This was the quintessential Stephens' light railway and was always the heart of his empire. Conceived as the Rother Valley railway, it opened from Robertsbridge to Tenterden in 1900. Despite detailed and legally authorised extensions over much of the Kent Weald to Maidstone, Rye and Cranbrook, lack of capital meant that only the extension to Headcorn was to be opened in 1905. Built as a model light railway, expediency and lack of capital had forced it to become the make-do and mend railway so beloved of railway enthusiasts. It served a deeply rural area it was initially profitable but suffered severe road competion fromthe early 1920s. Only track relaying and imported motive power during World War II and at nationalisation in 1948 saved it.
Passenger traffic and the operation of the Headcorn extension ceased in 1953 and the railway closed completely in 1961.
Enthusiasts rescued the line and despite much official obstruction in the 1960s it was progressively reopened from Tenterden in 1974 and reached Bodiam in the millennium year.
Website: www.kesr.org.uk
Further reading:
The Kent & East Sussex Railway, Brian Hart, WSP, 2009.
Kent and East Sussex Railway, Stephen Garrett, Oakwood Press, 1999.
Portrait of a Rural Railway: The Kent and East Sussex Then & Now, K&ESR, 2004.
See Also TOPICS articles
TICKET ISSUE AND COLLECTION ON THE RVR
OPENING UP THE WEALD
FROM HEADCORN TO MAIDSTONE
HESPERUS
THE KENT AND EAST SUSSEX RAILWAY HORSE BUS
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