Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway - '95th Anniversary Gala' 15/05/2022
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- čas přidán 15. 05. 2022
- "Kent's Mainline in Miniature", the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, celebrated their 95th Anniversary in typical fashion with a spectacle-driven gala, held over the weekend of May 14th-15th. With this being quite a big ocassion, it came as no surprise that the RH&DR put their full weight behind it, with every serviceable 'Mainline' steam and diesel locomotive from their fleet in service.
Alongside the home-fleet, "River Irt" would be the star guest locomotive operating over the weekend, visiting from its base at the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway. Built in 1894, originally as a tank engine named "Muriel", the locomotive was rebuilt at the R&ER in 1927 into a tender locomotive. With further modifications being made through the years, "River Irt" is currently the oldest working 15" gauge locomotive in the world. This also makes the locomotive 33 years older the the RH&DR itself; or putting it another way, the locomotive is only 8 years younger that the founder of the RH&DR, Captain J.E.P. Howey.
The railway produced some wonderful theatrics for the gala, with frequent double-headed running, non-stop services, triple-headers and some parallel runs. In addition, the RH&DR steamed through the night, with services carrying on between New Romney and Hythe during the hours of darkness. However, the biggest highlight came on Sunday evening, as to round off gala proceedings, a quadruple-headed parallel run was staged between Hythe and New Romney, featuring all 7 currently serviceable RH&DR 'Mainline' steam locomotives, with "River Irt" included.
Locomotives:
R&ER - No3 "River Irt"
RH&DR Pacific Class - No1 "Green Goddess"
RH&DR Mountain Class - No5 "Hercules"
RH&DR Mountain Class - No6 "Samson"
RH&DR Pacific Class - No2 "Northern Chief"
RH&DR Pacific Class - No3 "Southern Maid"
RH&DR Krupp Pacific Class - No11 "Black Prince"
RH&DR 'North American' Pacific Class - No9 "Winston Churchill"
R&ER Diesel Class - "Shelagh of Eskdale"
RH&DR Diesel Class - No12 "J.B. Snell"
A second visiting locomotive from the Ravenglass & Eskdale would also be in attendance, in the form of No6 Katie. The loco, paired with RH&DR Bug Class - No4 "The Bug", would only see service within the station limits of New Romney due to its gauging, therefore eluding the cameras.
All footage filmed on Sunday the 15th of May 2022. - Auta a dopravní prostředky
During the 1960s, my father ran the A.C.C., the "Amateur Cine Circle" - a societydedicated to the practice of making home movies. One of the Society outings was to visit the R.H.D.R., and as a child of about six, I vividly remember riding on the train (Which loco headed ours I have no idea) but it was really exciting. I will one day revisit the railway and take my cameras to record the visit. Such a great venture!
Happy 95 to the RH&DR! One of the great railway treasures of the world.
Went on this in the early 70s. . By the look of it that track hasn't been changed since then. . One shot had hell of a bump and wobbly on it. Part of the charm . Its probably exaggerated due to the size though. .
I went to the RHDR a few weeks ago, it really is a lovely little line!
Gosh that’s brought some memories back. We stayed at the Jolly Fisherman at Greatstones on Sea in 1949 and 1950 and my bedroom looked over the RH&DR. My excitement was intense., I was 8 years old in 1949. I think my dad spent a fortune on train tickets for myself and a boy I teamed up with.!
Happy Birthday and looking forward to the Centenary in 5 years time. I rode the line as a child and took my daughter on it fourty years later. Fabulous times and long may the RH&DR remain with us. It's a National Treasure.
Brings back memories of summers hols back in the 60s. Staying in a caravan with Dad and bro, fishing the military canal (never caught anything), hand lining offshore while the rain pissed down and waves splashed over the sides of the boat (never caught anything there either ) and of course riding on the RHDR from one end to the other.. Happy anniversary, keep on puffing.
Yes, one of the best!! I rode on RH&DR as a boy in the last forties. I see a need for some serious track re-laying. The footage around minute 18:00 were quite shocking; the rolling around of the rolling stock is becoming very hazardess!
Best wishes for a safe and happy season!
Rodney Vancouver Island
They pass all safety inspections and it really isn’t as bad when it’s seen in person, when it needs to be fixed, it will be fixed
Well it woulld have been rude not to pop in as you were in the area!!!!! As usual, totally bonkers, but they sure know how to gather a crowd. You can tell the age difference with River Irt, bet she's glad to be on the flat and level. Great as usual Matthew, top stuff👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
My thoughts exactly! It really was a wonderful gala - just wish it had gone on for longer. Glad you enjoyed the video!
Thanks for the lovely video. Wonderful memories for me. I haven't visited Kent for 35 years, but to see that railway again was a treat. Thanks again.
Absolutely fantastic. Brilliant filming of an excellent NG railway that I need to visit.
20:28 was pure genius!
Glad you enjoyed the video
I'll happily admit, that shot was much more luck than judgement, but very happy with the result.
Wow 95 years old for this railway
It’s a great day out for anyone and their kids to see steam trains😊
Great video, but my goodness the RH&DR need to do a bit of PW work!
The shots make it look worse than it is
I suppose that’s what happens when you build on a marsh, but the way some of those trains are swaying (on some sections) it looks like they are about to derail!
Enjoyed every moment of that - thank you so much!
Glad you enjoyed it
Great coverage of this wonderful event! Thanks for posting!!
Thank very much
Love the quadruple headers! - amazing footage. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
Fabulous video, it was nice to see different locations on the line, introduced by views of the surroundings, plus some interesting train formations and parallel running. Many thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed the video! It's nice to hear the editing style is appreciated.
Lovely to see the loco's working , memories of my father , the last thing he did was to ride the RH&D both ways . A few enthusiastic plate layers wouldn't go amiss though , the line and level on some portions looks decidedly unsafe . Great video 👍🇬🇧
It was once again a enjoyable gala, did mostly Saturday but Sunday about half as I have school so needed to gwt home early enough good video as always and watched the finale from the cameras.
My Gosh Mates!! Amazing, beautiful, crazy, eventually sacred lovely video!! Could you plase confirm if this video was made in the UK?? Where, in Kent?? Gauge?? Maximun speed?? Congratulations and all the best from Buenos Aires, Argentina
It really is a gem of a railway.
Kent, UK. The railway runs along the coast between Hythe and Dungeness. Max speed 25mph, lower on some sections.
Cracking good day.
Also great to meet you in the evening.
Thank you, was a pleasure to meet you as well
fantastic
Cheers
Great vid you did your homework for getting the locations well done
Thanks very much! Helps being a frequent visitor
Excellent capture my friend like and Greetings
Cheers
Very Nice. Was nice to see you again matey, at least your parallel at botolphs didn’t have an arm in it. Cough Cough 😂
Looks like the RH&DR is in need of some urgent Track Maintenance
Very good video, thumbs up :)
Thank you
What? They're doing parallel runs like they do in Germany with full size steam trains?😍
Excellent video!! I see what you mean by when you span the camera round to get river Irt in the parallel
Thanks very much, Jake! Was great meeting you again
River irt and Katie visit in 2022
Why is Winston Churchill Facing backwards at 10:48?
Part of the gala theatrics
I was the one who gave you ahight five
Cheers! Honestly cracked me up so much
Just look at the State of those Railtracks, look like ACCIDENT waiting to happen.....
Why don’t they make normal railways this size???