Narrow gauge mystery in Kent.

Walking around the country lanes yesterday (Saturday) between Doddington and Bredgar with my dogs I came across a narrow gauge railway complete with engine shed and platforms the disappeared into woodland which is obviously private property so I never ventured any further, the rails looked like there was activity recently, when I got home I looked up Google maps and it does show the line, looking like it goes through the woods and into a loop. The line is in Coal Pit Lane, its proberly only about a quarter of a mile the way the crow flys from the Bredgar & Wormshill narrow gauge line which I have visited a number of times. But does anyone have any info on the line in Coal pit lane please.

 

There's no entry for any industrial installation at that location in Chalk Pits book Industrial Railways of the SE (MP 1984).

Could it be possible that the 'alternative to the history' of the B&WLR isn't as alternative as they thought?
https://bwlr.co.uk/258-2/a-treatise-on-the-railway/
I bet the real explaination will be as interesting, if less fanciful!

 

That was an interesting read, what I saw as the engine shed was that the building had been in existance for some time judging by the colour of the bricks, so yes its possible this would have been part of what article says, I wonder who operates this section of line now.

 

This would be the Torry Hill Railway

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torry_Hill_Railway

John

 

I suppose it's possible one of the folks associated with the B&WLR lives near the railway, but from what I remember from growing up on the cusp of SE London and Kent, many isolated buildings of utility companies, no longer used for original purposes, loosely resemble railway structures and loads more from WWII still exists as well. It could be something along those lines converted after being flogged off.

There's a B&W Open Day today (Sun. 1st October) and their End of Season Gala is on Sun. 29th October.

Dunno if they're dog-friendly, but a phone call would quickly establish that. Trains run from 10:30 to 16:30, with the site open 30mins more either end. It would be well worth popping along to one of those anyway.... they've got a superb collection. If not, try contacting them to see if anyone can shed any light on the matter. Here's the contact page from their site:
https://bwlr.co.uk/contact.php.html/

 

If it is in Coal Pit Lane it is definitely the Torry Hill Railway. The line is 9" gauge. It originated in the 1930s. It is marked on the Ordnance Survey map. There are videos of it on Youtube. i visited it with the Maidstone and Ashfordmodel engineering scoities in the 1960s. The locomotives were built by Joe Liversage in Herne Bay.

 

I followed the link from Wiki to Flickr. Neat little line.....nice locos and an impressive viaduct.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/trolleyfan/28563614244/in/photostream/

That's my idea of a train set!

 

Been at the Bredgar & wormshill open day today had a great day, spoke to a couple of volunteers there who confirmed as the replies said on here that the line in Coal pit lane is the Torry hill railway, and that a few of the volunteers on the B&W also look after the Torry hill line, thanks for all your replies.

 

I managed to find a couple of pictures of the line from about 45 years ago. The first shows the GN Aatlantic "Rose", which I believe was named after the first Mr Leigh Pemberton's wife. The second is of "Lord Howe", which was the Nelson with the modified boiler. This engine was complete with 4 cylinders, working automatic vacuum brake and Holcroft conjugated gear to give 8 beats per revolution. The gent in the wooly hat is Joe Liversage who built the locos and George Barlow is in the drivers cap beside the driver; the driver is myself but I was only allowed to run round at the station. The full run was 2 miles if the train went both ways round the loop (see the OS map for the layout); the train travelled through the tunnel in both directions but it took me several years to work out how this was done. The viaduct is built with half size bricks.

 

I went there once with the Greenwich and District NGRS what a great day, the only condition to us getting a ride was to turn up at 10.00 in the morning and to go around and clear all the leaves which we did, about 1.00pm the trains started running and a great time was had by all, I remember the GNR loco and the GWR one both working, the SR Lord Howe loco had been stopped because of a boiler fault, there was talk that they wanted to build another loco for the line, but I am not sure just how old the SR Mogul is, but it would be great to go and see it again one day.

 

Was dog friendly when I visited three years ago.