Following on from our visit this morning to the nearby KESR, myself and Eddie had a brisk drive across the marsh to reach New Romney Station. New Romney is of course home to the headquarters of the UK's mainline in miniature: the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. My last visit to the RHDR was over 10 years ago and, since then, I've been looking forward to a return. Tomorrow I'm on a very special mission: I have a footplate pass to complete the full 27-mile round trip aboard one of the fabulous locomotives based here...I can't wait! Having parked in the adjacent station car park, we wandered through the ticket office and out onto the station concourse. With no trains due yet, there was then time for a visit to the impressive model railway exhibition upstairs. I must admit, it is well worth a look...
The layout has trains of varying origins moving about all over the place, programmed to wait at various signals and allow other trains to pass. There is certainly a lot of activity, more than enough to keep the attention of the enthused spectator...
With a hooter heard on the summer breeze, it wasn't long before pioneer pacific No1 "Green Goddess" strode into sight. Rattling over the point work, No1s driver duly accepted the Dungeness token from the New Romney signalman...
No1 "Green Goddess" is a fabulous Davey Paxman pacific built in 1925. She was the lines first locomotive and is still going strong to this day, resplendent in her shining LNER Apple Green livery. She was a real picture today as she stood glistening in the July sunshine: a credit to the staff and volunteers of the RHDR...
Down the platform, under the impressive station roof, stood No6 "Samson". No6 is one of two mountain class 4-8-2s based on the railway, built in 1927 to cope with heavier train loads. Though they have the smaller wheels of a freight engine, they still retain the overall design characteristics of their pacific shed mates. One of the diesel engines soon arrived from Romney Sands with a Hythe-bound service, which was to be taken over by "Samson". Once the diesel was clear, No6 was given the road to crossover onto the waiting stock. The road was then set for an imminent departure...
Following a sharp blast of her US Crosby whistle, No6 summoned her strength to haul the train away from New Romney. As she rattled off into the distance, we decided it was time to head back towards our accommodation. I'm staying in Ashford, so not too far from the RHDR. I can't wait until tomorrow: I'm really looking forward to finally sampling the footplate of a Romney engine! Cheers all, Sam...
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