"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.
15 май 2022
