A signal eye view of Tenterden Town

My last turn in Tenterden is signalbox before my passing out turn on 8th September. I can only hope that all the information and experience I’ve accumulated over the past several months remains in my head and that I don’t make too many errors on the day.

There’s a RAT tonight, Real Ale Train which meant that the oil lamps had to be put into some of the signals. Some signals are electrically lit six, to retain authenticity, are oil. These lamps are kept in the lamp store and use paraffin. The smell of paraffin and of the burning fuel take me right back to childhood when, like many people of my age, paraffin was in regular use to heat and in those tiny nightlights.

Two of the signals lit by oil require a climb up a signal ladder to a platform high above the railway. It’s not often that this view of the final few hundred yards to Tenterden Town station is seen.