The Railway Magazine – June 2023
English | 118 pages | pdf | 165.61 MB
Welcome at The Railway Magazine June 2023 Issue
T was a decision eagerly awaited by the heritage rail movement and, thankfully, one that went the right way. I am talking about the award of a Transport and Works Act Order to rebuild the missing section of line between Bodiam and Robertsbridge, linking the Kent & East Sussex Railway with the Rother Valley Railway and thus effectively giving the KESR a main line interchange for the first time since the line was closed by British Railways in 1961.
The significance of this decision cannot be overstated, not least because it includes new level crossings over the A21 and B2244 roads, but it was found that traffic would not be unduly impacted by the railway.
Much work by supporters and campaigners had gone into making the best possible application for the order, “gold-plated” being one description, and so it would have been a bitter blow to the whole heritage movement had it not succeeded, because that would have made any other future rail reopening schemes seem that much harder to obtain.
Granting of the Order is also a reflection of the detailed work that went into the application, which was begun five years ago in April 2018 – a considerable length of time, even taking into account the pandemic, and a lesson, perhaps, to those working on other new heritage rail schemes. See page 58 for full details.
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