Rother Valley / Kent & East Sussex Railway 1900-c.1910 - Notes & Queries

[Edwardian]

I wonder if I am alone in seeing the RVR/K&ESR as the foremost of the Light Railways of England?

 

It has halcyon days, an Edwardian summer of optimism, and for some years remained devoted to the idea of new purpose-built stock. It ran through some enchanting countryside, linking some historic places. Its infrastructure was perhaps the epitome of the Light Railway style. It painted its locomotives a deep rich blue and its locomotives and rolling stock were prime examples of Light Railway practice. They represented both new types to new 'Light Railway' designs, sometimes even innovative and experimental, and, on the other hand, included the familiar catalogue of second-hand ex-mainline equipment. I've chosen to focus on the 1900-1910 period, because it shows these two characteristic equipment traditions used side by side. Other Stephens lines often had to make do with its cast-offs, and one suspects that the line was particularly close to his heart.

 

Distinctive New-Built 'Light Railway'-type stock

 

In 1900 the RVR started with two locomotives and 8 4-wheel passenger train vehicles.  These represented what Light Railways and manufacturers came up with as suitable for this new type of railway. They differ markedly from 'mainline' equipment, and, it must be said, were not always successful.  The two diminutive Hawthorn Leslie 2-4-0Ts had reasonably long working lives, though one was later given larger wheels.  Of the 8 original passenger train vehicles, supplied by Hurst Nelson for the opening in 1900, two were brake vehicles, for all the World looking like goods brakes. They seem to have stayed on the books for a long time, but may have proved unsuccessful fairly early on; there is a picture (later on below) of two 1860s vintage GER Brake Thirds being used in preference with the Hurst Nelson 4-wheel Brakes.

 

 

These 6 Hurst Nelson 4-wheel coaches were rebuilt in 1904 by Pickerings as three short bogie coaches.  They were not a success, and apparently they sagged in the middle.  Although they stayed on the K&ESR until the 1930s, it is believed they were laid aside relatively early on. There is one picture of them with a Terrier at Robertsbridge, connecting with a SE train.  Thus makes sense because another bogie set was acquired to work the Headcorn Extension. The original Robersbridge to Tenterden section tended to be run separately from the Headcorn Extension, leaving the new Tenterden Town station as something of an end-on junction.  

 

 

New stock was required for the Headcorn Extension.  The locomotive, ordered new, was another Hawthorn Leslie, but this time a monstrous 0-8-0T and one cannot help but doubt its suitability as a Light Railway locomotive. Pickerings supplied three new short bogie coaches in 1905 for use on the Headcorn Extension.  These were not a success either.  They were gone by 1910.

 

 

The third iteration of what I increasingly think of as The Curse of Pickerings was a pioneering steam railmotor, also in 1905. It was not a great success, but apparently worked on and off up to 1914.     

 

 

Reliance on second-hand stock

 

The Directors obviously cleaved to the belief in new and purpose-built Light Railway stock for the first five years of the line. Nevertheless, they soon realised that they could not run it with just two locomotives, so had to find a third quickly.  This lead to the first of many second-hand purchases, a Terrier, in 1900. 

 

In 1901came the first of the many second-hand coaches. I am tempted to see the first two, the 21'8" 1867 GER brake Thirds, Nos. 9 and 10, as stop gaps to replaced the Hurst Nelson Brakes.  The picture below shows the original Hurst Nelson coaches running with the GER Brakes.

 

 

Prior to the entry into service of the Pickerings' rebuilt Hurst Nelsons (1904) and the new-built Pickering bogies (1905), a total of 7 second-hand 4-wheel coaches were acquired. 

 

Despite the advent of the two 3-coach bogie sets, the acquisition of second-hand vehicles continued almost immediately, with a set of 3 GER coaches in 1906, it is thought. 

 

1910 is something of a watershed, and we may probably consider the bogie coaches either disposed of or out of use by then.  This year saw the first set of LSWR coaches, which came to dominate the rolling stock of the railway in later years.  In 1911, a similar LSWR trio was added, more followed and in the 1930s, earlier second-hand purchases were replaced to a large extent by more ex-LSWR stock, including bogie coaches. 

 

For me, the period 1900-1910 is one not only of a new railway in its optimistic prime, but one that offers a fascinating combination of the not especially successful Brave New World of new-built LR equipment and what became in reality the main prop of such lines in later years, second-hand stock, including Terriers and venerable withdrawn mainline coaches.

 

The tables below take as their starting point those on the Colonel Stephens Society website, but the carriage one has been given added detail and notes.  I am grateful to Linny of the Parish for our discussions of the 1910 and 1911 LSWR sets, which has allowed me to focus on the GER stock.  

 

Locomotives of the Rother Valley Railway – Kent & East Sussex Railway, 1900-1910

 

Chronological list
1       Northiam       2-4-0T Hawthorn Leslie                     1900-1941
2       Tenterden      2-4-0T Hawthorn Leslie                     1900-1941
3       Bodiam          0-6-0T ‘Terrier’ LB&SCR                     1900
4       Hecate            0-8-0T Hawthorn Leslie                     1904-1932
5       Rolvenden      0-6-0T ‘Terrier’ LB&SCR                     1904-c.1935
6       Railmotor Pickering                                                   1905-1914          
7       Rother             0-6-0 Ilfracombe Goods LSWR         1910-c.1940

 

  

Carriages of the Rother Valley Railway – Kent & East Sussex Railway, 1900-1910

 

Chronological list

1          4-wheel             Hurst Nelson    Third Saloon                                           1900-1904         Rebuilt

2          4-wheel             Hurst Nelson    Third Saloon                                            1900-1904         Rebuilt

3          4-wheel             Hurst Nelson    Third Saloon                                            1900-1904         Rebuilt

4          4-wheel             Hurst Nelson    Third Saloon                                            1900-1904         Rebuilt

5          4-wheel             Hurst Nelson     First                                                         1900-1904         Rebuilt

6          4-wheel             Hurst Nelson     First                                                         1900-1904         Rebuilt

7          4-wheel             Hurst Nelson     Brake                                                       1900-1916         To Selsey

8          4-wheel             Hurst Nelson     Brake                                                       1900-1935                    

9          4-wheel             Ex-GER               21’8” 2-compt. Brake Third (1867)       1901-1910         Van 1910-35

10        4-wheel             Ex-GER               21’8” 3-compt. Brake Third (1867)       1901/2-1916     To S&MLR

11        4-wheel             Ex-CLC               27’2” 5-compt. Third (c.1873)[1]           1902-1910         To EKR

12        4-wheel             Ex-CLC               27’8” 4-compt. Comp. (c.1873)[2]         1902-1910         To EKR

13        4-wheel             Ex-GER               24’3” 5-compt. Third (03/1876)            1903-1910         To EKR

14        4-wheel             Ex-NLR               Full Brake                                                1904-1910         To EKR

15        4-wheel             Ex-NLR               Full Brake                                                1904-1948

16        Pickering Railmotor (numbered as locomotive number 6)                      1905-1914

1          Bogie                Pickering/HN      Brake Third                                              1904-1934

4          Bogie                Pickering/HN      Brake Composite[3]                                1904-1935

6          Bogie                Pickering/HN      Third                                                         1904-1932

17        Bogie                Pickering             Brake Composite                                    1905-1910         To EKR

18        Bogie                Pickering             Third                                                         1905-1910         To Woolmer

19        Bogie                Pickering             Brake Third                                              1905-1910         To Woolmer

20        4-wheel             Ex-GER               27’ 2-compt. Brake Third (1875)            1906-1935

21        4-wheel             Ex-GER               27’ 4-compt. Composite[4] (1875)         1906-1935

22        4-wheel             Ex-GER               27’ 3-compt. Brake Third (1875)            1906-1935

18        4-wheel             Ex-LSWR            28’ 3-compt. Brake Third                        1910-1948

19        4-wheel             Ex-LSWR            28’ 3-compt. Brake Third                        1910/1[5]-1948

2          6-wheel             Ex-LSWR            32’ 5-comp. Composite                           1910-1932

 

Note: Generally, the dates the coaches were at the RVR/K&ESR are taken from the Colonel. Stephens Society website.  There are some discrepancies with other sources in relation to the dates:

(i)                  Other sources have both ex-GER Brake Thirds, 9 and 10, acquired together in 1901

(ii)                 The date of the Pickering rebuilt Hurst Nelson carriages is often given as 1905

(iii)               The stock book records the purchase of the second GER set as 1908, but there is apparently evidence of them on the line from 1906.

(iv)               According to Garrett, 1910 was the year all three LSWR were acquired and that, in 1911, a second, very similar, set was acquired.  

(v)                Kidner thinks there was a 4-compt. GER First. If so, this would probably have been a Sinclair 24' vehicle.  Interestingly, he allocated No.5 to it.  If he was wrong, and his list is incomplete and has several apparent mistakes, that would leave                            the No.5 as unique in not being reused for later carriages after the Hurst Nelson No.5 was rebuilt. 

 

Notes on LSWR coaches:

(i)                  According to Garrett (1978): In 1910 three LSWR carriages were acquired.  Two were four-wheeled 3rd brakes seating 30 in three compartments and were numbered 18 and 19 ... the other was a six-wheeled five compartment composite seating 12 x

                    1st and 30 x 3rd and it took the No.2 vacant ....

(ii)                 And: A further three LSWR carriages were bought in 1911 .... given the numbers 1, 4 and 6 .... No 1 was identical to Nos. 18 and 19.  No. 4 was identical to No.2 .... No. 6 was a two-compartment four-wheel 3rd brake seating 20 ...  

(iii)               For K&ESR No. 2 & 4 (32' 6-wheel composite) see Weddell Fig. 4.7.

(iv)               K&ESR No. 1 is Weddell Fig. 4.4b (part II).  The LSWR withdrew these coaches between 1900 and 1905.

 

Footnotes:

[1] Wheelbase 27’2”. Ganwayed with side corridor according to Garrett (1978)

[2] Wheelbase 27’2”.  It is supposed that this was a MS&LR First and Comp. design, used as a First by the K&ESR and EKR

[3] These were said to have been quickly laid aside, but were photographed in service on a couple of occasions. The use of No.4 for a LSWR composite acquired in 1911 may suggest that the Pickering rebuilds were out of use by then at latest.

[4] Garrett (1978) has 21 as the 3-Compt. Brake Third and 22 the Comp.

[5] 1910 according to Garrett (1978)

 

[Tom Burnham]

1910 was a watershed in K&ESR carriage history as that was when the Board decided that passengers should enjoy steam heating in winter, rendering most of the then existing stock unsuitable for year-round use.

[Tom Burnham]

Reviving this topic, as you say Light Railways were seen as very modern in the 1890s and early 1900s, just the thing for the levelling up agenda of the period, giving British farmers a level playing field with their successful foreign competitors, reducing costs for rurally-based industries, giving people living in the country access to the cultural offerings of the towns and even facilitating well-to-do people buying houses in more rural areas.  But by the mid 1920s, only some 25 years after it had opened, travel writers were describing the K&ESR as a quaint survival from ye olden days.  Even the petrol railcars, an interesting if somewhat under-engineered idea, and probably not much worse than local road transport of the period, were seen as an oddity.  We think things change fast nowadays, but nothing to the first quarter of the last century!