Rother Valley Railway

I believe the ballast for the Northiam to Bodiam section of the K&ESR (reopened in 2000) came from a quarry in the west of Scotland by ship to Rye Harbour then by lorry.

 

https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/2026/09/bridge-19-iii-early-sep-26-update.html
Its been a while since I've been here. News and life is moving so fast on this Railway.

(No feet were used this side of the fence wire).

 

This is a good recent summary by Alasdair stewart in the SA magazine.
https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/2026/07/phoenix-116-rvr-project-latest-by.html

 

I seem to remember Cornwall. West of Scotland would mean the boat sailing round lands end?

 

When I worked for Railfreight Construction, I recall that there was a Quarry on the West Coast of Scotland, I think it was operated by Foster Yeoman.
It was a 'glory hole' quarry. A shaft had been sunk, and an adit from the foot of the shaft, leading directly to a conveyor for loading ships.
There was neither road nor rail facility for moving the stone.
Stone was quarried at the top, crushed then sent down the hole in the middle.

Place was known as Glensanda.

That may have been the source.

 

Yeoman Bridge and one of her sisters used to deliver to Southampton Western Docks from Glensanda. They got around, anywhere from the North Sa to North America.
My only query about this is this: could Rye handle a ship this big?
Pat

 

Glensanda is the one. Reserves of 450 million tons of pink granite. Railtrack used to have it delivered to Southampton and Hoo Jct. Quarry only accessible by boat or by donkey.
Pat

 

If the ballast is coming in via the network, its origins are pretty much immaterial.