Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway

The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway is a 15 in/381 mm gauge light railway in Kent, England. The 13+¹⁄₂-mile (22 km) line runs from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St. Mary's Bay, New Romney and Romney Sands to Dungeness, close to Dungeness nuclear power station and Dungeness lighthouse.

Description

Constructed during the 1920s and opened on 16 July 1927, the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway was the dream of millionaire racing drivers Captain J.E.P. Howey and Count Louis Zborowski. Zborowski was killed in a motor racing accident at Monza before the Romney Marsh site was chosen, and Howey continued the project alone.

Mountain Class 'Hercules' hauled the inaugural train from Hythe to New Romney with guests including the mayors of the two towns, and General Sir Ivor Maxse.

Howey was not happy with just 8 miles (13 km) from New Romney to Hythe and he extended 5+¹⁄₂ miles (9 km) from New Romney to Dungeness. This section was originally double track, but is now single due to damage during World War II, when the line was taken over by the military. A miniature armoured train was used on the line.^[1] After the war the line re-opened between Hythe and New Romney in 1946, with the singled New Romney to Dungeness section reopened in 1947 by Laurel and Hardy.

As well as being a tourist attraction, this railway is a public service between the small towns and villages between Hythe and Dungeness and is under contract to the local council to transport children to and from The Marsh Academy in New Romney. The railway is expanding its role as part of the public transport network; Warren Halt re-opened in 2009 to provide a transport link to the Romney Marsh Visitor Centre, and discussions are taking place with local councils for the expansion of Burmarsh Road and the provision of a new station at the gravel pits in West Hythe, both in connection with proposed extensive new housing construction, and the need to provide alternative transport to the A259 coast road.^[2]

All ten original locomotives remain in service, covering thousands of miles each year. The fleet, already one of the largest of any 15-inch (380 mm) railway in Britain, was expanded in 1976 with German-built locomotive no.11 'Black Prince' (formerly 'Fleißiges Lieschen' = 'Busy Lizzy'). The RH&DR is still the only user of the 4-8-2 "Mountain" locomotive in the UK, with No. 6 'Samson' and No. 5 'Hercules' in regular service. Two diesels, No. 12 'John Southland' and No. 14 (Nameless - later 'Captain Howey'), were constructed in the 1980s.

The line carries 100,000 passengers each year.

The railway celebrated its 80th birthday in 2007 with a week of celebrations including reconstructions of scenes on the railway over the previous eight decades.

Smallest public railway in the world

From 1926 to 1978, the RH&DR held the title of the "Smallest public railway in the world" (in terms of track gauge). The title was lost to the 12 ¹⁄₄ in (311 mm) gauge Réseau Guerlédan in France in 1978^[3] and regained from 1979, when the Réseau Guerlédan closed, until 1982, when the 10 ¹⁄₄ in (260 mm) gauge Wells and Walsingham Light Railway opened.

The railway was featured in an episode of the BBC series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

Stations

Stations currently open

Stations in full or limited use

• Hythe
• Burmarsh Road (Usually school shuttle trains only)
• Dymchurch
• St Mary's Bay
• Warren Halt (Usually visitor centre shuttle trains only)
• New Romney
• Romney Sands
• Dungeness

Stations closed

Those shown as 'halt' never had a higher status; all stations below became halts prior to closure.

• Prince of Wales Halt (closed 1928)
• Botolph's Bridge Halt (closed 1939)
• Golden Sands Halt (closed 1990s)
• Greatstone (closed 1983)
• War Department Halt (closed 1945)
• Lade (closed 1977)
• The Pilot Inn (closed 1977)
• Britannia Points Halt (closed 1930)

Stations proposed

These stations have never existed but were at one time proposed by the directors, or are currently under proposal.

• Sandling Junction - in the late 1920s and again in the late 1980s plans existed to meet with the main line at Sandling.
• Sandling Park - a proposal for a station to serve this estate at Pedlinge on the Sandling extension.
• Nickolls Quarry - a proposal for a station to serve a new housing development at the West Hythe site of Nickolls Quarry has been formally included in the planning application to Shepway District Council.^[4]

Locomotives

Locomotives in service

Including engines serviceable, under overhaul, awaiting overhaul, or reserved to shunting or engineering duties.^[5]

Notes on locomotive names:

• Nameplates are usually in upper case.
• No 1 was named 'Green Goddess' after the 1921 stage play by William Archer, which Capt Howey had enjoyed.
• Nos 2 & 3 were to be called 'Northern Chief' and 'Southern Chief' and these nameplates were fitted at the works; however No 3's name was changed to 'Southern Maid' before delivery.
• No 4 left the railway after construction and ran in Belfast with the new name "Jean". This engine regained its original name on return to the RHDR and restoration in the 1970s. It bears the colloquial name "Basil the Bug" in its role as mascot of the railway's children's supporter group.
• Nos 5 & 6 were to be called 'Man of Kent' and 'Maid of Kent', but due to their tractive power (having an extra driving wheel) the names 'Hercules' and 'Samson' (for strength) were substituted during construction. Henry Greenly, the designer, was involved in construction of a locomotive on the nearby Saltwood Miniature Railway a decade later, and this engine took the 'Maid of Kent' name. A name change is once again on the cards after much deliberation in winter 2008/2009.
• Nos 7 & 8 were constructed for express passenger services, and had an extra cylinder (3 instead of 2), hence their names 'Typhoon' and 'Hurricane' for speed. The third cylinder was removed from each due to unreliability. According to an original order, these locomotives were going to carry 'Samson' and 'Hercules' nameplates, however Howey gave the mountain classes these nameplates before the 3 cylinder locomotives had arrived.
• Following a mishap when Howey was at the controls, No 8 was renamed 'Bluebottle' between 1938 and 1946, apparently as a punishment.
• No 9 was originally 'Doctor Syn', but its name became 'Winston Churchill' in 1948 for its tour of Canada, and afterwards stuck.
• No 10 was originally 'Black Prince', but took the 'Doctor Syn' name in 1949 to maintain the link with local history and legend.
• No 11 took over the redundant 'Black Prince' name upon transfer to the RH&DR in 1976, in place of its German name 'Fleißiges Lieschen', meaning 'Busy Lizzy' in English.
• No 12 is named after the founder of the local secondary school in New Romney.
• No 13 was never assigned. Although this was due to superstition, another engine of the same class as 12 and 14 was built between them and exported to the Shuzenji Romney Railway in Japan; this locomotive carries the "John Southland II" name.
• No 14 ran nameless for 12 years until it was named after the line's founder, Captain Howey.

Notes on PW locomotives:

• PW1 originally carried the fleet number "4" as a replacement for 'The Bug' which had been sold. The engine was renumbered PW1 shortly before the return of 'The Bug', meaning that the fleet number 4 was again available for its original holder.^[6]
• PW2 was constructed, as shown, in 1949. However, the bulk of this construction involved the rebuilding and re-use of the former War Department locomotive (see below), which had been in service since 1929.

Locomotives withdrawn from service

Including engines sold, scrapped, failed in trials, or otherwise withdrawn.
ALL were internal combustion locomotives.

Locomotives on site

In addition to the railway's own 16 locomotives, one additional engine is currently housed at New Romney. This is a partially constructed third-scale reproduction of an LMS Princess Coronation Class locomotive, commonly known as the 'Duchess' type (although of the 38 engines of this class, only 10 were named after duchesses). The replica was commissioned by the late Paul Riley, a Director of the railway, as a private project, and is currently stored in an engineers' depot.^[10] Following the unexpected death of Mr Riley on 4 June 2008 the future of this locomotive is currently unknown. It is understood that the machine is more than half complete.^[11]

Passenger traffic

Passenger services

The railway was conceived and constructed as a public service, not as a tourist attraction. The railway now relies on tourist trade, but it is not a 'tourist railway' or a 'preserved railway', in the sense that it was built to provide public transport and has continued to do so.

School children are transported under contract to Kent County Council to The Marsh Academy (known as Southland's Comprehensive School until 2007); this service is provided all year during term. Local residents are transported to shopping centres and the railway has operated 'shoppers specials'. Holiday camp trains have operated with camps at Romney Sands and St Mary's Bay. Charters are operated. During the Second World War the railway was operated by Somerset Light Infantry as a military railway and there was extensive transport of soldiers on troop trains.

Passenger vehicles

The RH&DR operates 20-seat and 16-seat open and closed coaches. Over 80 years the coach livery changed from green and cream to brown and cream in the 1970s and 1980s, then red and cream in the late 1980s for 15 years. From 2000, a new policy has rakes of coaches (trains of around a dozen coaches) have been painted in individual liveries. Hence there are now green, blue, crimson and preserved teak coaches.

In addition to the main stock, the heritage set is made up of the preserved Clayton Pullman (the last remaining example of a set of 1930s vehicles of superior comfort and design), a preserved 1950s 12-seat coach named 'Ruth', the Royal Saloon (used by Queen Elizabeth II and members of her family), and the licensed bar car (an observation coach with a bar) named 'Gladys'. There are also the disabled access vehicles, 601 'Elsie', 602 'Winn', 603 'May' and combined driving trailer/disabled access vehicle 'Marjorie'.

Freight traffic

Freight services

From the outset, the railway's owners and designers envisaged freight services. Two of the original locomotives (No 5 'Hercules' and No 6 'Samson') were built to the 'mountain' wheel arrangement (4-8-2), of which they are believed to be unique in British history, because this type despite lacking speed can haul heavy freight. In practice the freight services never arose, although freight service has featured in the railway's history.

Dungeness Beach fish trade

In 1937 a short branch line was laid to the east of the mainline near Dungeness, running for over a quarter of a mile to the beach. Platform 1 at Hythe was extended beside the station buildings and out to the front of the station. This joint provision was to allow transport of fish from Dungeness to Hythe and there to transfer it to road. The company had four-wheel fish wagons, stencilled "Fish Only", but the service was developed from 1937 following closure of the South Eastern Railway's Dungeness line that year. The fish trade developed in a small way and was withdrawn. Parts of the fish branch line are still in place on Dungeness beach, in use by fishermen to transport fish many years after the service was withdrawn.

Uncrushed shingle transport

The most successful freight service was the uncrushed ballast service. Following withdrawal of War Office operations on the War Department Branch Line, the railway utilised the infrastructure to operate ballast trains. In 1937 a subsidiary ballast company was formed. Tipper wagons were loaded with shingle and transported along the branch line, and then up the main line to Hythe, often lying over in the sidings at Dymchurch to prevent delay to passenger trains using the same tracks. At Hythe the wagons were hauled mechanically up a ramp built on concrete pillars, and their contents tipped into lorries. In 1951, after 14 years, the subsidiary company switched to entirely road transport and the company closed both the branch and the freight incline at Hythe; the concrete pillars were still visible at Hythe until the early 1980s.

Postal service

The railway is licensed by the Post Office for rail postal services, and is entitled to issue postage stamps. A number of first day covers have been issued. A four-wheel secure postage wagon was constructed.

Parcels service

The railway operates a casual parcels service. Parcels handed in to one station will be delivered to another for collection. This is the only remnant of freight service, although from time to time the railway has a temporary freight contract, such as that in 1975 for transport of drainage pipes

The railway operates its own engineering and permanent way trains, which form the majority of non-passenger services.

Freight vehicles

The railway has permanent way stock, examples of which include the platelayers' mess coach, assorted tipper wagons (largely left over from ballast operations), secure tool trucks, and flat wagons. There are also four-wheel wagons, both box vans and open trucks, including vehicles surviving from the fish trains. There are also tank wagons, used primarily for spraying weed killer on tracks.

Proposed extension to Sandling

In the late 1920s, shortly after the line opened, there were proposals for an extension from Hythe to Sandling (2 miles away) to meet mainline services at Sandling Junction. It was with this idea that the 4-8-2 locomotives Hercules and Samson were ordered.^[12] The project, which involved steep inclines, was abandoned.

In the 1980s, the directors returned to the proposals and had detailed surveys drawn. Again, consideration was given to motive power, with new locomotives discussed. Although still called the "Sandling Extension", the 1980s plan was for a single-track line from the Willop, 2 miles short of Hythe, to provide a more gentle route to Sandling Park and on to Sandling Junction, and would therefore have been a branch line rather than an actual extension to the existing mainline. Once again, the project was abandoned.

New tenders

In 2003, the small, unbraked, original Greenly tenders were withdrawn from mainline service due to concerns over safety and coal/water capacity. They were the only two of this design running. Both were pulled behind the two mountain locomotives, one of which was out of service after the Burmarsh Road level crossing incident; the other soon to be withdrawn from service for an intermediate overhaul. Once both locomotives were back in service, the railway was faced with a tender shortage. 'Samson' was kept from mainline service while 'Hercules' was kept in service with the tender from 'Green Goddess' during its storage for overhaul. During the 2007 season 'Samson' was in service using the tender from 'Hurricane' while she was being overhauled. As of 2009, both 'Hercules' and 'Samson' have been fitted with new tenders.

In 2008, the tender of 'Black Prince' was made redundant due to its low coal/water capacity and the fact that it was not braked. The new tender has extra capacity for coal and water and has kept the original bogies, now modified to accept vacuum brakes. The new tender was tested at New Romney on 27 September and on 4 October, Black Prince completed a 28-mile non-stop without the aid of another tender, a first for this Locomotive.

2009 was the last year that the tender tank on Green Goddess's tender would see active service. A new tender tank would be needed as her tender sprang a leak in the coal-shute. The frames, bogies and brake gear will be used from the old tender and will feature more storage space.

Safety

Over the many years of operation there have been a number of serious accidents. Amongst the most recent, on 3 August 2003 a car and train were in collision at an ungated level crossing, protected by flashing warning lights.^[13] The train driver, 31-year-old Kevin Crouch, died; some passengers were treated for shock and minor injuries; locomotive number 5 (Hercules) was seriously damaged. The female car driver, whose baby was a passenger in the vehicle, had ignored or failed to see the warning lights. The woman and her baby were taken to hospital, but were not badly hurt. The railway and the Health and Safety Executive instigated an investigation, and the woman was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. Although acquitted, she was found guilty of the lesser charge of careless driving.^[14] On 10 July 2005 a car and train were in collision at another level crossing under similar circumstances. The driver of the train, Suzanne Martin, wife of the railway's general manager, Danny Martin, was killed;^[15] several passengers were treated for shock; locomotive number 8 (Hurricane) was seriously damaged. The car driver, a 20-year-old man, had ignored or failed to see warning lights; he was arrested at the scene, and later bailed by Kent Police.

Following the two incidents detailed above, the railway has begun a programme of level crossing refurbishment. There are a number of 'occupation crossings' where the railway meets farm tracks, with local control; but of the eighteen junctions of the railway with public highways, five are road bridges, and the other thirteen are level crossings. All level crossings have been protected since the 1970s by flashing warning lights (AOCL); the refurbishment programme will see the additional installation of lifting half-barriers, upgrading the crossing to ABCL status, each refurbishment costing around £90,000.^[15] Those already altered in this manner are Burmarsh Road (site of the 2003 accident), Battery Road (site of the 2005 accident), Botolph's Bridge Road, and St Mary's Road in Dymchurch. The next level crossing to be upgraded will be Jefferstone Lane, adjacent to St Mary’s Bay station.

Ownership and operation

The railway is owned by the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway plc, whose shareholders (of whom there are several hundred) travel free of charge on trains, but elect annually to take no financial dividend on their shareholdings, but instead to re-invest all operating profit back into the company. The public limited company is a subsidiary of the older parent company Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway Company. It is usual for the two companies to have the same Board of Directors. The day to day operation of the railway is in the hands of a small but dedicated full-time permanent staff of around 35 people. These include a General Manager, departmental managers (engineering, commercial, operations) and a large number of engineering staff (from locomotive fitters to permanent way gangers) and waitresses (the New Romney and Dungeness cafes are open all year round, even though some of the railway's other commercial outlets are more seasonal). In addition to this core staff, seasonal employees are taken on through the summer season, particularly to increase the staffing of shops and cafeterias, and to provide the required levels of staffing at stations. Finally, but importantly, the railway depends upon a dedicated team of fully trained, but totally volunteer (unpaid) staff members, who work on the railway in their own spare time. Volunteer staff work throughout the railway, in engineering posts, operating positions, commercial outlets, and manual roles concerned with maintenance and improvement.

Notes

See also

• Shuzenji Romney Railway

References

• Anon. (1926) "Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Light Railway", Railway Magazine, 59 (September), p. 213–218
• BBC News (2005) "Train crash killed manager's wife", BBC Online, accessed 7 October 2007
• Crowhurst, A.R.W. and Scarth R.N. (2004) Locomotives of the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, Workshop Press, 36 p.
• Sapsted, D. (2004) "Woman in fatal train crash fined", The Daily Telegraph, Online news, accessed 7 October 2007
• Snell, J. B. (1993) One man's railway, Rev. ed., Nairn: David St John Thomas, ISBN 0-946537-80-1

External links

• Official site
• Kevin Crouch memorial
• Movietone newsreel footage of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy reopening the railway in 1947