Kentish Belle (Armistice Day Special )–Nov 11th 2011
Back into train mode, and time again for a steam trip, so as a keen supporter of the British Legion and the Poppy Appeal, what better trip than this one, pulled by Battle of Britain class Tangmere leaving Waterloo at the 11th hour, on the 11th day, of the 11th month of year 2011.
Initially this trip was scheduled to leave London Victoria, and travel along the north Kent coast, then down the east coast of Kent and back via Ashford, Tonbridge, Redhill and into London Victoria. Due to pathing difficulties the route was changed to a departure from Waterloo then travelling through mid Kent via Maidstone, Ashford, Canterbury then Deal and Dover. Waterloo actually suited me better, as in my earlier train spotting days, you know, short trousers, school cap etc (and that was only last year ! ), the old LSWR line out of Waterloo was my old stamping ground. So, just after 11 0’clock, we are off, and start our journey meandering through the suburbs of south London, through Brixton, then Peckham, is that Nelson Mandella House that I can see in the distance ?.
Soon we are arriving at Bromley South, and after a pleasant onward journey which takes us through Maidstone West, Ashford International, Canterbury West and Deal, during which time lunch is served, and I am onto my second glass of wine, we are grinding to a halt on a very steep incline, what is going on ?, surely not leaves on the line !, and probably the wrong sort of leaves at that. Well, that’s exactly what it was, and it must have taken us at least an hour to climb this incline which is in excess of a mile long, and with gradient of one in sixty four in places. The footplate crew were actually out clearing the leaves, and sanding the rails (1950’s technology lives on ). Surely in the year 2011, with all the progress in modern technology Network Rail can do better than this !!. Well, eventually we are on the move again, but because the Loco has used so much water, we have to make an unscheduled stop at Dover Priory Station for water replenishment. But here things get even worse, because the water hydrant has been turned off !, so the footplate crew are reduced to filling the tender with a garden hosepipe, and this is a tender that holds in excess of 900 gallons of water (2011 technology ?). Eventually, after two hours, and much cajoling the Fire Brigade arrive and all is well, apart from the fact it is now six o’clock, we are three hours away from London where our train was due in at 5.15 p.m. By the way, what is Dover Station supposed to do in the event of a fire, with the hydrant capped off ?, needless to say the matter is now under investigation by the Fire Brigade and South Eastern trains.
Well at this point, I have had enough, its decision time. If I stay with the train by the time we get back to the capital and I get back to Eastbourne it could be midnight, and I need my sleep, I’m a growing lad !!. The alternative which I decide to take, is to get a South Eastern boring Electric to Ashford, and pick up the Brighton Southern Turbostar Diesel which will take me straight to Eastbourne. I definitely made the right decision as the week after I made this trip, I had a letter of apology from the Tour Operators, apparently the trip was cancelled when the train got back to Bromley South, as the footplate crew were then concerned that they wouldn’t have enough coal to get the train back into London. When I got home, my wife had the TV on, all I needed was to see that Mexican idiot ( is he an illegal immigrant in disguise?), extolling the virtues of Southern train travel !. The irony of this day of disasters, was that none of it was the Steam Operators fault, well apart from the lack of a little bit of contingency planning. The problems all started with Network Rail’s inability to keep their tracks fully operational, when the weather wasn’t even particularly bad.
Thank goodness I didn’t go on this trip when we had had a millimetre of snow, it could have so easily been the wrong sort of snow, and I could still have been stranded there now !!.
Austintatious