Folkestone Harbour Branch

How long is this line?

 

I want to know how the 3 new build clean technology R1s are coming along.

 

0.893 Miles

 

This is a long term plan that one of the directors has and its just that a plan, i personally, whilst i can see the appeal to re build lost engines think its a diversion from what we should be about, that is saving the line, first and foremost and in my view i would prefer it if this was treated as a separate project, mostly because it could be seen as being to much pie-in -the -sky thinking and could impact on the hard work done someone is bound to say, how can we support you if you come out with this idea
the r1 project is at the costing stage , and in the future it might even be theisable for a railway where local presure could effect the running of convential steam , but lets concentrate on more urgent things first lets get a railway to run on, and get it up to passinger standard before we start thinking about future motive power needs

 

Very good question. The answer to which is very revealing about the potential of the line. Another good question is "where are the sheds for steam locomotives, i.e. running shed and restoration/overhaul/construction shed going to be situated?" and secondly "why does your ego want to see itself as being a big part of nothing rather than a small part of something?"

 

whilst the line isnt that long, it has two level crossings, a road over bridge , viaduct running over an inner harbour and station that is built on an "s" bend there is a historic fish market and sandy beach very close and the leas lifts into the town,
the engine shed will most likily be at the junction, there is more land there than down at the harbour , i dont know what you mean by us having an ego i dont see that our plans are a big part of nothing, unless you approove of your town, where ever that may be being decided by one person , can i point out that we have a very strong membership, and most of folkestone support us even now with in the creative quarter people are coming round , a lot of people bought into the dream, and found it to not be anything like the promissed land the creative foundations business model is failing because they have not addressed the footfall problem, im not saying we have all the answers, but at least we have vision that is lacking else where

 

I think the intentions are honourable, and I can understand the want and the need to sympathetically conserve historical buildings in the area, the idea of a Remembrance at the Museum at the station is again interesting, some sort of interactive archive where people could research to see if their relatives were send to France through the port etc..

It just seems that the railway side of it all is the weakest point.

 

I think it has good potential for a worthwhile steam heritage railway which will offer a real attraction to the area. The location and infrastructure offer a cracking (and important) starting point. How the rest works out will be down to some pretty smart work by competent business folk and technical experts. Hope it all works out.

Steve
(WSW)

 

the railway side of the plan is tied into the park and ride, and possible ferry service to and from boulogne , if you live in folkestone, the only car park that is near to the town, by the fish market is always full there is land just off wear bay road that could be used for a park and ride and thats the main day to day idea, running to the leas lift which is 100 yards from the town centre, try getting from wear bay road by bus to the town centre at the moment in the peak time its a half an hour bus ride and at week ends it would be used as a tourist attraction to attract people to the town, and the beaches and shops using heritage traction.
our counterparts in boulogne have an berth earmarked in the old port and there is a ferry operator who has expressed an interest in operating to folkestone and has started to investigate the EU funding that will see this happen so you see boulougne want it, folkestone wants it, the only person who doesnt , is only holding out to in my view sell the site for a massive personal proffit which goes against what most of the town want to see

 

I think this plan has a lot of ground, the railway will be a side attraction to a bigger picture- it'l be a living museum. To judge a railway by it's length is just blinkered to say the least and shows no knowledge of what many societies set out to achieve. Many railway centres around the country don't have more than a mile of track and have no interest in offering more than short rides. They do however preserve a wealth or our heritage and aid in educating future generations about our history and heritage. Railway museums are just that, museums, some even have a running line!
My interest in railways was spawned from my grandad taking me to Quainton Road in the late 80's which boasts just half a mile of track, no viaduct or sandy beach and is flat as a pancake- but is no less an important centre for heritage. So much of history has been swept away by short sightedness and profiteering, it would make a nice change if nostalgia and history could win over in this case. I've never been to Folkestone harbour station but looking at pictures and video it looks a fascinating and unique location, i'd love to see a Merchant Navy depart from there with a train for London again, or even ride behind an austerity being worked flat out up the bank! I'm sure there are many others who would like to as well -after all steam is it's own best advert..

 

and that is what we are all about, being a small cog in an even bigger show, and even if the ferry doesnt come into in the short term, who says that boat trips from the harbour wont be offered, we have a member who happens to have a large boat , his normal trade is in fishing trips but has offered to do trips along the front, so thats another attraction, you see its more than just a plan to take people on a train ride, which is what most preserved railways happen to do , those who have said its a no hoper probally dont have much vision, to them milage is everything but i think that a good day out is has got to offer more , and of course the return trip if steam hauled, will be the icing on the cake, little tank engines make a lot of noise and heres the rub, how many of those rich people eating their over priced fish and chips will turn round and say, oh look, theres a steam train, isnt that great! oh that really nice , as it glides over the viaduct,

 

During 1983 there were a number of people writing to the railway press demanding that all the remaining Barry scrapyard locos should be cut up for scrap-something to do with duplicity and proliferation. Tony you are of the same ilk,dangerous to the movement and having the cheek to contribute to a railway forum and denounce the efforts of a brave railway preservation scheme and talk about an irrelevant bus service. You sound like the establishment-boringly typical. You can't save everything-so you're telling me that it's not worth trying? Incidentally the KESR can look after itself-in case you hadn't noticed it's already been saved.I can just imagine you,back in 1961, slating them for being 'unrealistic'-there was obviously 'no business case for its retention'.

 

Well said acorb and Martin.

 

Good post. can't answer the question so just go on the attack. Were exactly is the sheds going to go to stop the local herberts torching anything left there within a week? Hmmmm.... Spot on Tony. I don't mind Folkestone Harbour as a place with its sandy beach and quaint harbour setting but 0.893 miles of track at some crazy ruling gradient, no space for infrastructure and no safe storage together with a knackered viaduct at the end that will no doubt need vast sums spending on it at some point does not make for a long term success. Mind you wasn't one of your supporters going to build a vast shed out of some posts that were on site.....

 

So people who looks into the practicalities and sustainability of schemes are 'dangerous' to the preservation movement, and anyone who questions them are 'boring'?

The only conclusion i can draw from your ill-mannered personal attack is that if anyone proposes anything to do with railway preservation it should be blindly supported. Frankly, if anyone is of a dangerous 'ilk' its people like yourself who seem divorced from reality in the 21st century, living in a fantasy world where established lines like the KESR are fine because they've already been 'saved' so we can crack on with opening even more. Now thats what i call a 'dangerous' way of thinking...

Chris

 

Well done Chris - excellent answer. As before with the the rememberance line you ask a question that needs an answer and silence.... followed by personal attack insult and a proposal to use redundant lighting columns as a basis for a stock shed (remember that one?)!!!!

 

Looking on Google map. The harbour branch line runs past the back of local residents gardens. If you are running small or large locos up and down the branch line in the summer time how long would it be until local resident start complaining about smoke/clag from the locos? I would say it’s a non starter for steam locos on the harbour branch.

 

most of these residents are in favour of bringing the railway back into use, for starters we wont run steam every day, just on a few select days each year holidays and hi days etc.
whats the alternative ? the other plan is to have a earth path over the viaduct, which we have now found out will be paid for by the residents of the new high rise flats , this plan is nothing to do with renovation, and everything to do with getting as much for the land as you can , for instance, thhe harbour company will offer plots to developers , so as to not have to risk their own capital ,and its starting with the rotunda end first and is expected to take 15-20 years to reach the harbour, and its all dependant on selling each plot of land each time , there is no parking provided in the concept plans, so where are 1000 possible car drivers going to park? , no thought has been given to transport, just a glib, its a problem we have to look at, there is no plan from the FHC, the model they used is the same one that they used 4 years ago, and most of us went to the public meeting, and none of the questions from the floor were answered, except for the spokes person to admit, its all a concept and might never get built, at least we do have a plan, , and in answer to Maunsel man, we have moved on, we are not the organisation we were in those days, we have a new team who do know what they are doing and you wont get such ideas from us now, i am at the sharp end every saturday in the town centre heading up the sales stand, and i dont recongise anything of what you say, in a general saturday, we have 2-300 positive coments about our plans and 1 or 2, that still dont want to accept that the so called savior of folkestone has called this one wrong

 

if you take the time to look i did infact answer all the questions that were asked, may i even go so far to add that i dont see any personal attacks in my answer i think it is you, that is actually making the attacks , i answer questions as quickly as i can, and its all based on fact , and can i assure you that the local network rail inspector has inspected the viaduct and structurely its sound , infact the whole line is sound ,its just overgrown i assume you have been reading our local papers who seem to publish a lot of things that tend to be not as they turn out to be, for instance our local water lifts is to re open, and the reporter didnt know where it was,

 

I think Martin you are looking at this project with rose tinted glasses. who is going to pay for the up start of this project with all the cut backs that local government are going to make? Will there be enough volunteers to run this project. Everyone always starts with good intentions but it always left to the few to keep it going. Will there be any full time paid staff to run the line and who is going to pay their wages? Would the line make enough income to pay for paid staff from the out set? How long would the local council continue to back and support this adventure in the long term if it doesn't make a profit? Would network rail allow an interchange station to be built and who’s going to pay for this station to be built? Who would run this station? Would it be a TOC or the preserved railway? Would a TOC want to get involved with you chaps.