The East Kent Railway (EKR) is a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. It is located at

Shepherdswell Shepherdswell (also Sibertswold) is a village in the civil parish of Shepherdswell with Coldred, and the Dover District of Kent, England. Culture and community Village social life centres on the local Grade I listed church 'Church of St Andrew' ...

station on the London and Chatham to Dover mainline. The line was constructed between 1911 and 1917 to serve the Kent Coalfields. See

East Kent Light Railway The East Kent Light Railway was part of the H. F. Stephens, Colonel Stephens group of cheaply built rural light railways in England. Holman Fred Stephens was engineer from its inception, subsequently becoming director and manager. The line ...

for details of the original lines. The Kent Collieries were mostly a failure with only

Tilmanstone Tilmanstone is a small village and civil parish in Kent, in the South East of England, near Eastry, a much bigger and more developed area. Tilmanstone no longer has a village school; however, the independent Northbourne Park School is close to the ...

on the line producing any viable commercial coal and commercial traffic over the line. The line is operated by heritage diesel

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

s. It is home to a collection of heritage diesel

s, Diesel Multiple Units DMU,

DEMU A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

and electric

multiple unit A multiple-unit train or simply multiple unit (MU) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined together, which when coupled to another multiple unit can be controlled by a single driver, with multiple-unit train contr ...

s including an in service

British Rail Class 404 The Southern Railway (SR) gave the designations 4-COR, 4-RES, 4-BUF and 4-GRI to the different types of electric multiple unit built to work the route between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour. The 4-COR type units survived long enough in ...

built in the 1930s. At

, there is a cafe, a large woodland area with walking routes, a gauge

miniature railway A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petro ...

, a gauge woodland miniature railway, a

model railway Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

and a small museum. At

Eythorne Eythorne is a civil parish and small village located 7.3 miles north-northwest of Dover in Kent, with a combined population of approximately 2,500 residents including nearby villages Barfrestone and Elvington. Although not classed as one of the ...

, there is a small cafe in a General Utility Van built by BR that used to carry elephants. The old Selling Signal Box is also here with a history of the East Kent Railway both past and present inside. Eythorne Station plays host to a variety of features on special event days. The railway holds special events throughout the year, ranging from railway enthusiast events to beer festivals along with family fun weekends. On the line there is Golgotha Tunnel (situated between Shepherdswell and Eythorne), long, making it the eighth longest tunnel on a UK Heritage Railway in Preservation. The tunnel was built in typical Colonel Stephens style by building double track portals but only excavating a single track internally to save money.

Rolling stock

Steam Locomotives

* Avonside No. 2004 'St. Dunstan'. Previously Located at British Coal Snowdown. Undergoing cosmetic restoration and on static display. *

Peckett and Sons Peckett and Sons was a locomotive manufacturer at the Atlas Locomotive Works on Deep Pit Road between Fishponds and St. George, Bristol, England. Fox, Walker and Company The company began trading in 1864 at the Atlas Engine Works, St. George, ...

No.2087 'Achilles'. Privately owned but based at the railway long term.

Diesel Locomotives

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

No. 01543. Previously used at MOD Kineton. Arrived May 2016. In Service. *

No. 01546. Previously used at MOD Kineton. Arrived April 2016. In Service. * Class 08 No. 08502. Privately owned. In Service. * Class 08 No. 08676. Ex EWS, Privately owned. Arrived October 2016. In Service. * Class 08 No. 08865. Ex EWS, Privately owned. * Fowler No. 416002 'Snowdown'. Previously located at British Coal Snowdown. In Service. (Privately Owned) * Ruston LSSH No. AD427 'The Buffs' and 'The Royal Engineers 9th Field Squadron'. Works No. 466616. In service. (Privately owned) *

English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...

No. D1197 'Richborough Castle'. Out of use due to engine problems.

Diesel Multiple Units

*BR 2H DEMU no. 205001. In Service, on passenger trains, and

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

BR Blue The history of British Rail's corporate liveries is quite complex. Although from the mid-1960s to the 1980s the organisation was associated with "Rail Blue", a number of other schemes were also used, especially when it was split into operating u ...

livery. Currently the unit is out of service and being refurbished. The unit was also involved in the Cowden Crash of 1994 but was luckily not damaged. *In May 2020 a BR class 142 Pacer "142 036" retired by Northern will be preserved by the East Kent Railway and run on the heritage railway along with sister unit "142 017" which is already at the heritage railway. Both units will be used on running days when passenger numbers are low.

Electric stock

* 4-COR Driving Motor Brake Third Saloon 11182 from u.3142. * 4-COR Driving Motor Brake Third Open 11161 from u.3142. * 4-VEP Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory 76875 from u.3545 In regular use * 4-VEP Driving Trailer Second Open Lavatory 76397 from u.3905. * 4-VEP Driving Trailer Second Open Lavatory 76398 from u.3905. * 4-VEP Trailer Second Open 70904 from u.3905. * 4-CIG Motor Brake Second Open 62385 from u.1399. * 457 Driving Motor Standard Open 67300 from u.7001. * 365 Driving Motor Second Open (B) 65974 from 365540 * 365 Driving Motor Second Open (A) 65917 from 365524 * 365 Tourist Second Open 72287 from 365524

Hauled coaches

* LMS Brake Corridor Third 5793, in use as Model Railway Coach. (Privately Owned) * BR Mk.1 Gangwayed Full Brake 80785, in use as Model Railway Coach. * BR Mk.1 Brake Second 43140 (under-frame only), In use as Rail Carrier. * BR Mk.2 Brake First Corridor 14123. (In Service) * BR Mk.2 Restaurant First Open 1215. (In Service - Privately Owned) * Pullman SECR 43 Parlour First "Sapphire". (Privately Owned) * Pullman SECR 99 Parlour First "Padua". (Privately Owned) * Pullman SECR 102 Kitchen First "Rosalind". (Privately Owned) There is also a wide variety of wagons at Shepherdswell.

The EKR today as a Heritage Railway

A preservation group was formed in 1987 to preserve part of the abandoned line as far as the old coal mine at Tilmanstone. By 1989 a majority of the lineside vegetation had been cleared and by 1995 the first heritage train was run. Following the reopening of the railway, a new platform was constructed on the site of the former equivalent at Eythorne and the former signalbox from

Selling Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the Goods and services, goods or services, c ...

was moved to the northern end of the platform in the mid 1990s. The railway also owns the Barham Signal Box from the closed Elham Valley Line which houses a detailed mural painting of the old East Kent Railway route, this can be found at Shepherdswell. The EKR operates on most Sundays and

Bank Holidays A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...

between April and September and selected Saturdays in mid summer. The EKR also owns an extensive ancient woodland known as "The Knees". The railway uses The Knees as an educational resource, woodland walks - the bluebells in spring are a popular attraction and for special events such as halloween. The railway hosts other groups, including the Southern Electric Group, EKR Trolleybus Group and the 427 Locomotive Group and recently the Network SouthEast Railway Society as they have moved their Museum Container. The railway hosts two apprenticeship schemes for Permanent Way and Civil Engineering training. 205001-Thumper-LondonBridge-20040927

References

External links

East Kent Railway website

East Kent Railway photos by volunteer Damon Cox

* ttp://www.southernelectric.org.uk Southern Electric Group
Network SouthEast Railway Society

www.shepherdswellwithcoldredpc.kentparishes.gov.uk
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