Kent & East Sussex Railway

Thanks Paul42!

 

At the moment why would any HR line pay movement costs and hire fees for something that may not be used. You have any idea when it will be wet enough to run any steam in the south.

 

I was just checking, that was all.

 

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Kent & East Sussex Railway - This weekend
We are putting 33202 to work right away along with our DMMU and DEPG Class 14 D9526.
33202 Will be operating our A set services from Tomorrow till Monday with further dates to be confirmed shortly.
Our DMMU Will be operating our 11:45 and 14:20 services from Tenterden.
Class 14 D9526 Will be operating our Wealden Pullman dining services!
The A Set Will depart Tenterden at the following times.
10:40
13:15
15:35
We look forward to seeing you!
kesr.org.uk
Visit 1066 Country Experience Ashford & Tenterden Tenterden, Kent - The Jewel of the Weald Tenterden Town Council Heritage Railway Magazine KMTV Trackside magazine Visit Kent KentOnline News StMichaels4u Railway Retreats Tenterden Chamber

 

Went today for a ride behind 33202 - had one round trip but on the 2nd trip it was replaced on the return at Rolvenden by D9526 due to an oil leak apprently.

The line of rotting coaches at Wittersham Road attracted a couple of adverse comments from people in my coach. Some used to be tarpaulined over but these seem to have gone leaving unprotected coaches now. Some of the stuff at Nortiam isn't much better.

 

Not 33052, that's at Bluebell .

The coaches at Wittersham Rd are those which were removed from the siding at Ewhurst. Moved to Witt Rd as the first stage of moving for either disposal or covered storage as space permits. The siding at Ewhurst was even more a target for vandals (who had wrecked the expensive sheets previously provided, in the process of gaining access to the interiors) than Witt Rd, where they do at least benefit from CCTV monitoring. Since Witt Rd is where low loaders gain access to the railway, this is a logical place for anything which may be going away, at the same time it is more accessible for any attempt at repair or re-sheeting.

 

Sorry - brain fade - was looking at my earlier post.

 

Please can someone clarify something for me?
In the current Steam Railway magazine, there is an article on Austerity/J94 68078, which is under restoration and was at one point owned by a group on the K&ESR.

The article states that the K&ESR 'had identified the need for another class 5 locomotive' and so bought 68078.

The Austerities were classified 4F by BR and the LNER as far as I'm aware - were some reclassified as 5F or should I just assume it was a typo/someone mis-remembering?

 

I would presume it should have said class 4 as I cannot think of any locomotive to have been resident on the KESR to have been designated class 5 before 6619 joined the line a decade or so ago. The only loco I can think of as having sufficient tractive effort to be considered class 5 was the RSH 'Ugly' 0-6-0ST 56 (currently at Epping Ongar) which ran at the line towards the back end of the 1970s. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong!

 

I can clear this up, the KESR, identifies engines by the number of mk1 coaches it can handle up tenterden bank, so a class 5 loco, is one that can be expected to haul the heaviest rake in normal service up the bank, which is 5 mk1s, by comparison, a terrier is classed as a type 2, because its maximum load is two Mk 1's, even though it will handle the vintage train, which is more that 2 coaches, but still less weight than 2 Mk 1's.

 

Thanks for the clarification! Makes perfect sense to classify as such when you think about it, especially on a line like the KESR which gives their locos unique KESR numbers as well

 

...... and it's estimated Gazelle could manage a couple of B4 bogies ..... just the bogies, not the whole carriages!

 

Thank you! I’ve seen reference to Swiftsure being a ‘Austerity GTi’ so I wasn’t sure if this would be a cl5. Makes more sense now!

 

68078 was bought by the KESR itself. At the time, the intention was to turn it into another "Thomas" replica, like the one at the Mid Hants. However, at the time of purchase, the company thought it was buying a "Bucket", and didn't (apparently) realise that it was a genuine J94. That, coupled with the deep financial hole the company found itself in during the Bodiam extension, meant that the engine was sold to a group of KESR members. 68078 moved to a private site, and is nearing the end of an extremely thorough overhaul. I think the KESR hopes the group will base the engine at the KESR when it is done.

 

It is also an Andrew Barclay Bucket as opposed to the normal run of the mill Hunslet.

 

Of the Dear Liza variety?

 

The railway had its first delivery today of a new type of fuel for steam locomotives. This has been specially formulated to be suitable for steam locomotives with minimal emissions and is smokeless. Today's engine driver has reported that it works well!

 

Looks suspiciously like Ovoids. Didn't work for us at all (large engines)

 

Nor us, either for large or small ...

They performed slightly better when mixed about 50/50 with real coal. But in the sense "tolerable" is better than "unusable". Maybe the composition has changed.

Tom

 

Surely "Ovoids" merely describes the size and shape. That form can be used for various recipes of combustibles.