On my way to exhibit at the Folkestone model railway exhibition I called in on 'The Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway' a famous 15" gauge line that used to claim to be the smallest public railway in the world. It was opened in 1927 as a result of two millionaire racing drivers Captain Jack Howey and Count Louis Zborowski's idea after they had failed to buy a couple of already existing narrow gauge railways. The chief engineer was Henry Greenly who was responsible for the design of the permanent way and the rolling stock and loco design. It is situated on the Kent Coast near Dover and Folkestone with France clearly visible across the English channel The line connects the 'Cinque port' of Hythe in the with new Romney passing through Dymchurch. After new Romney it heads out onto the Romney marshes to the desolate coastal area around Dungeness, a distance of 13 1/4 miles On the day I called passenger services were in the Hands of 'Green Goddess', a 1925 Davey Paxman built 4-6-2 and 'Samson' also a Davey Paxman product, this time a 4-8-2 delivered in 1926. Green Godess gets some attention to its mechanical lubricator at New Romney station The elegant lines of Samson are evident as it waits to depart top Dungeness A line drawing of 'Hercules' outshopped in 1926 more soon
'Hurricane' waits in the running shed for its next turn of duty New Romney station Hythe signalbox, obviously full size! The weather was a bit gloomy but it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours The railways wikipedia page has loads more info if you wish to delve further Video of my time there at Kev
Why did they build it? Just for the sake of whimsy? Or did it actually have a customer base? Did this operation have any significance during WWII?
