Rother Valley Railway

My footage from yesterday’s event, alongside 1013’s move the previous day if anyone is interested.

Was very good to see the station very busy, did catch me a little off guard. Hopefully lots of donations were made to a great cause.

 

Good film!
A flange greaser would be an idea on that curve!

 

We had one for when Britannia was there.....

 

Yes I did manage to speak to a human once at Virgin media. It sort of resolved one problem but created two more.
Hardly a good way to encourage a happy customer base! ( Thank goodness for local IT/computer companies who will try to fix stuff.)
Remember the Meerkat adverts? " Simples" is a worthwhile target for any open access system......

Cheers, Neil

 

Having grown up on the Hastings line, somehow there is still something inherently wrong about seeing a stabiliser rail. Despite it being 40 years...

 

News of the busy RVR Robertsbridge Station open days on 17/18th April along with visit of the wonderful Hastings Unit DEMU.

Plus an update on GWR loco No 4270 whos coming to the railway for ten years to help strengthen loco availability for the extended railway.

All that and more at:

https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/

Mike

 

Mike, how are things going with Charwelton?

 

Nearly there Jon

 

Interesting update, showing where the westernmost passing loop will be laid, in between bridges 24 and 25 (Austen's). The land is historic KESR curtillage, dating from the 1940s rebuilding of these bridges
https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/?m=1

 

Permanent URL (i.e. the link here will continue to work, after further posts to the RVRailway News blog have been made).

Noel

 

Thanks but the page is not working or seems to have been removed?

 

If one looks closely at the blow-up of the top image (close to Bridge 24, in the upper corner) in that blog post, there's huge pile if rails stacked to one side of what will be the track-bed.

The vibe I'm getting, looking at the images, is that the RVR may want to get the track-bed completely prepared from Northbridge Street right down to Junction Road before they start laying track. Does anyone know if that is correct? Are they going to put in the road crossings before they start laying track?

Is the plan still to bring in ballast via rail, through the NR connection at Robertsbridge (as alluded to here, although plans may have changed since that was posted), so they have to start laying track at the Robertsbridge end; or will it be via lorries/road (so they could start anywhere)?

Whatever the answers, I have a feeling that things are going to start happening Real Soon Now (although I couldn't find a 'prospective timeline' anywhere on their Web-site).

Noel

 

Removed, apparently. (Perhaps temporarily?) The Wayback Machine hadn't caught it, alas.

Noel

 

Noel, with things as they stand, and I hope I am not speaking out of turn, this next twelvemonth will see much civil engineering and bridge work being undertaken, abutments rebuilt, and waybeams either replaced or refurbished. Level crossing pads are already on site, ready for installation at the appropriate time.
Tracklaying will probably commence in the second half of 2027, commensurate with a reopening date of Easter 2028. I'm sure that Mike will correct me if I'm wrong in these assumptions.

 

The RVR Blog site hopefully back up and running sometime later today.

 

It certainly looks like preparation is the key.
Civil engineering is ongoing. The laying of the permanent way will presumably follow once all preparations are completed.

Unlike the Victorian and Edwardian eras, when a temporary railway was needed for the heavy delivery of so much. Modern road based vehicles and plant obviate the need for the temporary way to a large extent.

Obviously bulk deliveries, such as ballast would probably be easiest by rail.

I think that the RVRHT are well organised and using whichever method gives the best results.

 

Thanks Mike Goodwin. In reply. Plans aren't to lay the P Way in two phases as finished trackbed becomes available. Phase one of track laying will comprise the section from the old Salehurst Halt site back to Junction Rd with plans to complete much of that this year. The rest of the track laying for 2027.

Mike Hart

 

A new entry has appeared (Northbank Headshunt reinforcing improvement), but the 'disappeared' entry ('Passing loop') is still missing. (Not complaining - you all do a marvelous job of keeping us informed - just observing. Did it perchance 'let a cat out of the bag' which wasn't supposed to be released yet? :--).

Noel

 

lost missing post found but our web master is on a long drive so will post again soon as he can.

 

It’s back:
https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/2026/04/passing-loop.html?m=1