Folkestone Harbour Branch

If you're such a big supporter of this project it would help if you were able to spell its name properly.

Bob.

 

Hi Martin,

Just out of curiosity is the Folkestone branch still connected to the rest of the network and is the 3rd rail still live.

 

I completely argree with you Martin.

To Maunsell man

It appears that you have an issue with this project and my guess is thats its verging on the personal.

Progress is being made, but as with alot of projects it can be slow going. An example is The Rother Valley Railway which was formed in 1990, but only recently apart from a small set up at Robertsbridge, started to make real visable progress.


For the record I am a member of the Remembrance Line (I joined in 2008) although I am not an active member, and I am a working member of the KESR in the Signalling and Loco depts


Brendan

 

Now we've got space aliens !

Bob.

 

You're a funny man Boob, er Bob!

As it happens the Remembrance Line (unlike Martin I'm not dyslexic) is going strong, with an ever growing membership and a healthily subscribed members share issue. Our fund-raising team has had a weekly presence in Folkestone town centre throughout the summer over the last two years, as well as at various railway events and exhibitions.

We have monthly meetings in Folkestone and have a good working relationship with Network Rail, Folkestone Harbour Company and Folkestone Town Council.

We have managed to bring the plight of the Harbour branch to wide public notice and have been responsible for 16 applications for listing of the harbour viaduct and other important features.

Our business plan has been put together by professionals and has been accepted by Network Rail and the DfT. Despite being mothballed two and a half years ago, the line's existence has been extended by our efforts and we now have another year in which to further our cause.

An entirely separate group has been making efforts to re-establish a ferry connection with Boulogne, which will, if it comes off, create traffic for the line.

Whatever the future brings, we have at the very least ensured the continued existence of the harbour viaduct, the threat to which was the reason for the group's existence in the first place.

Detractors on the forum have continued to rubbish our efforts and exaggerate our stated intentions. I'll reiterate what I said in response to critics from the early days of our group - don't put the cart before the horse. Our plans have matured and expanded, and it remains to be seen whether we'll be successful but, be assured, we're not going away!

Have a look at our website for further info. http://www.theremembranceline.org.uk

Thanks!

In answer to your question 73129, yes the line is still connected to the main line at Folkestone Junction, or East as it became, and no, the third rail was lifted by Network Rail earlier this year, so no juicers I'm afraid. Another member mentioned gas-producer R1s. No R1s yet but we do have a gas-producer 'Austerity' under restoration at the group's engineering base in Sellindge.

 

Answer to Martin. Yes - 17 years in the C&W at the Bluebell. Firing - yes now involved in Road Steam as it is more family friendly and you can't drive an S15 down the pub. Am I a fully qualified steam engineer? - No, but I do understand the basics of good boiler management. Lighting an engine up first thing in the morning then thrashing it up the hill for 5 minutes then allowing it cool rapidly whilst waiting to trundle down the hill numerous times a day then chucking the fire out in the evening is not the receipt for long boiler life. The Remembrance Line will not be a 7 day a week operation so periods of operation will be short and intense.

There was huge fanfare about this project on here a couple of years ago and endless discussion. Whenever a relevant point was made like: Where will the stock be stored (no space, no covered space and its all in a heavily vandalised bit of town), car-parking for visitors (only existing high cost P&D) sea front car parks available, where is all this stock coming from etc get asked etc the question was ignored or a defensive load of waffle ensued.

Lastly the name Remembrance Line to me is a cynical con. It isn't about remembering the fallen of the world wars at all but is really a cynical attempt by the promotors of this daft scheme to get someone else to pay for their train set and play days. 3/4 mile headhunt up a hill through the graffiti covered ar*e end of Folkestone, no space to store anything and nothing to store does not constitute a good day out. Yes the harbour is picturesque and the bridge lovely and all that. Make it into a footpath if you have to keep it and go and help the KESR get back to Robertsbridge.

 

We all get involved in railway preservation for different reasons, but what this project can claim is that it is aiming to preserve something that is now all but done - the traditional rail/ferry interchange. With Stranraer about to lose this facility, Dover long gone and those still in use regularly and heavily modernised, usually form the sea going end of thiings, the chance to preserve such a feature would make the line unique.

I accept it doesn't make it viable or practical, but it does give the project a reason to exist and will gain many brownie points when seeking heritage status and funding.

Steven

 

Personally I couldn't care less if a bunch of enthusiasts wants to try and re-open whatever piece of old railway line they want. However, my huge problem with the Folkestone Harbour Branch lot has always been this:

The very idea of pretending that restoring the FHB is supposed to be some sort of bona fide war memorial is both cynical and distasteful in the extreme.

Try and restore the line if you want - time will tell if you succeed - but don't use the name of thousands who made the ultimate sacrifice as a PR tool to try to get other people to fork out their hard-earned cash to fund your hobby. :nono:

 

Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. Market it for that which is an honest reason and stop trying to con the public. If you want to help the forces personnel then put your money and time into 'help the heroes' which does immensely good work. If you want a memorial to those that have fallen then support the 'Unknown Warrior' project. Thrashing a small Peckett up a hill in a rundown Kent port with the remains of a couple of Mk2 coaches in primer and rust livery supports nobody and probably isn't commercially sustainable anyway.

 

The very idea of pretending that restoring the FHB is supposed to be some sort of bona fide war memorial is both cynical and distasteful in the extreme.

Try and restore the line if you want - time will tell if you succeed - but don't use the name of thousands who made the ultimate sacrifice as a PR tool to try to get other people to fork out their hard-earned cash to fund your hobby.

At the risk of being controversial, I feel exactly the same about the new-build Patriot.

 

See where you are coming from 61264 with the Patriot but in that instance the target is achievable, the Royal British Legion have adopted it as a flagship and I believe that it will be used to further the cause of the Legion when its finished. Also it is well managed, achieving real targets and will be likely to succeed as its well supported and add something to the culture of railway preservation.

As someone who lives in Kent and am familiar with the Folkestone Harbour Branch nobody has yet explained where the stock will be stored and maintained. Where is the space. Leave it outside there and it will be graffiti covered and fired within days.

 

Surely the title "Remembrance Line" is not inappropiate when you consider that sadly for many of our young soldiers in the First World War this was the last bit of English Railway they would ever travel on.

 

No its not in the sense its a part of history but so are the main stations in London and many other locations. This project is marketed specifically as the Remembrance Line so that it appears to be a memorial to fallen soldiers of past conflicts. It isn't, its another preservation project

 

The Folkestone Harbour branch was just one of hundreds of places where young servicemen - not just soldiers - saw their last piece of Britain. It is no more a war memorial than the housing estate that now covers much of what was Hawkinge aerodrome, the industrial estate on Lympne aerodrome or the many beaches and harbours along the south coast where thousands of soldiers embarked for the Normandy landings, the ill-fated Dieppe raid and other theatres of war.

I could take you to many, many places throughout Kent where servicemen either died or departed British soil for the last time, never to return. What makes the Folkestone Harbour branch so different and special to dub it 'Remembrance'? Why does that get the title when so many other places dont?

Simply because a bunch of blokes are cynically using it as a PR and publicity hook on which to hang their desire to play trains.

Not good enough, sorry.

(As a military historian, this does make me exceptionally angry!)

 

As this forum is named National Preservation, wouldn't it be a good idea to actually try and support a Preservation scheme that still has a substantial amount of original content in place, no matter how small or otherwise, in contrast to seeing the line lifted and the station demolished.

It's surely easier to restore while it's still there.

Once it's gone, it's gone...

 

do you mean that every piece of redundant railway land should be preserved in that case?

 

I do wonder where the finance and the volunteers would come from for this project. There are a good many heritage sites in the south-east and another would surely cause a dilution of effort in those that already exist. It just isn't possible to preserve everything, nor, surely, is it desirable. Time to move on I think.

Regards

 

Indeed. But try telling some railway enthusiasts that... usually the ones who want other people to pay for their pipedreams.

 

That's not what I said, is it?...