Ford Railmotor

This is a replica of a Ford Railmotor used on the KESR between 1923 and 1939 and other lines owned by Col Stephens in an attempt to improve services for passengers. The Railmotor was based on the Model T Ford lorry with a contemporary bus body on top. The could only run one way so had to be operated in pairs, back to back.

Initially, they proved successful, but there’s was not the most comfortable of rides and towards the end were less favoured by passengers than the Road buses which were giving a much more pleasanter ride.

The Railmotors are symbolic of Col Stephens approach to running rural light railways as described in Monday’s blip. Always one for eccentric innovations if he thought he could get it for free or cheaply in order to keep his shoestring empire running.

I was at Tenterden for my biannual medical, which I passed so am fit to work on the railway for another two years. Doreen and Susan came along spending all their time in and out of shops which is not what Susan wanted to do but was what Doreen wanted. We had hoped to go to the railway museum but this was not to be. I snook off for a while, purchasing some beer from the Old Dairy brewery adjacent to the station before returning to wheelchair duties pushing around yet more shops.