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31/5/2008
It is with regret that I have to inform you that
Dave Campbell, a former employee of this Company, died from a heart
attack on Friday 23rd May 2008. Dave worked in various capacities during
the 1990’s including as signalman and guard.
Cremation is at Charing Crematorium at 11.20
AM on Monday 2nd June. All are welcome and also afterwards to his home
address.
Our condolences go to his wife Sue.
12/5/2008
The Gala Weekend 3,4,5 May has been a great success
with all the hard work by a small group of volunteers led by James Palk
proving to be extremely worthwhile. And what a gala it was! With superb
timekeeping and organisation all weekend the whole event ran extremely
smoothly with only a couple of minor glitches. James's gang also undertook
a big programme of wagon maintenence and repair which has resulted in
a vastly improved appearance to the wagon fleet.
Meanwhile two more drivers have passed out for
the Class 03 diesel shunter, congratulations to Matt Green and Ed Gascoyne.
Driver Jamie Douglas has passed a conversion course for the Class 14,
adding another traction type to his bow..
22/4/2008
Sadly we have to report that long standing K&ESR
volunteer fireman Andy Wilton passed away at 2 am on Saturday 19th April.
The funeral is to be strictly for family and close friends but there
will be a memorial service at which K&ESR members will be able to
pay their last respects. Details will be circulated in due course.
20/3/2008
It is with great regret that I have to inform
you that Robin Doust, Vice President of the Kent & East Sussex Railway,
died in Bulawayo Hospital, Zimbabwe on 12th March 2008. In the circumstances
few other details are presently known, but it is understood that he
was gravely ill.
Robin was a key figure in the preservation of
the K&ESR and without doubt one of the most significant individuals
in the history of the Railway. It is intended to publish a full tribute
to him in the summer issue of the Tenterden Terrier.
Nick Pallant
Company Secretary
19/02/2008
Jim Wilson and Ken Catt have been promoted to
the grade of steam raiser and Paul Curran has passed out as the latest
addition to the team of Rolvenden Signalman.
This winter the Operating Department have focussed
more on training with a number of Mutual Improvement Classes booked
for 2008. To date two Mutual Improvement Classes have already been completed
and were both well received by those who attended.
The first was conducted by Clive Norman and was entitled “Signalling
for all”, the second, “Locomotive braking systems” was taken by Paul
Beale – our resident air brake expert.
If you fancy learning more, then why not show
up to some or all of the following:-
Sunday 23RD March - Shunting practical session
(Bring boots and overalls)
Sunday 13TH April - Valves, pistons, and valve
gears etc. part 1.
Sunday 25TH May - Valves, pistons, and valve
gears etc. part 2.
The classes are open to all members and start
at 09:30 in the meeting room at Tenterden, for more information see
www.kesr-operating.org.uk.
This year’s Trainee Signalman’s course is progressing
well, it’s encouraging to see so many people keen to learn the art of
Signalling. Roger Temple, leading the course, has assumed the role of
Signalman’s Training Officer, following on from many years of hard work
by Peter Lamont; many thanks to Peter and the best of luck to Roger.
Following on with a training theme, logbooks are currently being distributed
to Locomotive Cleaners. The purpose of the logbooks is to provide a
useful record of the tasks that have been carried out by the Cleaner.
When a task has been completed this is then signed off by an Assessor.
When all of the sections have been signed the trainee can then apply
for promotion. Eventually Logbooks will appear for Firemen and Secondmen
who wish to progress onto becoming Drivers. Not forgetting other areas
a Trainee Guards version of the logbook should also appear at a later
date.
In other areas we have been busy shunting and operating trains for the
various other projects and filming charters around the railway. There
have been Engineer’s trains for the project to relay some of the sidings
at Tenterden, this started with No.25 and the Class 14 spending a day
removing most of the stock from Tenterden! The place looked very empty
with no coaching stock other than the Pullmans. The Class 03, not long
out of overhaul was used extensively on ballasting the newly laid sidings.
Late last year the Railway was called upon to provide a steam train
for a new Bakers dog food advert. They wanted to have the “Gravy train”
travelling through some of Kent and East Sussex’s finest countryside.
This advert has appeared on the television with many of the scenes and
trains very recognisable however there are some very unrecognisable,
scenes, trains and operators!
The most recent filming job was for a Trinny
and Susannah programme featuring the Brighton “Terrier” Bodiam and the
two wooden bodied Pullman cars. This operated between Tenterden and
Rolvenden, just as well really as much of the rest of the line was a
touch damp!
CAN YOU HELP?
We are on the hunt for several things at the
moment, can you help?
We are after : -
– rags suitable for cleaning engines ideally
with buttons and zips removed
– an Electrician to help wire up the oil store
– new volunteers
We are always on the hunt for new people, wanting
to learn and help operate the Railway, we offer training for anyone
wanting to train to learn to become Drivers, Firemen, Guards and Signalling
staff.
10/12/2007
Two locomotives have recently made a long awaited
return to steam. WR pannier tank 1638 has now returned to traffic following
extensive axlebox repairs and having recently undergone a short running
in period with a few light engine runs and a couple of days on banking
duties. 1638 is rostered to operate Santa trains this coming weekend.
Southern Railway USA tank No 65 was test steamed
last week following a heavy overhaul and fitting of a new firebox. No
65 will now undergo a period of testing and running in before entering
service early in the new year.
On a wet and gloomy afternoon at Rolvenden,
the fire is lit in No 65 for the first time following overhaul.
29/11/2007
GWR 0-6-2T 6619 is now confirmed as a visiting
loco for late July and August 2008. 6619 last visited the line in 1992.
Details of expected running dates will be announced shortly.
We are also reached agreement for a visiting
loco for the Spring Opening event on 14th and 15th March 2008 and also
for a further two visiting locos for the Steam Gala on 3rd, 4th and
5th May 2008. Full details will be published on this page when contracts
are signed.
Recent PW works at Tenterden have seen the lifting,
installation of drainage and relaying of No 2 and No 3 sidings. This
will provide shunters with a much cleaner and safer environment for
carrying out shunting operations.
Ballasting at Tenterden
Staff gathered at Tenterden on 11/11/2007
following the Service of Remembrance and two minute silence.
19/10/2007
We have another batch of promotion to report,
this time it's congratulations to James Veitch who has passed out as
a steam driver and Christopher Stuchbury and John Ascher who have both
now qualified to act as a firemen.
18/9/2007
Our
Inspectors have once again been very busy over the summer months with
several staff gaining promotion. Congratulations are due to 21 year
old Henry Mowforth, son of Driver's Heidi Mowforth and Mick Blackburn,
who has now passed his Driver's exam to join them on the Driver's
roster. Also recently passed is 16 year old James Darling who has qualified
as a fireman. It is extremely heartening that 40 years after the end
of steam on the Southern, there are still keen and enthusiastic youngsters
who drawn to the fascination of steam locomotives. This summer we have
passed out four footplate staff who are all under the age of 21, three
of whom are 18 or under. It is important that we continue to encourage
and develop the younger generation to ensure steam survives on the K&ESR
for many more years to come.
In addition to the activity promoting footplate
staff, Don Albury has recently qualified as a Guard and Richard Smith
and Chris Dawson have both qualified as Wittersham Road Signalmen. Andrew
Stokes and Maurice Hooker have passed out as Crossing Keepers.
Well done to all the staff who have recently
passed out. Every one of them has spent a considerable time learning
the theory and the practice relating to their posts and can now be considered
as competent and skilful members of the Operating Department team, we
wish them all a long and successful career. Could you be next for promotion?
26/8/2007
Another of the "Railway Children" has
passed his firing test! Congratulations to Dan Dickson who passed out
on Friday 24th August.
In amongst the busy peak season train service,
Tenterden water column has received a new arm to replace the old life
expired one. Whilst replacing the arm an anti vacuum valve has been
fitted to cut down the amount of water wasted when the bag is taken
out of the locomotive's tank. The arm was lifted into place using the
Hiab on TREATS TRAMM. Thanks to Jamie Douglas for his welding skills
and Matt Green, Ben Prior and Mike Gimwood who also assisted.
18/7/2007
Congratulations to Matt Hyner who yesterday successfully
passed the practical part of his Fireman's exam to qualify as currently
the youngest fireman on the books, hopefully Matt won't be the youngest
for too long!
Also on the footplate side of things, we have
been making the most of the busier operating period to catch up with
"ride with" competence assessments for existing staff, and
periodic rules exams have also taken a high priority. In the modern
world it is absolutely essential that all our existing crews have the
paperwork in place to prove the competancy of all our operating staff.
Graham Williams and Kent Evenden have also been working hard to keep
up with the Guard's assessments as has Gerald Beck, Peter Parascandolo
and Clive Norman on the Signalman's side. The annual training course
for signalmen is also progressing well with a lecture every month.
Although operating the railway and assessing
staff has been the highest priority, work has also progressed with risk
assessments for loco work and with revision of rules exams and procedures.
We have also found time to get our hands dirty with water column repairs
and general improvements and maintainance at Rolvenden, including the
delights of oil interceptor and sump pit emptying and cleaning. Always
a favorite job if you fancy getting up to your eyeballs in foul muck!
26/6/2007
Guard Tony Golding has unfortunately tendered
his resignation on health grounds. Tony has been a regular Guard on
our trains for around 20 years and I'm sure will be missed on the back
of the train by all the footplate staff and fellow guards. Tony has
said that "I will still be in touch with everyone and have generally
enjoyed the last 20 odd years of waving my flag and blowing my whistle!!!"
30/5/2007
Congratulations to David Roberts who today passed
the final part of his Fireman's exam.
Today also saw the arrival back on the K&ESR
of Class 14 diesel 14029 at Wittersham Road. The loco will be used to
carry out shunting and PW trains in addition to providing emergency
haulage for passenger trains in the event of steam loco failure. It
is not currently planned to use the loco on scheduled passenger trains.
10/5/2007
The Colonel Stephens gala was a great success
from the operating point of view (passenger statistics are not known
at tthe time of writing this), all the trains ran to within 10 minutes
of booked time and every loco got off shed on time, no mean feat itself
with 5 locos in service. The efforts of all the crews and especially
all the people that helped with the seemingly endless shunting and preparations
for the event are very much appreciated, thank you all. Special thanks
must go to Matt Green who worked many hours over the top to ensure that
Rolvenden depot ran smoothly and to Ben Fraser and all the lads from
the North Norfolk Railway who gave us so much assistance with the J15
in a friendly and professional manner. The J15 was a very popular loco
with all the crews, just maybe it could return for a longer stay sometime
in the future? There are some pictures of the weekend here
10/5/2007
Congratulations to Ed Gascoyne who has taken
the first step on the footplate promotion ladder by qualifying as a
Steam Raiser.
10/5/2007
Sadly we have to report that Guard Shaun Uphill
passed away on 22nd April, aged 42, following a battle with cancer.
His funeral was held at Beckenham Crematorium on Tuesday 8th May. The
K&ESR was represented by Guard's Inspector Graham Williams.
26/4/2007
Terrier W8 Freshwater arrived from the Isle of
Wight today to participate in the Colonel Stephens' Gala on 5,6,7th
May. The picture below shows her just after unloading at Wittersham
Road.
14/4/2007
Click on the thumbnail to see the
full size image
Today saw the arrival of a class 07 tamper on
the line, Seen above shortly after delivery at Wittersham Road. It has
been purchased by TREATs and will be used to further improve the standard
of track maintenance on the K&ESR.
11/4/2007
Driver Tom Featherstone has added another string
to his bow by successfully passing the driver's examination for the
BTH (Ford) diesel, well done Tom.
10/4/2007
On Sunday 8th April, Signalling Inspector Clive
Norman passed Matt Hyner as a Signalman at Tenterden Box. At 18, Matt
is one of the youngest Signalmen ever to be passed on the K&ESR.
It's pleasing to see a youngster putting in the hard work and dedication
required to achieve a well deserved promotion. Well done Matt!
4/4/2007
Long serving Guard Chris Wood today worked his
last Guard's turn before retirement after 31 years as a K&ESR Guard.
Chris has been an extremely popular and dependable member of the Operating
Department and his friendly, cheery manner with the public and other
staff will be missed by us all. Many of today's Guards learned the ropes
under Chris's tuition and learned a great deal thanks to his patience,
enthusiasm and professionalism. Chris will continue to be seen around
the line in his role as Station Master, continuing his role as a superb
ambassador for the railway. Thank you Chris for all your hard work for
the department.
Also recently retired from K&ESR volunteering
is long serving Cranbrook Road level crossing keeper Tony Hart. Tony
has been a stalwart at Cranbrook Road for many years and will
be missed by all the train crews.
1/4/2007
Congratulations to Ian Scarlett who has now completed
his probationary period as Passed Fireman and having been assessed,
is now promoted to Steam Driver.
Staff at Rolvenden, particularly Pullman crews
and Steamraisers should notice that all the yard floodlights are now
in working order following the replacement of 4 complete light units
and replace bulbs and re-alignment of some of the old ones. Thanks go
to Paul Hutchinson for a busy day's work on this project.
10/3/2006
First off a thank you to those who helped with
the relay at Popes ferrying the P*Way out to the site, as a result there
is a beautiful stretch of track now.
Congratulations to Kevin Jones who recently passed
as a Ruston diesel driver.
Daniel Dickson is following in his father’s footsteps
and has passed out as a steam raiser, with the next step on the ladder
being fireman.
The Santa specials went off with barely a hitch,
with the 25 banking on the first weekend before returning to service
following a long break when new tyres were fitted.
Once the Santa’s had finished the railway had
all gone quite or so it seemed – this could end up being the year of
the paintbrush after a long list of people helped to re-decorate the
messroom at Rolvenden. More recently the van body in use as the wood
store has received a coat of grey paint soon to be stencilled – GUNPOWDER!
Progress is being made with new logbooks for
trainee firemen and firemen. The logbooks will hopefully ensure that
all aspects of training prior to assessment have been covered in enough
detail; they are broken down into modules and are signed off by an assessor.
There are sections such as ‘Planning for shunting’ and ‘Promote and
maintain effective relationships with customers’. It is hoped to start
issuing these at some point in the forthcoming season.
Thomas was a very successful event we managed
to cover all the turns and even had time to add an extra DMMU service
onto the last Sunday, this gave Daisy a trip out to Wittersham Road
and back and created a bit of interest getting all the engines and coaches
in the right place at Tenterden, thanks to some quick thinking by Chris
Dawson and David Manager it all went without hitch!
On the subject of Thomas I must thank, Jamie
Douglas, Clive Lowe, Dan Jenner, Phill Wood, Mike Grimwood, Boris Perkins
and a few others for putting diesel back on the line after suffering
a minor earth fault or derailment while shunting the Thomas sets without
their efforts getting everything ready for Thomas in time would have
proved difficult – Thank you.
7/2/2007
The Rolvenden yard pilot loco Ruston No 1 (formerly
Rowntree Mackintosh No 1) has been outshopped today following a re-paint
by Kevin Jones and Paul Halden and looks very smart indeed.
25/1/2007
More yard improvements have been underway at
Rolvenden following completion of the messroom re-furbishment. The area
between the coal pile and the road end of the shed has been concreted
to create an improved area for loading and unloading gasbottles etc.
There was sufficient concrete left over to enable us to complete the
remaining concreting adjacent to the new fuel point, and repair some
of the damaged concrete in the yard. The fuel point is now fully wired
up and operational.
17/1/2007
Following
the outstanding success of the 2006 Terrier Gala, the K&ESR is to
hold another enthusiast's gala over the Bank Holiday weekend, 5th, 6th
& 7th of May 2007. The theme for this year's event will be Colonel
Stephens, celebrating the achievements of the
K&ESR's famous engineer.
This year's attractions are to include the replica
Ford railcar making it's first appearance on the line which made it
famous, also visiting for the gala will be North Norfolk Railway's J15
65463, built at Stratford in 1912 and Isle of Wight Railway Terrier
W8 Freshwater. From the K&ESR home fleet, locomotives No 3 Bodiam,
32678, SECR P Class No 753 and Austerity
No23 H. F. Stephens.
Following a cavalcade at Tenterden Town Station,
and intensive train service will operate trains which will include the
K&ESR's famous vintage train, a Maunsell set, mixed and freight
trains. The J15 and W8 will only be operating public trains over the
3 day gala event, don't miss it! Full timetable details and information
will be available for download from here
in due course.
17/1/2007
Apart from the usual Santa Specials, which ran
as smoothly as ever, work in the Operating Department has been concentrated
mainly on Rolvenden Improvements and repairs. The leaking messroom roof
has beem repaired and new guttering installed. Internally the messroom
has been completely re-decorated and is now resplendant in Southern
Region green and cream. Thanks to the generosity of the 300 Club, we
have been able to fit new heavy duty, non slip floor covering and provide
new lockers for staff. Many thanks to all of those that helped with
all the tasks mentioned.
In between these jobs, we have also made significant
progress in the production of new training courses and footplate training
literature. see the MIC page in the Working Member's section for training
course dates.
22/9/06
Sadly we have to report that long standing member,
former fireman and Rolvenden workshop volunteer Tony Pearson passed
away yesterday after a short illness. Funeral arrangements will be circulated
in due course.
On a happier note, there are some more promotions
to report. Colin Pearson has now passed to operate Rolvenden signalbox
and Matt Green has passed out as a Guard. Matt has also been appointed
to the full time post of Operating Assistant. John Fletcher, who has
been a regular visiting Fireman from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway
for some years has now been promoted to steam driver. On the subject
of the NYMR, the visiting Lampton tank No 29 performed faultlessly through
it's loan period during July and August and was extremely popular
with the loco crews.
11/7/06
A new arm and bag was fitted to Rolvenden Depot
water column on Monday 10th July. Jamie Douglas and Matt Green are seen
here fitting the arm, for which the 10t Taylor Hubbard crane was used.
The new arm is around 18" higher than the old one to ease the filling
of saddle tank locos. The arm is fitted with an anti vacuum valve which
ensures that the contents of the bag and arm go into the tank, rather
than onto the ground when watering is completed. A new larger diameter
leather bag has also been fitted which should be less prone to kinking
and should speed up the watering process. Thanks to Chris Greatly who
masterminded the project and also to Adrian Landi, John Houslander and
John Arlett who assisted with the manufacture and welding of the new
arm.
7/7/06
We are pleased to announce that Ian Scarlet passed
his steam drivers exam on Wenesday 5th July. Congratulations Ian!
29/6/06
Congratulations go to Ben Pryor who successfully
passed out as a Guard today forllowing a competence assessment which
was carried out by Inspector Kent Evenden.
5/5/06
The last few weeks have been busy to say the
least! On top of all the usual trainservices, a big filming contract
for Bollywood has kept us occupied with several night time shoots, two
of them involving all night duties for steam crews, guards and signalmen.
A big thank you to everyone that helped make this happen, it certainly
was a challenge!
All the engines have now arrived on the line
for this weekend's Terrier gala. Again this event has involved a
lot of hard work moving and shunting the locos, making up freight trains
and shunting carriage sets. To see five Terriers in a line at Rolvenden
is a rare sight indeed! Unfortunately P class No 753 has developed a
vacuum brake fault which will not be repaired in time for the weekend.
It's place in the gala lineup will be taken up by the very welcome
re-entry into traffic of GWR pannier tank 1638 following renewal of
the crown stays.
26/3/06
Congratulations to Daniel Snowdon who today passed
the final practical part of his firing exam. John Asher is also to be
congratulated on passing his steam raisers exam on Saturday 25th.
5/3/06
More
progress has been made with the installation of the new fuel point at
Rolvenden. The old fuel tank and brick bund was removed on Friday 3rd
March. This has now opened up a much improved walkway to the signalbox
and gone some way to improving the general appearance of the area. Thanks
to Kevin Jones (pictured right), John Collard and Kalmar Driver Pete
Hubbard for their demolition efforts. Meanwhile Barry Holmes has made
a bracket for the new fuel point electrical cabinet which has since
been mounted on an adjacent telegraph pole and now only awaits final
connection by the electricians. New signage has also been installed
in the new oil store.
Other recent tasks undertaken by the Operating
Dept include the shunting and operation of Engineer's trains for
the relaying of the Pullman siding at Tenterden and craning works for
the Loco dept. At the same time the opportunity was taken to use the
steam crane to unload two wagon loads of cable drums and a redundant
wagon body that were removed from the Tenterden site clear up in November.
Following the appointment of the two new Assistant
Signalling Inspectors, work has progressed with the production of a
new Signalmans Competence Assessment which it is hoped will be introduced
shortly. Peter Lamont has done a tremendous job of producing this assessment
procedure in conjunction with input from Peter Parascondolo, Gereld
Beck and Clive Norman. With the introduction of this new new system,
the K&ESR will have in place top quality assessment procedures for
all the main operating positions following the introduction of new Guards
and Footplate competence assessments over the past couple of years.
13/2/06
Congratulations to Nigel Thomas who has today
passed his Firing exam.
Regular users of the Operating Dept website may
have noticed that following a short downtime a week ago, we have now
moved the site to a new host. Although the domain name remains
the same, most of the pages on the site now have a new URL. This
means that the people that use the e-mail Change Notes feature will
need to re-register each page they require notification of changes on.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. However, on
the positive side we now have much more web space to further expand
the site!
The installation of the new fuel point has progressed
recently. The old concrete in the area was broken up and re-laid
and the new tanks positioned. During the works the opportunity
was taken to install a larger manhole and renew all the valves for the
disposal pit water supply. We have also tidied up much of the
electrical supplies in the area and removed all the wiring and conduit
for the old pit lights in the big pit. The electrical work and
other associated works should be completed in the near future.
Thanks to Keith Brown, Pete Hubbard, Kevin Jones, Mike and George Harman
and Jamie Douglas for their help with this project.
4/2/06
Gerald Beck and Peter Parascadolo have been appointed
to the new posts of Assistant Signalling Inspectors with immediate effect.
Gerald and Peter will be primarily assisting Signalling Inspector Clive
E Norman with the competence assessments and supervision of Signalmen.
Congratulations to both of these gentlemen on their promotion.
The new oil store at Rolvenden has arrived and
installed in it's new location. It is already in use but does
still require an electrical connection to be made (so the light works)
and some signage fitting. It is hoped that staff will keep this
new facility in a clean and tidy condition. Work at Rolvenden
now moves to the new fuel point where there is a substantial amount
of concrete to be broken up prior to laying a new concrete base.
Any volunteers willing to assist in the project please contact Pete
Salmon.
23/11/05
The first issue of the new Operating Department
newsletter was published today. This newsletter will be published
from time to time as newsworthy events occur. View the November
issue here. Copies are also available in messrooms and from
the Operating Manager
12/11/05
The K&ESR Guard's Inspector, Malcolm Webb, has decided to resign
from the post of Guard's Inspector for personal reasons. I
am very sorry to lose Malcolm from the post that he has held for many
years, during which time he has worked extremely hard to ensure that
the K&ESR Guards work to a very high standard.
I am pleased that Malcolm will continue to volunteer on the railway
as a Guard when time permits, I'm sure he will also assist the new
Guards Inspector to settle into his new role. Meanwhile Malcolm
is working hard on the project to produce the new Rule Book.
Applications are invited from existing Guards for the post of Guard's
Inspector. If you feel that you are interested in applying for this
volunteer post, please see the advertisement on notice boards around
the railway and send me your written application before the 30th October
.
---------------------------------------------------------
Yet another Terrier is now confirmed for the Terrier Gala on 6th and
7th May 2006. As well as Fenchurch, the Bluebell Railway have
kindly agreed to loan us LB&SCR liveried No 55 Stepney for the event.
The K&ESR will reciprocate the arrangement by loaning 32678 (Knowle)
and No 3 Bodiam to the Bluebell Railway in November next year.
29/9/05
Another
Terrier has been confirmed for the K&ESR Terrier Gala on 6th &
7th May 2006! We can now reveal that the recently restored Bressingham
based Terrier No 662 Martello will become the 4th Terrier taking part
in this fascinating gala event along side the Bluebell Railway's
Fenchurch and resident K&ESR Terriers 32678 and No 3 Bodiam. It
is also anticipated that SE&CR P class No 753 will also be
in use during the weekend. All 5 of these locomotives worked
on the Kent & East Sussex Railway prior to the preservation era,
it is believed that this will be a record for any heritage railway in
the UK. More details of this event will appear here in due course.
26/9/05
Visiting steam locomotives for 2006. It
is confirmed that Bluebell Railway Terrier No 672 Fenchurch will be
visiting for the K&ESR Terrier Gala on 6th/7th May 2006. It
is hoped that another as yet un-named Terrier will also visit the line
for this event.
Meanwhile the K&ESR is also actively pursuing
a larger guest steam locomotive at assist with the heavier peak season
trains in the Summer of 2006. Watch this space for an announcement
when a locomotive is confirmed.
15/9/05
Congratulations to Paul Beale who has today passed
out as a Steam Driver. Paul also recently passed for driving out
on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. We are also pleased to announce
promotion for Paul Halden who completed his Fireman's exam today.
Greg Winter and Matt Green have also recently passed their firing exams.
We wish all four gentlemen a long and successful railway career.
2/7/05
And another promotion! Robin Collett has
today passed his Guards exam. Well done Robin!
6/6/05
Yet another promotion to report! This time congratulations
go to Signalman Rod Spratling who yesterday passed out to operate Rolvenden
signalbox.
5/6/05
Congratulations to trainees Martin Welsford and
Lesley Collins who have both qualified as firemen during the past 2
weeks.
We have also recently received a donation of
recycled orange protective clothing from Network Rail for which we a
very grateful.
24/5/05
Sadly Gemma, the Tenterden
station cat was put to sleep on the evening of Monday 23 May.
Gemma has been a feature of
the Tenterden site, predominantly around the S&T area since around
1991 or 1992. She used to reside in the large white house by the
station entrance, but they had another cat and a dog and that did not
suit her personality – she preferred her own space and territory.
Gemma became known to many
staff and public alike, and many children would notice her as she lay
on the pump trolley or “rowboat” in the centre of the forecourt.
Cats and railwaymen have a
long association. Before the likes of such charities as the RSPCA
and the Cat Protection League, cats would often find “homes” of their
choosing at a signal box or station porter’s room. Having a cat
around the site preserved a piece of that heritage.
On a happier note, congratulations
go to Patrick Denvir who passed out as a Guard today and to Charles
Lucas who passed his Guards exam last week.
13/5/05
It is with sadness that we have to report the
death of Eric Graves, who died suddenly yesterday. Eric was one
of the longest serving Guards on the K&ESR, having initially passed
out in 1974. He was also a very active member of the Ashford Area
Group. Eric will be missed by his many friends on the railway.
Our sincere condolences go to his wife and family at this sad time.
22/4/05
Repairs to Rolvenden level crossing were completed
today, in time to allow trains to use the level crossing for the Steaming
Home special event this weekend. The project involved digging
out the old road surface and renewing all the sleepers and check rails.
The road was then Tarmaced to provide a billiard table like surface
for road traffic. The job was tackled in two halves, with the
Tenterden side being done yesterday and the Rolvenden station side completed
today. The pictures below show the work in progress today and
the new Tarmac on the Tenterden side. Click on the thumbnail to
see the full size picture.
21/4/05
USA Tank DS 238 has been repainted in to War
department livery in time for the Steaming Home special event this weekend
23/24 April.
At the time of the photograph below only the
lettering/number remained to be applied. The loco will now carry
the identity WD 1960. Work has also started on major level crossing
repairs on the busy A28 crossing at Rolvenden.
15/4/05
The Pullman Dock buffer stops have today been
modified with the addition of a pair of Oleo buffers to lessen the risk
of any damage when shunting the Pullman stock into the siding.
In the picture below Frim Halliwell and Catering Manager Andre Freeman
are seen fitting the buffers ably supervised by Cathy Roberts.
Click on the picture to see the full size image.
24/3/05
A busy week for operating staff has seen a tidy
up train for the General Manager on Sunday 20th March. This train cleared
much debris and clutter from the line side and was the second such train
in the last few months.
On Tuesday 22nd we occupied a long day with one
of the biggest shunts and stock movements that the railway has
seen for many years. Several items of stock awaiting restoration,
which had been berthed in various locations around the railway since
the old headshunt at Northiam was removed to make way for the Bodiam
extension, were shunted together to form a train. The stock was then
taken to Bodiam and berthed in the new headshunt.
The combined effect of the two tidy up trains
and the removal of much of the more unsightly stock has greatly improved
the appearance of the railway for our visitors, hopefully encouraging
more of them to make return visits and to recommend our railway to their
friends and colleagues.
In conjunction with the stock movements, all
the stock which was a Tenterden for the PW point renewal and coaching
stock which had been moved to Rolvenden to create space for the PW dept
to work, were returned to there usual places.
Just in case anyone was getting bored, we also
made a good start on creating an ash walkway at Bodiam for use
by Guards on Pullmans and other occasions when they need to walk the
length after closing the level crossing gates. Many thanks to
James Palk, Colin Avey, Keith Brown, Simon Long and Dave Kiernon who
all worked extremely hard to accomplish a tremendous amount in just
one day.
18/3/05
The Tenterden point replacement has made more
progress over the last couple of days. The level crossing has
now been tamped and tarmaced and several tons of ballast have been laid
on the new track. This weekend work will concentrate on tidying
the area as well as the huge amount of work to reconnect the point and
associated signalling. Latest pictures below. Click on the
thumbnails to see a bigger picture.
16/3/05
More pictures of the PW point relay at Tenterden
below showing the trap point in it's new location. Ballasting
and tamping should be done on Thursday and tarmacing the level crossing
is due for Friday.
Whilst shunting the tamper from its siding at
Wittersham Rd the opportunity was taken to release four coaches awaiting
restoration. These coaches and several other unservicable items
of stock will be relocated in the newly extended headshunt at Bodiam
next week.
15/3/05
The Tenterden point replacement has progressed
over the past few days and the point in now in position and connected
to the platform road. Work now moves to installing the loop trap
point and reconnecting the loop line. Ballasting the point and
mainline is due on Wednesday morning and Clive Lowe's tamper is
expected to start tamping on Wednesday afternoon. Latest pictures below,
click on the thumbnails to see the full size photo.
12/3/05
A further update on the Tenterden point replacement.
Most of the drainage work is now completed and work has started on installation
of ducting for S&TE equipment under the level crossing. Meanwhile
new track has been laid in the platform road. Click on the thumbnails
below to see the latest pictures.
11/3/05
Latest pictures from the point relay taken this
morning. The level crossing has now been dug out and the soggy
clay removed from the whole area. A layer of Terram has been laid
to prevent clay pumping back though the trackbed and drains and new
manholes installed. Ducting has been installed for the S&T dept
and a considerable amount of time has been spent repairing the water
supply to the water column which was "modified" while digging
for the drainage. Click on the thumbnails to see a larger picture
7/3/05
The Permanent Way Department started work today
on renewing the point outside Tenterden signalbox. The pictures
below show work in progress on the point removal. This was the scene
just after lunch when the old point had been removed. Click on the thumbnails
to see a larger version of the picture.
The new point will be installed several yards nearer to the Rolvenden
end of the site which enable 5 coach trains to stop entirely within
the platform and increase clearances for running round longer trains.
Work will be ongoing for the next couple of weeks
and will include a large amount of S&TE work to install new point
rodding and re-site the loop shunt signal. Further news
will follow as the project progresses.
14/12/04
The Operating Dept have recently
run two successful Incident Training days which included a classroom
session on each day dealing with safety critical communication and an
afternoon practical session dealing with failed trains. A total
of thirty-one staff attended over the weekend. A further
Incident Training day will be arranged for the Spring.
Footplate crew training is
steadily progressing. Paul Wilson has run three steam raisers courses
for nine volunteers, four of whom are now qualified to light up locos.
Paul also ran a one day training
course for seven trainee drivers, learning the finer points of braking,
whilst on the same day Mike Harman ran a freight training day for a
two trainee drivers and a trainee fireman. The freight day also
provided training for one trainee guard and refresher training for one
existing Guard. The banking turns on the Santa’s are also providing
a valuable training opportunity for footplate crews and Guards alike.
Adrian Chapman has been running
a regular Wednesday afternoon theory and rules training session for
trainee drivers that has been attended by 6-7 people on most occasions.
Repairs to an underground water
leak have now been completed on Rolvenden water column and a new shut
off valve installed. Thanks are due to Chris Greatly and Ben Swan
for their help with this project. Chris estimated that the cost
of the water leak was more than £800 a year. Whilst concreting
at Rolvenden the opportunity was also taken to finish off the concrete
repairs at Northiam water column.
Derek Dunlavey has compiled
an eight page long response on behalf of the K&ESR to the Railway
Accident Investigation Branch “Proposals for New Rail Investigating
and Reporting Regulations”. This has been sent to the Heritage
Railway Association who will pass on member railways views to the RAIB.
Some tidying up of Rolvenden
yard and environs has taken place with more planned once the scrap metal
skip has been emptied. The waste oil drums by the front gate should
be emptied this week. More tidying up/yard cleaning days
will be arranged over the winter.
Work is planned to start on
dismantling the old “Piper Alpha” oil store tanks on top of the oil
store in the near future as most of the tanks are now empty or contain
oils no longer required. A temporary roof will be fitted
to keep the rain out until such time as funds are available to build
a new oil store.
27/6/04
Operating department News as submitted to
Summer Tenterden Terrier
There have been several promotions
within the operating grades. Brian Atkins, Trevor Tremethick and Jonathan
Marsh have all passed firing tests and are now in the new grade of Probationary
Fireman (The old grades of Cleaner and Passed Cleaner are now known
as Trainee Fireman and Probationary Fireman respectively to more accurately
reflect the status of the staff in those grades).
Martin Sherwood has passed his Guards exam and Roger Temple has
completed his Signalman’s training and is now passed to operate Tenterden
Box. Roger is now also learning Wittersham Road box.
Existing Signalmen Kent Evenden and Nick Wood have now added
Rolvenden to the list of signal boxes they can work.
After more than a decade of
service, Fred Waller has announced his retirement from signalling.
We hope that Fred will still pop in to see us from time to time
and give us the benefit of his advice and pass on some of his knowledge
to his former colleagues. We
would like to take the opportunity to thank Fred for all he has done
for the railway during his time with us.
Meanwhile on the sick list,
David Strivens is recovering from a nasty fall at home and Graham Bridge
has been suffering from a bad back.
We very much hope that these two gentlemen will be feeling better
and back in circulation very soon.
A Block is now used on most
of the two train timetable days and has been performing well with very
few teething problems. Most
of the regular staff have received their training on the new system,
the remaining few will receive training as part of rostered turns.
The use of A Block has reduced the amount of signalmen required
on many days, thus easing the pressure slightly on our hard-pressed
Roster Clerk Tony Pratt.
At Rolvenden, footplate staff
have been working hard to improve the appearance the loco fleet and
engines are generally much cleaner than they were in the past.
John Collard has worked wonders with the black paint to smarten
up the smoke boxes of several locos that were looking tatty due to burnt
paint from the high temperatures.
Kevin Jones has also painted the fence between the yard and the
running line that was becoming very untidy.
The oil store has also been
cleaned right out and all the old contaminated and unwanted oils and
greases disposed of. It
is intended to remove all the old life expired oil tanks from the roof
of the oil store as they become empty and fit a temporary roof to extend
the life of the existing container for a few years until funds can be
allocated to building a new brick oil store.
The new running store is now
fully operational and the old brick built store has been demolished.
Thanks to everyone who has helped with all the tasks above that have
helped to improve the general appearance of the depot.
The last few months have seen
a dramatic increase in the amount of staff training.
As well as training all our staff on the new A Block system and
the Incident training days in the winter, the department has improved
the training on offer to assist staff in gaining promotion.
A successful and enjoyable freight training day enabled several
members of the footplate crew and Trainee Guards to experience working
a heavy unfitted freight train down the steep incline of Tenterden Bank.
In addition several senior Firemen have been receiving all day
driver-training sessions under the watchful eyes of a Footplate Inspector
where they have been able to prepare, drive and dispose a locomotive
performing all the tasks of the Driver. Hopefully, with the experience gained, some of these Firemen
will soon be in a position to pass out as Drivers.
Steam Raiser training has been
reviewed and improved and a one-day training course covering the required
theory has been run. Several
Trainees are currently learning the practical side of Steam Raising
and will hopefully soon be taking the first step on the footplate promotion
ladder.
With plenty of training on
offer and vacancies in all grades, there has never been a better time
to join the Operating Department.
For anyone prepared to show commitment and with a willingness
to learn, qualification for many grades can be achieved in quite a reasonable
time. We need more people
to qualify for all grades to enable us to further expand the timetable;
you are assured of a warm welcome if you choose to join us.
Whether you are interested in footplate work, signalling or becoming
a Guard we would be pleased to have you as part of our team.
Please contact Operating Manager Pete Salmon on 01580 761097
(office hours) or alternatively, visit the departments website at
www.kesr.fsnet.co.uk
for more information and an online application form.
