Kent & East Sussex Railway

RVR have stated [if I remember correctly] that a halt will not be provided initially but are not ruling it out in the future.

 

That's a bit mean - £1 off would be a better amount.

 

According to Google Maps, Dixter House and Gardens are 1.5 miles walking distance from Northiam Station (31 mins). Initially its along Station Road which is a fairly busy road (A28) but then through the lanes which are pleasant enough to the house itself. From the site of the previous Dixter Halt it's the best part of a mile. The first field is really only following tractor tyre marks fairly steeply uphill to gain access to an unmade farm access road. It's pleasant in summer but perhaps not so after any sort of rain.
The rationale behind the original Dixter Halt was that it allowed the railway some activity at the Bodiam end of the line whilst planning to restore the line throughout. At the time of the operation of Bodiam to Dixter Halt the railway was only operating from Tenterden to Wittersham Rd or Hexden Bridge where the Bridge needed to be replaced.
The track from Bodiam to Mill Ditch (about 800 yards before Dixter Halt) was in relatively good condition having been relayed in the BR Era with 95lb bullhead rail with steel sleepers. There was only the one bridge at Mill Ditch which hadn't been affected by the Rother Drainage Works in the same way as those the other side of Northiam. The track from Dixter halt all the way nearly to Rolvenden consisted of 91 1/4 lb SECR bullhead railway which had been laid secondhand by BR from the Elham Valley, which closed after WW2. The 91 1/4 lb track was all on softwood sleepers which were by the time of preservation "life expired". It was a fairly easy quick win to build a wooden platform at Dixter Woods and operate from Bodiam a few times a year as PR in East Sussex in an ERA when the K&ESR only actually operated in Kent.
Obviously this rationale changed when the railway opened throughout to Bodiam in 2000. I agree with what "Fireline" & others have said, there is now no rationale for the railway to want to re-open Dixter Halt even if there had been a u turn by the farm owners over access. Im an ex director and still a guard on the K&ESR>

 

The sequence of events described does not fit the usual method of working at Rolvenden.

If no gateman is available, then yes the train waits at the level-crossing board, while the guard climbs down from the train, opens the gates and waves the train across.
Once the guard has closed the gates behind the train they can rejoin the train in the platform. 'Right Away' will be given normally by this time, the token will have been exchanged.
Pulling forward into the loop (I presume you mean the Down Main) is not normally done until the Up train has arrived and the token is available for the Down train to proceed.
If a Down train were sent forward onto the Down Main, then after the Up Train had arrived, the signalman would have had to walk the full length of the Down train to deliver the token. I have worked Rolvenden box for several years and never worked in that way.

The Up train does normally wait in the Loop (reversible) and takes water while waiting for the Down train. If the gates are not manned, then for a passing move the guard of the Up train normally walks to the gates while the loco takes water. They can then work the gates for the Down train, returning to the platform afterwards until the Up train leaves the Loop. Once the Up train has left the Loop, the guard can open the gates, be ready on the platform to give 'Right Away', then the Up train will stop after the gates, and wait for the guard to close gates and rejoin train.
This method of working means that *if* it is a passing move, only one of the trains has to wait for the gates.

 

And yet if you compare it to the Bluebell for the 11 miles from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead, the advertised public journey time is 40 mins with 2 intermediate stations. We are 10.25 miles from Tenterden to Bodiam with 3 intermediate stations, steeper gradients and generally small tank engines that require water enroute. Our down advertised journey time is 47 and 49 up is not far off the pace Id suggest. Maybe where it feels a little slow is where we are operating diesels that don't need the water stops.

 

Furthermore, for heritage railways in general, it is surely the journey that is of prime importance rather than the destination.

 

I think you have probably misunderstood. The standard adult entry fee to Bodiam Castle is £11.00 The discount to K&ESR ticket holders is 10% so a standard adult with a K &ESR ticket pays £9.90 a discount of £1.10. Obviously we (K &ESR) have no control over how the national trust implement ticket issue. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/sussex/bodiam-castle#place-prices

 

As always its a matter of matching your product to your market. Our extreme example is our Sunday Lunchtime Pullman train where on one section the train runs at a very leisurely pace for the soup and main course but speed up to "linespeed" during dessert and coffee so that they can pass the normal trains without delaying the families travelling home from Bodiam Castle!

 

10% seems like a good deal.

 

No, I just looked further up that page, where I had already said that any halt would have to be up to modern standards, and capable of taking a 5 coach train, then to Paul's post, where he confirmed that a condition of the reinstatement of Northiam to Bodiam was that Dixter Halt had had to be removed and not reinstated. Or in other words, the answer to your question was on the same page you were posting on....

 

Deleted

 

I don't wish to appear as a dog with a bone, however, I did read what you had written. I was merely wondering whether after 25 years things might perhaps have changed somewhat? In case you think that strange, I was actually thinking more broadly about tourist destinations on the K&ESR, starting from Tenterden with its Col. Stephens museum and delightful high street attractions; Rolvenden, the centre of K&ESR railway action; Northiam (hmmm); Bodiam with its hop garden and the 10-minute walk to the castle. Future attractions along the line will be the Salehurst Halt pub and The Ostrich Inn at Robertsbridge with its added attraction of a mainline connection. Posters here have talked of the significant attraction of Great Dixter gardens. I was just wondering whether the K&ESR might consider benefitting somehow from its proximity to these gardens. If a halt is impractical or even impossible then perhaps an occasional (but well-timetabled) heritage bus connection from Northiam in future? I don't think anyone would seriously fancy walking along the A28 for a half-mile or so! Perhaps a leaflet of attractions might be a good idea once we are connected at Robertsbridge.

 

Neither.

 

Is this some devious way of creating disharmony on this thread? Please desist.

 

Northiam's principal summer attraction is boat trips down the Rother- along with the railway, its another way to really experience the peace and isolation of the Levels, under a big sky.

 

No, it's a perfectly innocent question!

 

This is precisely why Rolvenden is the best station on the K&ESR. It's the one place where you can really get a feel for what the built-and-operated-on-a-shoestring Col. Stephens light railway was like. I hope they never change it.

 

Nothing can stand still for ever, certainly not in an operational way, when the line has to cope with operating to and from Robertsbridge , that's going to create some issues that will need solutions, one of which might mean having to change some procedures, such as operating the crossings, especially ones on the main road, to remote mechanical operation, to ensure jouney times do not become so long as to put people off. push button operated mechanical gates for instance, operated remotely at Rolvendon from the box, activated by treadle when leaving Tenterden, i would imagine might be the preferred option,

 

My apologies, I was mistaken.

 

Oooo I don't know. Witt Road is a strong contestant for that title too.