Rother Valley Railway

I recently scanned and uploaded this picture from the short phase in the early 80s when a railbus ran between Bodiam and (Great) Dixter Halt before that section was properly refurbished and reopened.

https://flic.kr/p/nxeQKh

I guess this would have been the original track & it's nothing like this any more!

JP

 

Whilst through trains are unlikely there is a solution for Tenterden bank. I dont know if this is still the case but Santa trains were heavy. No problems going down or on the run out and back to Rolvenden. At Rolvenden a banker would couple on and assist the train up the bank. At Tenterden the train engine would detach and the banker would become the train engine

 

Whilst the weight could be shifted, loop length is a problem. Anything over 5 MK I equivalent needs special arrangements. I believe 7 MK Is have been run "top & tailed", but it severely restricts what can happen elsewhere on the line. Tenterden platform is only slightly longer than the loop.

The newly extended loop at Rolvenden would allow a long train to pass, but as has been mentioned elsewhere, the length of the bay platform siding at Robertsbridge would preclude a train of any size using the connection except in several small bites.

 

This is straight off the top of my head so it may well be flawed. Most excursion trains are about 10 bogies or more to make a profit. Say 10 were run from London to Robertbridge. Detach rear 5 for a up trip to Tenterden. (At Headcorn the line merged into the up loop). The front 5 continue on a loop across Romney Marsh to Ashford. The Ashford passengers are bussed to Tenterden and the Tenterden passengers bussed to Ashford.. The excursion retraces its steps to Robertsbridge where the trains are combined for the run back to the smoke. It would be a logistical nightmare but might work.

Dons tin hat and battle armour

 

most likily option would be to run it on a kesr non operating day, that way the railway could use its mk1's and maunsel coaches to form a 7 car rake, the tour would transfer to the RVR station, as there would be no other workings, the train would not need to loop, pick up a banking engine at Rolvendon, at Tenterden the train could set forward ,as again with an engine on both ends, no need to run round, but if needed the leading engine could, also, you could also run run pasts, etc. engines, 6619, 4253 banking i would have said both terriers but the max limit would be only 4 bogies

 

Railtours might struggle up Tenterden Bank? They just need to put a box on the back:
http://www.kesr.org.uk/stock-register/diesel-locomotives/bth-no-40-bo-bo

Richard

 

the Ford, it would overheat and shut down, the 33 also is or was u/s, but by then, who knows someone might have restored the 25

 

Perhaps the most practical option would be the Hastings unit based down at St Leonards - the length of the bay at Robertsbridge and the need for multiple reversals shouldn't be a problem and they run most of their trips in this part of the world anyway.

Chris

 

Actually that isnt a bad idea Chris, it could run the tour to Robertsbridge, run to St leonards, then go back to depot, then later , run ECS to Robertsbridge, to pick up and return the passengers to london.

 

Does anyone have a figure for the length of the bay at Robertsbridge?

JP

 

Looking at Google Earth and the 4-car EMU in the station, there may be just enough room to reverse a train twice as long onto the KESR/RVR - so around 160m/525ft.

Chris

 

While the bay plaform at least four coaches long, it is connected to the national network via a rather short headshunt. This headshunt was originally a down loop, but most this is currently out of use due to the embankment having slipped. Unless (or until) this is fixed, only very short trains will be able to be shunted on to RVR metals.

In K&ESR days, this problem did not occur as the branch joined the goods loop, north of southerly crossover to the main line, allowing trains from Tenterden to run into either the bay or the down platform, from where a trailing crossover gave access to the up line for London bound trains.
Today this not possible, as the goods loop crossover was moved northwards, when the line was electrified so that the platforms could extended from 6 to 8 coaches (the level crossing preventing a southward extension of the platform). As a result the link to the RVR will join the line leading to the bay after, not before, the crossover leading to the main line.

 

Having difficulty getting my head round this. Are there any maps or plans anywhere?

 

Go to google maps & look at the satellite pictures of Robertsbridge station. You can see the OoU down loop mentioned extending north of the station and points that connect it to the down running line. It's fairly clear from those pictures that the RVR connection will come in south of the points so there won't be through running from BR to the RVR - instead a double reversal will be needed & the lengths of trains will be limited by what will fit in the reversals. As Christopher125 pointed out above, the Google maps satellite pictures show a 4-car EMU in Robertsbridge station to give scale. There's certainly room in the bay platform for significantly more than this. If you zoom in to maxium and scroll northwards up the main line, you can see what looks like the stop blocks on the loop - way shorter than the length of the bay platform.

JP

 

plus the loop is an engineering siding,and not to the standard needed to carry passenger stock, so i would say there is minimal chance of a tour coming off NR metals and running onto RVR metals, , ok it could be used to bring in the odd coach or engine, but not a 10 coach tour, what whad have to happen is that the passengers would have to disembark and take a RVR train then be coached to somewhere else where they would re join the train, most likily somewhere like rye,

 

A 10 coach tour would be hugely out of place for the KESR/RVR but the Hastings unit might be more appropriate and less challenging.

JP

 

From the point of view of a 10-coach train not looking quite right on the K&ESR (Not to mention the incongruity of seeing the sort of engine needed to pull it - Bulleid Pacific or even a Black Five - on an ex-Colonel Stephens branch line), I agreee with you completely.

However, Tenterden town and Bodiam Castle are pretty interesting destinations for a charter train - no less so than Sheffield Park, which has already bee nvisited by a few tours since the Bluebell's extension opened. The gardens at SP are lovely, particularly in the autumn, but there's not much else to see apart from the loco shed. If anyone travels on main line charters with their wife, I think that the ladies in our lives would prefer a couple of hours nosing round the shops in Tenterden to admiring a shed full of static steam locomotives before popping into the Bessemer Arms for an extended cup of tea!

 

What are you saying about the Bessemer!?

Being serious, even with two six coach platforms and some siding space, things get pretty interesting at Sheffield Park when a charter train comes in, especially on a regular operating day. The available facilities (platform, siding capacity etc) at Tenterden are even more limited, so I think they would definitely struggle to cope with a big incoming charter form a logistic point of view. Certainly not something I could imagine happening on a regular operating day.

Out of interest - how long are the passing loops on the KESR/RVR if you have to pass a service train en-route? At least on the Bluebell, both Kingscote and Horsted Keynes have loops plenty long enough to accommodate a 10-12 coach train, even if the platforms are only 6-7 coaches long.

Tom

 

Agree Tenterden is tight for space but if two service trains are in use siding one would be free and the headshunt is quite long. 3 bogies plus PMV and an austerity fit easily, or they did.

Passing a long train can be done by operational orders. The long train is held outside the station and the shorter train admitted. The long train can then pass without stopping.