{"id":147,"date":"2014-12-12T18:25:27","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T18:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/?p=147"},"modified":"2025-05-30T13:57:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T12:57:16","slug":"a-bit-of-a-thing-about-railways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/2014\/12\/12\/a-bit-of-a-thing-about-railways\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bit of a Thing About Railways"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"East<\/a>

East Hill Funicular Overlooks the Fisherman’s Beach<\/p><\/div>\n

\"East<\/a>

East Hill Funicular<\/p><\/div>\n

If you’re a railway enthusiast, then you could hardly do better than to pick Hastings<\/a> as a base. Just in the town alone, there are four, not counting the ‘professional’ main line services, and it used to have a network of trams. The trams are long gone, but a miniature railway runs along the seafront from Rock-a-Nore to Marine Parade, there are two funicular railways (information on Wikipedia<\/a>) carrying passengers to the tops of the West and East Hills, and there is another miniature railway in Alexandra Park. The people of Sussex and Kent seem keen on vintage railways too, because there are half a dozen or more within the counties.
\n<\/p>\n

The Hastings Beach Miniature Railway runs behind the fisherman’s beach, past the Jerwood Gallery and the Net Shops, and past several huts selling the day’s catch.<\/p>\n

\"Hastings<\/a>

Hastings Beach Miniature Railway – Rock-a-Nore Station<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Hastings<\/a>

Hastings Beach Miniature Railway Turntable<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Hastings<\/a>

Hastings Beach Miniature Railway<\/p><\/div>\n

Hastings Beach Miniature Railway has no website apparently, but there is a Wikipedia entry.<\/p>\n

The Alexandra Park Miniature Railway runs in the attractive and spacious Alexandra Park, which is an easily missed attraction in Hastings.<\/p>\n

\"Alexandra<\/a>

Alexandra Park Miniature Railway<\/p><\/div>\n

The Alexandra Park railway doesn’t seem to have a web page, but is on Facebook at Alexandra Park Miniature Railway<\/a><\/p>\n

Further Afield<\/h3>\n

In Kent and East Sussex, the Kent and East Sussex Railway<\/a> (KESR) \u00a0 runs between Tenterden and Bodiam, a distance of 11 miles. \u00a0See ” And Yet More Steam Engines”<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rother Valley Railway<\/a> is hoping to run steam services out of Robertsbridge, to connect with the KESR at Bodiam.<\/p>\n

Probably the most famous steam service is on the Bluebell Line<\/a>, which runs standard-gauge steam trains from East Grinstead to Sheffield Park, about 11 miles. \u00a0Probably best remembered by Brits of a certain age as featuring in the film ‘The Railway Children.’<\/p>\n

\"Kent<\/a>

Kent & East Sussex Railway Locomotive at Level Crossing Station<\/p><\/div>\n

Not far away, the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway<\/a> (RHDR) runs the 13\u00bd miles from Hythe to Dungeness. \u00a0The RHDR uses one-third-size locomotives and rolling stock. \u00a0The RHDR, although primarily a tourist attraction nowadays, still runs regular scheduled public passenger carrying services, including schoolchildren on what must be one of the most unusual journeys to school in the UK.<\/p>\n

Bizarrely, there is a pleasure line in Japan, the Shuzenji Romney Railway, modelling the RHDR, complete with Romney Station and ‘British Village.’<\/p>\n

\"Nijinosato<\/a>

Nijinosato ‘British Village’ Japan<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Nijinosato<\/a>

Nijinosato Replica of Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, Japan<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Romney,<\/a>

Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway Engine. The one in England!<\/p><\/div>\n

Other lines nearby include the Lavender Line at Isfield, near Uckfield (1 mile), the Spa Valley Railway, Eridge to Tunbridge Wells (5\u00bd miles) and the Great Bush Railway, Hadlow Down, East Sussex (\u00bc mile), which also hosts traction engine rallies and a museum.<\/p>\n

Much further afield, the East Kent Railway (EKR ) runs lovingly restored heritage trains between the small leafy village of Shepherdswell and the idyllic village of Eythorne, near Dover, a distance of two miles. \u00a0The EKR also run several miniature and model railways.<\/p>\n

Most of the above also operate museums, restored or recreated period buildings and static displays of railway stock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re a railway enthusiast, then you could hardly do better than to pick Hastings as a base. Just in the town alone, there are four, not counting the ‘professional’ main line services, and it used to have a network of trams. The trams are long gone, but a miniature railway runs along the seafront from Rock-a-Nore to Marine Parade, there are two funicular railways (information on Wikipedia) carrying passengers to the tops of the West and East Hills, and there is another miniature railway in Alexandra Park. The people of Sussex and Kent seem keen on vintage railways too, because there are half a dozen or more within the counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,36,13,9,7],"tags":[28,12,33,32,30],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hastings","category-history","category-history-of-technology","category-railways","category-steam","category-technology","tag-hastings","tag-history-of-technology","tag-railways","tag-steam","tag-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6XHo8-2n","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":140,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/2014\/12\/15\/and-yet-more-steam-engines\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":0},"title":"And Yet More Steam Engines","author":"ablockhead","date":"15th December 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"If a visit to the Giants of Brede isn't enough to slake your thirst for 19th and early 20th century engineering, then the Kent and East Sussex Light Railway runs through nearby Northiam, where you can watch the antique locomotives take on water at the restored station which, with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hastings"","block_context":{"text":"Hastings","link":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/category\/hastings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kent & East Sussex Railway - Locomotive at Level Crossing, Northiam Station","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/12\/loco-at-level-crossing-station-Resized.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/12\/loco-at-level-crossing-station-Resized.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/12\/loco-at-level-crossing-station-Resized.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/12\/loco-at-level-crossing-station-Resized.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":217,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/2015\/01\/11\/hastings\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":1},"title":"Hastings","author":"ablockhead","date":"11th January 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Hastings is a small town on the South Coast of England where in 1066, as every British schoolboy knows, the English King Harold lost the eponymous battle and was killed, thereby allowing a successful Norman invasion. \u00a0\u00a0Actually, of course, the battle took place some miles away, at what is now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hastings"","block_context":{"text":"Hastings","link":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/category\/hastings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry (c.1070) commemorating the last successful invasion of England, by Guillaume le B\u00e2tard (AKA William the Conqueror) in 1066. Halley's Comet is shown and was claimed as an good omen (by both sides!).","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/BayuexComet2Resized.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/BayuexComet2Resized.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/BayuexComet2Resized.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/BayuexComet2Resized.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":194,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/2014\/12\/08\/the-whispering-giants-of-brede\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":2},"title":"The Whispering Giants of Brede","author":"ablockhead","date":"8th December 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Whispering Giant \u2013 A Tangye Triple-Expansion Steam Water Pump '[....] this wasn't magic, neither was it brute strength, it was, in fact, ingenuity.\u00a0 Coal and metal and water and steam and smoke, in one glorious harmony.' Raising Steam, Sir Terry Pratchett, 2013. Half a dozen miles north of Hastings, near\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hastings"","block_context":{"text":"Hastings","link":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/category\/hastings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Whispering Giant \u2013 A Tangye Triple Expansion Water Pump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/12\/BredeEngineResized.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/12\/BredeEngineResized.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/12\/BredeEngineResized.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/12\/BredeEngineResized.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":594,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/2015\/08\/03\/vienna-technical-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":3},"title":"Vienna Technical Museum","author":"ablockhead","date":"3rd August 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Vienna Technisches Museum is housed, in the usual Viennese custom, in a grand white building, but you enter it via an underground atrium that looks as though it was originally designed as a car park. Nonetheless, once inside, the usual combination of efficiency, friendliness and impressive public spaces are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Early X-Ray Machine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/08\/OldMachineVandB246.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/08\/OldMachineVandB246.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/08\/OldMachineVandB246.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/08\/OldMachineVandB246.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":239,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/2015\/01\/13\/baird-and-the-birthplace-of-television\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":4},"title":"Baird and the Birthplace of Television – ‘Seeing By Wireless’","author":"ablockhead","date":"13th January 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Just before you crest the final hill on the road to Hastings, you pass a small sign welcoming you to the 'Birthplace of Television.'\u00a0 Considering the almost inestimable power, influence and consequences of the medium, the discreet sign seems somehow inadequate to commemorate such a momentous legacy. Does Hastings deserve\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hastings"","block_context":{"text":"Hastings","link":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/category\/hastings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reproduction of an early prototype television by Baird. \u00a0 Hastings Museum","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/Museum-and-Baird-in-town-023Prototypex1000.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/Museum-and-Baird-in-town-023Prototypex1000.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/Museum-and-Baird-in-town-023Prototypex1000.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/Museum-and-Baird-in-town-023Prototypex1000.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":245,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/2015\/01\/13\/the-country-park-ferns-fossils-fauna-and-inspiration\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":5},"title":"Ferns, Fossils, Fauna and Inspiration – Hastings Country Park and Nature Reserve – A Scientific Walk","author":"ablockhead","date":"13th January 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"[Author's Note:\u00a0 I first wrote this little piece back in 2012, but I soon had to add an update (which I expected to be temporary) because of the landslip at Eccelsbourne Glen.\u00a0 Little did I know at the time that I would still have to be updating updates 8 years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Geology"","block_context":{"text":"Geology","link":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/category\/geology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Landslip Blocks Path at Ecclesbourne Glen","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/trees-block-path.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/trees-block-path.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/trees-block-path.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/trees-block-path.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2067,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/2067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.control-g.co.uk\/sciencetourist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}