Rother Valley Railway

Part FOUR of the relay series has now been posted here https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-first-section-of-track-goes-down-4.html

 

Yes, as Harold's post and link above today the last (for the moment!) of the series posts showing the track laid to date at Rother Valley Railway.

https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/2026...KK21ZHIKs5ct9TcKyA_aem_Y-WPyX6rkwx1YtovTUwWcw

A big well done and a big thank you to all who are helping make that possible

Mike Hart.

 

I am intrigued with the service roads built alongside they railway foundations. Will they be covered with soil to enable plant growth?

 

Service roads? Or is it the site of the passing loop at that point?

If you're right and there are currently 'service roads' along the formation, I sincerely hope they will be returned to habitats for nature (including tree planting) once the construction is complete. It's a quiet backwater rural (former) light railway, not the East Coast Main Line

 

Thanks. I guess comments are largely out of viewing the RVR web/blog site pictures of the area where we laid the 350m of track a week ago? If that's correct then the parallel roadway you were looking at is actually the part finished formation for an eventual passing loop and so the wider formation. The embankment sides along the length of the entire railway are being with covered with the topsoil we scrapped off the land when we started work. The natural seeds of the area are still in that topsoil and will green the banks up nicely. The large field you can also see on the north side of the railway alongside much of that area was acquired for mitigation planting, along with the creation of habitats and the like. Nature will take a year or two to do it's work naturally, but nothing worse than importing alien seeds. With a bit of help nature will do its work returning the land at the side of the railway to much as it would have been. Hope that helps

Mike

 

That's great. Thanks for the answer

 

As I thought / hoped!

 

A further post yesterday https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/2026/06/passing-loop-4.html putting the relaid track into context with the passing loop - includes an interesting video.

 

There is a post today concerning Bridges 20 1nd 21 (which were culverts). They will be replaced by pipes. Here is a link to the post https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/2026/06/bridge-20.html

 

Thanks for the updates. There's clearly some excellent work being done. Is there any progress with sourcing the loop points yet?
Incidentally, as regards lineside vegetation, my experience from doing clearance on the K&ESR further East was that the soil on the edge of the Marsh is very fertile indeed. You feel you've totally devastated the area, and then come back two or three months later and you have a job to see where you were working.

 

i remember driving the PW Manager to Dixter Halt just before the project started to re-open to Bodiam. The railway was the thicket at the end of the track from Dixter Farm. There were trees with a girth exceeding 12 inches in the four foot and one grown around a fishplate. This was less than 10 years after trains had run between Bodiam and Dixter on Bank Holiday Weekends. Later on in the project as we broke through the Jungle. I can remember finding the old Mill Ditch Bridge and nobody knowing it was going to be there.

 

Several civil engineering updates recently, specifically of 2 culverts (20 & 21) the former of which is requiring a great deal of work. Plus construction of a flood mitigation channel between the 2. A lot of feet on the ground right now, and the pace has clearly moved to "full ahead".
https://rvrailway.blogspot.com/?m=1

 

The next tracklaying session is next week, I believe.

 

Superb. Presumably the loop road? I can't think of anywhere else which wouldn't block construction access.

 

All will be revealed next week, though we do know where we will be track laying as we have a plan!!. Mind you not looking forward to the heat.