Kent & East Sussex Railway

Showing those Western types how it's done

 

Careful she doesn't come back Swindonised. If they can do it to a Manning Wardle saddle tank, they could do it to a Terrier...

 

Luckily all they managed last time was putting a shirt button logo and cast numberplate on.

 

It's surprising that's all they did to it really, considering what they've done to other none Swindon engines.

Guess they must have found the Terrier to be so good already as is when it came, that they needn't change anything!

A rare and incredible feat that, considering how God's Wonderful Railway viewed all non Swindon products as blasphemous and lesser quality usually...

 

Great photo, though curious to know just which locos would be considered to be the Terrier's cousins...

 

The plan is for both TT Terriers to change livery every couple of years to represent the rich history of this remarkable class.

Robin

 

One of the two Terriers taken into stock by the GWR when the WC&P closed spent a while at Taunton as station pilot and was thoroughly hated by the local engine men, I understand. There’s no accounting for taste…

 

Engine men? I wonder ..... look where the firebox door is. Maybe more the firemen?

 

4144 is going back to KESR for Christmas according to Didcot's event programme

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I don't see the issue - on what other locos can you kick the coal where you want it?!

 

There's me thinking that they modified all non-western engines to decrease performance so that theirs would 'appear' better.

 

Huh, what do you know?
Just might have to pop down there some time and I have a little nosey.

 

I visited the railway and had a ride during the recent October Half Term Week. During a stop in Rolvenden I noticed what looked like Marcia's Boiler looking like it was undergoing some sort of testing, so imagine it isn't too far off from running again. Just wondered what the plans for her might be when finished?

 

Marcia is one of our most popular engines. She might have less power than a gnat fart, but crews and visitors alike love her. If it is anything like last time she was running, she will be used at event days, and for footplate crew training. We used to bring her to Tenterden with a driver instructing, and firemen/cleaners who were looking for promotion, and practice shunting, etc.

 

Thankyou - hopefully days that she is running (when finished) will be publicised because I for one would like to see her in steam!

 

Would the same apply to the perfectly delightful Gazelle (safely ensconced in the museum)? Somehow, I can't see any rush to put that one back into steam!

 

I suspect so! As it doesn't belong to the company, and really would be an ornamental item, I can't see any reason to return it to steam in the foreseeable future. The private owner of Marcia has put a considerable sum of money into her overhaul, including new boiler/firebox components. I hope he gets to see us making good use of her as a result!

 

Gazelle is on loan from the NRM. The K&ESR/Colonel Stephens Museum has (with NRM permission) replaced the wooden dummy chimney fitted by the Army at some point with a proper metal one and repainted it in green with white lining and lettering as in later Shropshire & Montgomeryshire days.
What it would be good to see running would be the replica Ford railmotor built by the late Colin Shutt. It's in working order (the Ford engine is started every so often by a local vintage car enthusiast) but it doesn't have wheels with a proper railway profile, so it's not suitable for anything other than perhaps running a few yards on a siding. The Museum did get a quote for making properly profiled replacement wheels but couldn't really justify the substantial expense in the light of other calls on finance for what would be very occasional use.

 

I agree that the Ford railmotor, being such a strong symbol of the line's past, would be great to have on open days. I can imagine it would command quite a premium for passengers to travel in it.
Why not say openly, giving it rail profile wheels is £X, but the museum can't afford it? You never know if a benefactor might not step forward.

 

Only having seen old photos, can I ask what wheels the railcar might need? Contemporary with Ford and Shefflex railmotors, Drewry's output used some distinctly 'unrailway-like' wheels, which look like nothimg else under the sun.

While I completely understand neither the railway and museum not wishing to allocate scarce resources, establishing what (and how much) would be required to make this recreation usable might well attract it's own band of dedicated lunatics supporters, as has happened with KS4415 (rapidly approaching both completion and it's centenary).

Surely, the Stephens railcars are about as relevant to the story of his railway empire and it's operation as it's humanly possible to get!