The Remembrance Line- The campaign to save the Folkestone Harbour Branch

The forecast income and cost numbers on the website indicate an annual operating profit of £700,000 per annum, making The Remembrance Line one of the most profitable railways, mile for mile, in the world. This is a fantastic number, in every sense of the word. To quote Captain Blackadder's famous last words of 1917..."Good luck everyone".

 

I think we're being a little harsh here, I wouldn't say it's quite as bad as the Asbestos siding in Luton, but maybe on a par with the MVR, which at least has a track bed and a station to (impossibly) save. The signature of the OP says it all really...

Go and do something more useful, according to Google the EKR is only 8 miles away from Folkestone, RHDR is 12 miles, and KESR 22 miles, so go and play on them instead, I'm sure they need all the help they can get, and have far more credibility than this proposal, being as they actually exist...

 

Seldom a truer word written.

 

You may be wasting your posts chaps. I spoke to Austerity yesterday (incidentally he is big into actual loco preservation and repair and he works and volunteers at various sites, including the K&ESR) he's probably said his last word on this particular post but hopes you enjoy winding yourselves up about it.

 

Well I think that says more about him than the rest of us.

If he can't defend his own project and give straightforward answers to straightforward questions, then maybe he should just stick to 'actual loco preservation' instead of trying to lead a project without realistic aims.


Keith

 

Sorry...but that rather reads like you are having a go at me for asking 'Austerity' to stand up for his project.

Remember that 'Austerity' was the one who started this thread looking for support for his project. I don't think it's unreasonable for him to be asked questions before anyone signs a petition or donates money. I also don't think it's a 'difficult to answer' question to ask what his group would actually do with the station if it was in their care. Geekfindergeneral also raises a very interesting point regarding finance which 'Austerity' should be able to answer.

Apologies if I have got the wrong end of the stick, but I really do feel that anyone who comes onto the forum looking for support for project X (whether that support be financial or otherwise) should be able to answer questions about the project and defend their plans, before anyone commits to supporting it.

Keith

 

A bit of a non-sequiter - Remembrance Line website is all Tram Train, but this from the Brocklebank Line site is slightly contrary: 35025 Brocklebank Line Association are hopeful for a future four way tie up between the Remembrance line (i.e. the Folkestone Harbour Branch and station restoration), 35011 and 35025 groups along with the Sellindge steam restoration company headed by Richard Moffatt. The grand plan is for both 35011 and 35025 to be restored to main line running condition and to have excursions over the Folkestone Harbour branch and its station. passengers would then transfer to a period steamer for a cross channel trip to Bolougne and back, then returning to London steam hauled throughout, at the end of the day.

The crucial players in this are probably not people signing a petition. They are Shepway Council, who have just granted Outline Planning Permission for the rail-free development of the seafront and harbour, and Folkestone Harbour Company, who have applied for a Harbour Revision Order to extinguish powers for ferries to ever dock there again, converting the port to a marina. Across the water, City of Boulogne are redeveloping the site of Gare Maritime. Nothing is ever impossible, but some things are b*ll*ck-poppingly difficult.

 

If that is the case then the scheme seems even more of a 'non-starter' than it was before. Ray.

 

Reading this reminds me, whatever happened to that Bramley Line guy and his GatEx Mk.3s?

 

Funniest post I've read on here in years! Bravo!

My thoughts precisely. These characters come on here saying "Help us, help us" and as soon as anyone says "Woah, hang on a sec, what about...? Can you give us an answer to...., please?" they stomp off in a huff and sulk in silence like a five year old.

If 'Austerity' is a grown adult into 'actual loco preservation', I would have thought he'd be blessed with a little more maturity...? If he doesn't have that, what chance does he have of convincing potential investors / grant-givers to raise the huge sums of money needed?

 

The "38 degrees" website (used by our OP) allows anyone to set up an online petition on anything. Just spend an entertaining few minutes reading through the titles of some other petitions, many of which have a very local flavour.

This one starts as a general request, but you can probably guess where the person lives when you get to the end!
"Fair use of Concessionary Pass for those live in TfL Zone 6. (ie. Caterham)"

They have got 3 out of their requested 100 signatures too!

 

Ahhhhhh - the project gets nearer by the hour!

I expect they will be locating it once its run-in on the Rememberance Line with their fleet of new build gas producing R1s. They are also nearly finished and just require painting...

 

You do seem to have a problem with these type of projects, AFAIK the Folkestone harbour plan is a dead duck, so why go on about it? its going to disapear under concrete in the next 25 years( or ever) Gas producing? what do they fire them on sprouts ?

 

Yes Ralph, jest, i know about the porta system and the mechanical feeder problems the converted Austerity tanks had, such as self igniting bunkers i think that oil fired or coal that has been pulped into a semi liquid form held in a tank may have worked better .

 

I do have a problem with the obviously insane ones yes! Trouble is they pop-up and then die when the headboard made of hardboard and tracing of a wheel activity stops being fun. Meanwhile those projects that are well run get lost in the noise and have trouble getting credability.

Ahh the Rememberance Line. Best fun on a forum for years. Gas producing R1s, Loco sheds built from old overhead cantenary, 50 million visitors a year, quadruple headed mainline specials, and all vigorously defended to the death by its supporters. Absolutely insane! Best thing for Folkestone would be to wipe the lot off the map and build houses, houses, houses all over it!

 

Best thing for Folkestone would be to wipe the entire town off the face of the earth i used to live there dont forget, in Slovinia on sea ( marine drive) in many ways its just as well the scheme failed, the local s would have stolen everything not bolted down before the line opened . i supported the idea of the catermerans( passenger only) linked with a hi speed train from london, running direct to the harbour, ideal for the housing development, but bailed out when the madness started.

 

Slovenia on Sea - haven't heard that one before! The old harbour does have a charm to it as does the coastal park. Folkestone would benefit from a structured regeneration programme though and hopefully the old branch line will be the start of it. As a preserved line it was hopeless. No space, too steep, too short and other than the bridge over the harbour absolutely no interest. Calling the scheme the Rememberance Line was a cynical ploy to attract funding so that trains could be played. For that alone it deserved t0 fail