Rememberance line / Folkestone Harbour Branch

I would like to take a few minutes to bring those who might have an interest up to date on the latest news
Firstly, our earstwhile chairman has stood down and we now have a new committee who are moving forward at a pace , The former chairman was too involved with other enviromental protests to allow the time to spend on his duties and so it was felt that it would be in the interests of everyone that he stand down

We have had talks with NR and we have been informed that the line is not up for sale, but they would be interested in leasing it as long as they retain ownership of the structures and track bed but have indicated that they would prefer us to come to agreement with the local council and other interested bodies before anything is decided and a price is put on the track and ballast
Therefore the comitee are actively aproaching the Folkestone harbour company and Shepway council to arrange talks,

I understand that the latest plans for the re development of the harbour and front, do not now inpact on the railway , but a good working relationship will be essential should we be able to take over the lease on the railway and with the new comittee, there is a willingness to reach out to groups who previously it was not thought we needed to talk to and as a result we have found many people who support what we want to do for the town

our first aim is to have a park and ride from a car park just off wear bay road (for the WARREN) to the harbour for the seafront and coastal park, and a possible extension to the Leas water lift , long term we intend to have a steam / heritage deisel service connecting with Southeastern trains services at folkestone junction,with the possibility of a connection with the hi speed service
There is also an interest in possibly getting the ferry service re started, but that really will be outside of the railways control, all we can do is to provide a feeder service should it be decided to re instate a ferry , but the RL will support any serious plan to see this happen

 

Thanks for the update, and I hope we will see more in due course.

Sounds like progress is being made and some great news particularly...

 

the best news is that network rail do not intend to sell the track bed, mostly because it is the last rail connected port in kent it all hinges on the attitude of the folkestone harbour company and the council, and their willingness to at least hear what we wish to say, the responces from FHC have softerned a bit , when first approached they were not interested but they at least now answer the letters , as far i understand , we do need to increase the membership both nationally and locally in readiness should we get a green light and we are now ramping up a membership drive and informing locals what it is we want to do, before there was a lack of clear information about this and a lot of problems because the public did not know the truth, we have learnt from this and i hope that we are now getting the correct message out , we also will be looking at the web site and improoving it so watch this space you can find us at www. therememberanceline.org.or just google rememberance line

 

Has your group got a website?

 

Come on, wake up at the back Woody!

 

Doh, Its been a long day!