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There has always been something on my list of 'to dos' when visiting
railways and that was to visit Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (RHDR)
and travel the whole 13 mile length of line to Dungeness.
I had been before but not travelled the full length of the line.
We left early enough to catch the first train from Hythe Station at
9.50am, knowing it is a good hour plus trip to Dungeness and what a
great journey it was too.
You travel along low-lands, peoples back gardens, over marsh land, past
holiday parks and across pebbles that were once beach but now have
properties built along some stretches, in the distance you can see the
higher land as you leave Hythe.
The line has something for everyone, Dymchurch and St Mary’s Bay
stations offer access to the sea for families with children, New Romney
the central hub of the railway offers model railways, a children’s
playground together with a restaurant and shop, and prior Romney Warren
Halt offers special trips for bird watchers on certain days and Romney
Sands is a popular stop for those travelling to and from the Holiday
Village.
I had heard mixed reports on Dungeness but was pleasantly surprised, yes
it is thinly populated and the power station is not a pretty site,
nevertheless the vastness of the area strangely draws you in, there are
some weirdly shaped properties that could well have been fishermen’s
cottages, some of these now house a small art community and have built
small galleries on the back of the properties.
I found the whole area well worth the visit and although it may well be
less visitor friendly if the weather is bad, on this day there was many
visitors that seemed to marvel in the strangeness of the terrain and
enjoy the views from The Light Railway Café that offer a variety of food
including their famous fish and chips which was really good.
I will certainly travel on this superb railway again, and surprisingly
Dungeness gets the thumbs up too.
Hawkinge Gazette and Channel Coast
News 2011©
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Comments
So Dana likes the RHDR, which happily saves me the task of duplicating his story.
What he didn't expand on was the history and heritage which makes this railway such a unique world wide favourite.The RHDR has some 14 locomotives, all one third scale to their full size cousins and all built between 1925 and 1937.
My favourite is The Black Prince, a beautiful German built locomotive in black livery with bright red wheels. One of three originals, it is reputed to have been driven by FIELD MARSHAL HERMANN GOERING, who was a railway enthusiast and is said to have visited a friend who had a private railway.
Ironically, the RHDR was used by the miltary during WW2 to provide mobile armoured trains patrolling the coast.
Not a lot of people know that..!!
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