The Last Day – Part 2 by Peter Davis

First published in issue 14 of The Tenterden Terrier Winter 1977. Reproduced with permission of present editor Mr P D Shaw

The Author has joined the last day “special” from Headcorn to Robertsbridge at Biddenden station and has settled down to savour his last journey on the line…

As I had no intention of giving up my precious seat, I had to be content with what I could see from the carriage window. At that moment a curious ceremony was being enacted beneath the station awning; a platoon of Dad’s Army had been paraded under the command of a bristling major whilst a gold-braided railway official, presumably in charge of the special, solemnly inspected them. Actually, this was a detachment from “E” company, 23rd Battalion Home Guard, The Buffs, under the command of Major F J Parsons; apparently they had been responsible for patrolling the line during the War.

Perhaps today, the ill assorted selection of elderly gents in baggy battle dress and large, shapeless berets would have provoked hoots of laughter, but in 1954 the Home Guard was still taken very seriously and no doubt they had given sterling service to the line during the dark days of the conflict.

Soon the troops were fallen out and installed in their reserved compartments and the be-wreathed “01” blasted away from Biddenden, whistling continuously, whilst a local farmer fired a shotgun salute from the lineside. At High Halden Road, a large party dressed in traditional mourning dress and carrying a draped coffin, squeezed themselves into the train and two boy scouts played the Last Post as we departed.

After a pause at the lowly and seldom used St. Michael’s Halt, we arrived to a civic reception at Tenterden where the Mayor, Councillor S J Day, dressed in silk topper and attended by the Town Sergeant, signed autographs, posed with Driver Hills of Ashford, said a few words and squeezed into the train for the last journey.

The train was by now hopelessly late and darkness had set in by the time Rolvenden was reached and where a complicated engine changing procedure lost even more time. Rolvenden yard, from an operating point of view, was the same as now and 31064 was replaced at the head of the train by Terrier 32655, with Driver Hazel and Fireman Blair. The Terrier then had to draw the six coaches clear of the yard before 32678, with a St. Leonard’s crew, could be attached to the rear. It was apparently a source of great regret to the K&ESR enginemen that neither they, nor No.3, figured more prominently on this day.

Eventually we proceeded to Robertsbridge, sliding uneventfully through the Rother Valley, the dimly lit stations thronged with sightseers and yielding even more passengers. Under the circumstances, a 30 minute late arrival was quite reasonable.

After darkness had blotted out the passing scene, I turned my attention to the proceedings within the dimly illuminated coach. It seemed that a distinction could be made between the enthusiasts who had come to “do the line” for the last time and the local folk to whom it was no doubt a regrettable occasion but nevertheless one to be celebrated with a certain amount of abandon and jollity. So while the locals attacked their crates of beer, hot drinks and food, told jokes, sang songs and generally enjoyed themselves, we enthusiasts sat in forlorn huddles bemoaning the imminent end of the line. Little did we realise that more than 20 years’ later, people would be eating, drinking and enjoying themselves as they too meandered through the Rother Valley in dimly lit Maunsell coaches!

Lawson-Finch, author of the first history of the line, was squeezing along the crowded corridors selling copies of his publication from a large suitcase. I believe he sold all the remaining copies that evening and was probably delighted to have done so as the book had been published for six years by then. I had bought a copy second-hand the year previously for four shillings, today a mint copy may fetch six or seven pounds! Strange that publications are sold in the coaches of the K&ESR in 1977 – what price a present day guide or stockbook in the year 2000?

At Robertsbridge everyone was turned out of the train while it was shunted to enable the engines to be watered. At least 1000 people were crammed onto the narrow platform, including the mourners, Home Guard and sundry persons in fancy dress. Harassed railway officials, reinforced by a solitary railway policeman who was travelling on the line, did their best to keep people off the main line, a potentially lethal situation, but happily even the most enterprising trespassers survived. Meanwhile, TV cameramen were busy capturing the scene with magnesium flares.