Terrier Reunion on K&ESR metals
Without
doubt the most important enthusiasts-orientated event to take
place on the Kent & East Sussex Railway in the preservation/heritage
era is being planned for May 2006 with provisional initial core
dates of 06 and 07.
Make
no mistake about it. Baring a fluke of history, possibly equivalent
of a triple lightning strike in the same place on the same day,
or a multi-million lotto win, we are unlikely to witness its
like again.
It
is twenty very very long years since the railway boasted two
working Terriers and with an overhaul for 32678 looming in the
not too distant future, K&ESR needs to make the most of
the forthcoming months. The possibility of a Terrier event was
mooted earlier in the year with a guest engine being proposed.
Matters
have moved on apace. Guest initially become 72 Fenchurch
to join 3 Bodiam and 32678 Knowle, but has
now transformed into visitors because newly restored 62 Martello
from Bressingham is now included and as Bluebell want both Bodiam
and Knowle for their Terrier event
in November 2006, K&ESR gets use of 55 Stepney
as well. Along with P-class 753, the erstwhile Pride of
Sussex which is likely to also be in service, this means
the railway will be able to boast no fewer than SIX
locomotives all of which saw usage on the line in BR days to
a greater or lesser extent. This must surely be a unique claim
for a standard gauge heritage; should anyone wish to quibble,
then a gentle reminder of the strong pedigree of many of these
working on the old K&ESR needs to be recalled.
A
dog walk is proposed for the Saturday together with a group
photograph with the Terriers. It is hoped to also acquire some
Terriers in other gauges/scales so that together with the terrier
dogs that turn up we can accrue A Thousand Years of Terriers.
A
Fun Dog Show has also been pencilled in for the Sunday.
The
event therefore accounts for precisely half of the surviving
fleet. 54 Waddon is couped up in Canada, 50 Whitechapel
is being dismembered into a kit of parts on the Spa Valley
Railway and 82 Boxhill is in York. 46 Newington, like
Bodiam, the recipient of a new boiler, and 40 Brighton,
withdrawn for overhaul a few years’ ago, are based on
the Isle of Wight Railway.
HN-17/10/2005
