communication, which is key to our effective functioning. It could always be better. We do our best, but everyone has a responsibility. There is now evidence that less than half of the Newsletters we produce are actually opened, and I suspect many of us do not read working member 'HOPS' notices unless they are directly and inescapably relevant to us as individuals.

Robin Coombes and I attended the Heritage Railway Association conference on 5th and 6th March. The main message was that the sector was facing unprecedented challenges and probably at a point where fundamental and generational change was necessary. There weren’t enough skills and resources to go round, and the future lay in much deeper, and more intentional, working together, and in thinking outside the box. I’ll just leave that thought there for the time being.

Coming back home, I was pleased to be at the Colonel Stephens Railway Museum annual get-together on 21st March. There have been some new acquisitions and rearrangements; it remains a very good museum indeed, and an essential part of delivering our charitable objectives. If you haven’t popped in recently, you might like to do so. You’ll be impressed.

Some of us will remember Kim Richardson, who played a major role in saving the Railway during the dark days at the beginning of the century when we very nearly went under. Sadly, he has recently passed away. Our condolences go to his family and friends.

Finally, as is now usual at this time of year, I’d like to mention our Values and Behaviours. Please take time to read them, and please be guided by them in your activities on Our Railway.

So here we go. The 2024 season is now under way. There will be challenges to be dealt with, but I’m sure we will all pull together to make our anniversary year one to remember for all the right reasons!

Simon Marsh

Chairman 

‍News from 4253

Work continues on the boiler at HBSS Liverpool, with the foundation ring now fully rivetted and inspected by the boiler inspector. Next step is the riveting of the front tube plate and the fitting of all the tubes. The tube plate is currently fitted and drilling of the holes for the rivets has begun.

The lads here at Rolvenden continue to be busy on lots of little tasks that will save time for when the boiler does come home. 

In the meantime, several of our team have been busy in the shed assisting Liam and Co. in the preparation of Terrier 2678 'Knowle'. The wheels received a steam clean followed by rubbing down ready for undercoat. The frames have also been worked on with rubbing down and painting with undercoat, as well as various other jobs.

This next month will be spent, as always, preparing 4253 for the return of the boiler; which will include the installation of the new brake cylinder currently being machined at Severn Valley Railway, followed by the brake system testing.

All being well, the bunker can then be refitted.....

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Kelvin Williams

4253

‍Environment and Sustainability of the K&ESR

‍It is inescapable that all heritage railways, including the K&ESR, create a carbon footprint by burning fossil fuels to run trains; through the products and services we provide and by our day to day operations. Our visitors also contribute to carbon emissions by travelling to the Railway. The soaring cost of electricity and coal is well known and has a dramatic impact on our finances and a knock on effect on all our other activities, including catering.

If heritage railways want to flourish; continue to offer journeys by steam and diesel traction; provide catering and put on events, we must show our visitors and the wider community that we are proactively trying to make the K&ESR an environmentally friendly home for nature and a more sustainable organisation.

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This update on environment and sustainability progress on the K&ESR is one of the channels used to communicate our actions and activities, and also seek support and expertise from members who could help further our work.

What has been achieved so far? 

The group, led by Paul Vidler, have created a policy and action plan which has been approved by the Board. The group meets every two months to discuss progress and agree the next steps. Much of the work so far has been devoted to establishing the current situation and collaborating with local environmental organisations and other heritage railways.

In terms providing a home for nature:

Finding out what we have: Covering over 10 miles of line and amounting to 30 hectares of land, surveys show the Railway is home to many animals and plant species, some of which are rare and specialised. For example, the Railway has planted over 1000 trees, including 10 disease resistant elms supplied by the Woodland Trust and Ashford Borough Council.

Inform and engage: Information gathered from the surveys will be used to:

• enhance existing and develop new habitats including the Bodiam Robertsbridge extension. Look around the stations to see bird boxes, bug hotels, compost bins, wildflower meadows and the gardens.

• tell our visitors, members and community about what the K&ESR is doing to provide a home for nature and show what may be seen on a journey down the line

• gather feedback from our visitors, members and the wider community of further enhancements we could implement. 

• seek out further sources of funding and collaborations to provide a better home for nature along the line.

In terms of becoming a more sustainable organisation: The Railway needs to be better at reducing, reusing and recycling in order to minimise costs; limit our carbon footprint and tell a positive story to visitors.

Finding out the existing situation: Electricity. So far much effort has gone into understanding how the Railway uses electricity. We use different suppliers at different locations at different rates and contracts lengths. Through the use of meters we are now beginning to understand the scale of energy use in various parts of the Railway.

We are taking steps to reduce our consumption. For example, light bulbs have been replaced with LEDs and motion sensor detectors installed. This is a good short term gain but we are also considering longer term solutions including solar panels, which members may recall have been considered in the past but not implemented.

Reduce, reuse and recycle: Reducing the consumption of electricity will reduce our costs. It is the same for the waste that we produce. Catering has made significant changes to its operations by using recyclable takeaway containers, promoting reusable drinks cups and bottles, extending its use of local suppliers and changing on-train catering arrangements.

Despite these changes  the Railway and its visitors still produce waste. The challenges here include how best to segregate waste, encourage our visitors to put their waste in the right bins and work with waste contractors to have a more efficient contract.

In conclusion, this may sound as if developments are happening apace. In reality, an encouraging start has been made but we are still only scratching the surface. Your advice and support will be of enormous benefit to the Railway.  Please contact pvidler@kesr.org.uk if you can help.

On Sunday 7th April 2024 we are hosting our second Green Fun Day in collaboration with Plastic Free Tenterden, where there will be entertainment, stalls and talks about sustainability. Come if you can and support the Railway, the local community and ride the trains too!

Philip Noakes

Environmental Sustainability Working Group

‍Ford Diesel

Work has re-started on repairs to the Ford diesel at Rolvenden. If you'd like to help return this interesting historic locomotive to service, please do get in contact with Richard Stone via rstone@kesr.org.uk

Working days are usually Saturday or Sunday. A few working weeks are also planned when the weather gets warmer!

‍The Bodiam Coach

‍The Bodiam Coach continues to be a popular place to stay and we are cranking up for another full-on season of guests. This year we are promoting a range of K&ESR products to our guests in order to enhance their holiday experience. We hope these will also contribute to additional income for the railway!

‍Spring cleaning inside of the coach took our dynamic domestic team another twelve hours.

By 16th March we were ready to accept our first guests of the season, after which we are almost fully booked until September. In line with other accommodation providers in this sector, it would seem that quirky converted heritage transport located in attractive settings continues to enjoy popularity. Modest promotion results in lots of enquiries such that we have now installed an “availability calendar” on our website. What we probably need is another coach, van, or brake van to convert, however we will leave that venture for others for now! 

If you would like to spend a few days relaxing in the delights of Bodiam Station this summer, check out the availability at railwayglampingcoach.co.uk We also have a Facebook page which you may find handy for updates on current developments at Bodiam.

We are still short of occasional volunteer hosts. Hosting is actually the fun part of the Coach. The role involves meeting new guests, explaining how the coach works (fire procedures, radiators etc), offering advice on how to spend their time while at Bodiam and generally helping them to have a great time. It does involve a couple of trips to Bodiam and so ideal hosts need to live within easy reach of Bodiam Station. If this is something you would like to explore further, please contact me - I'll be very pleased to hear from you as I could do with the odd weekend off!

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Bryan Atkins

The Bodiam Coach

Electrical Works

Following a request by the Northiam based Tuesday Group for some electrical alterations, the K&ESR’s Electrical department paid a site visit to ascertain the scope of the required works.

The Electrical Department consists of Richard Stone & Clive Dicker, with oversite provided by the Infrastructure Manager, Brian Richards.

A visual inspection of the existing installation was carried out which revealed a number of discrepancies that did not comply with the current requirements of BS7671/2018, the Electrical Regulations all electrician’s work to. These discrepancies included the need to provide greater safety protection for outside sockets, alterations to the way sockets were configured, improvements to earthing and the switching of lighting - to name but a few!

Further discrepancies were subsequently discovered, including rodent damage to lighting cables. It rapidly became apparent therefore that the best course of action was a complete strip-out & re-wire.

The vast majority of electrical installations on the K&ESR are supplied by overhead cables. This means we are very susceptible to electrical spikes & surges, which can damage sensitive electrical components such as found in data systems & C.C.T.V. Surge Protection Units are therefore being fitted at the origin of each installation to safeguard our systems and appliances.

As we were in possession of a quantity of recovered conduit from a demolished building at Rolvenden, it was cost effective to re-use this in the re-wire. Work was started on December 19th and continued through the Christmas holiday & into the New Year, with completion in early January.  The finished installation was inspected, tested & the results uploaded to the electrical database.

Clive Dicker

Electrical Department 

Late Availability Offer

We've some unexpected late availability for the Wealden Pullman Saturday evening dining train on 6th April - save 20% when you book online by clicking on the image above

Bookings close at midnight on Easter Monday

The Wealden Pullman is otherwise fully booked until mid-August, so this is a rare opportunity!

Wedenesday Working Group

Last month I spoke about optimism going forward with projects and actions, but little did I know that the crystal ball would become foggy and soaking wet with rain! The weather has certainly given us some challenges in as much that we have lagged behind in our expectations for the ongoing projects within K&ESR infrastructure.

There is good news however in that the painting store has been in good use and has allowed us to progress with painting of the station fencing - which will soon be finished and look resplendent when fitted.

We have also been allocated some money to forward more projects, which whilst very tight to accomplish, will mean we're on our way.

We have progressed Tenterden station building by getting rid of the "coat of many colours" by getting back to our standard colour scheme. Whilst this is ongoing, we hopefully will be able to fit some of the new cladding soon.

The Tenterden signal box became a major project, clearly demonstrating that a lick of paint now and again is not enough. The grant and appeal fund for the station buildings project is being used up very quickly due to the cost of materials. It's important to tell you that our labour is free, so the appeal funds have a very direct and visible impact: if you feel able to contribute to the appeal and keep our progress going, then please do help. Thank you

Going forwards, as our line is predominantly in an area of low-lying terrain, it has never drained well. We have already attacked Bodiam and Northiam to reduce wet areas. Despite being higher, springs in and around Tenterden station car park have always been a problem. We are clearing a lot of overgrown vegetation and have found some blocked drains, but we are going further by installing some drainage gulleys - although this will take time owing to the car park being in use again.

I think I will give the Crystal Ball up for the moment and hope that good weather will prevail so that the group can pursue their many objectives in the uplift of our infrastructure

‍The image above appeared in this newsletter last month - the progress we've been able to make since is seen below

W‍ork underway to Tenterden Station Car Park and the station building

Images by John Holland

John Holland

Wednesday Working Group

‍Awards

I have written previously about the volunteers Long Service Awards and in the next issue there’ll be further news on this year’s awards, which are taking place very soon.

Last year we introduced new award schemes to recognise the hard work and passion shown by our volunteers. Any volunteer can nominate a colleague for The Special Recognition Awards, for an achievement which they feel should be recognised. I have already had the great honour of presenting the first two of these awards: to Clive Norman, for his very many years’ service as Chief Signalling Inspector; and to Nick Wellington for over 30 years service as Signalling and Telecoms Engineering Manager - a role which he continues to hold. This is not Nick’s only award recently, as away from his voluntary role at the K&ESR, Nick works for Network Rail and was recently awarded a Chartered Institute of Railway Operators Golden Whistle Award for Outstanding Individual Operator.

Sarah Tagart

Volunteering Committee

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Bodiam Group

‍Recent life at very wet Bodiam might be described as “The Big Dig”. Making use of a mini digger hired for a short period, Brian “Digger” Richards dug out around the old septic tank in front of the waiting room to properly connect the toilets to the new sewage system. He also took advantage of the hire to dig a couple of drainage trenches in the field to try to reduce the pooling of water in the camping coach parking area.

Meanwhile some of the Wednesday group tackled problems in the ladies’ toilets, requiring some extensive panel removal to get access to the cisterns. Now it is down to the Bodiam group to re-instate the ground, yard and toilets and make them presentable for the public in time for Easter!

On a more positive note the spell of warmer weather has brought out a lovely display of daffodils and primroses and it will soon be time to string the hop poles ready for the emerging plants.

Malcolm Burgess

Bodiam Group

‍Some of the ways you can support the K&ESR

 - When you shop



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.

‍ - When you shop for us

We have a long list of wants on our Amazon Wish List - but you don''t have to buy them from Amazon! Take a look at the list here

‍ - By making a donation

We've always a variety of projects in progress that need your support. Find out more at https://kesr.org.uk/donate/

‍ - By volunteering

Whatever your skills, whether you've a day a week or a day a year available, there's a place for you at the K&ESR! Find out how you can enjoy your railway from a very different perspective at https://kesr.org.uk/volunteering/

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 receive notification when ‘The Tenterden Terrier’ magazine is published online by registering your details at

https://kesr.org.uk/tenterden-terrier-online/

‍All editions of ‘The Tenterden Terrier’ are available to view or download from our website: to access this fascinating archive, click on the image above or visit https://kesr.org.uk/terrier/

‍Kent & East Sussex Railway

Tenterden Town Station, Station Road,

Tenterden, Kent TN30 6HE

www.kesr.org.uk

Registered charity 262481

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