On The Right Track For Canine Cakes

Today we decided it was time for another micro trip so headed to the market town of Tenterden on the edge of the Kentish Weald. It has a lovely wide High Street with weatherboarded buildings, Georgian, Jacobean and Victorian shops which are overlooked by tall leafy trees.
On this occasion we opted for a stroll along the High Street, did some food shopping and then walked down to the beautifully preserved Tenterden Town heritage railway station where all my images were taken. 
The station originally opened on 16th March 1903 and closed to regular passenger services on 4th January 1954 but continued with freight traffic until it closed for good in 1961. It was then reopened as a heritage railway by the Tenterden Railway Company, on 3rd February 1974, who purchased the line which still runs today between Tenterden and Bodiam and is now part of the Kent & East Sussex railway.
Entering the station really does feel like you are stepping back in time, especially with the plethora of painted enamel signs. My main image shows two such signs on the side of one the the station buildings advertising the delightfully named Spratt's Patent Dog and Puppy Cakes. I also love the purple phone box with an appropriately placed silver dog bowl next to it.
My first extra is of a wonderful little mosaic dedicated to the town next to one of the platforms and my final image was taken just as a visiting vintage Crompton diesel locomotive 33 202 (according to the station's website) passed the 10 mph speed limit sign on its way into the station at precisely 13.15 as indicated by the timetable (unlike most modern trains!).
We also crossed the tracks to the other side of the station to visit Colonel Stephens Railway Museum (dedicated to Holman F Stephens - a promoter, manager and builder of rural light railways). We have been to the station on many occasions before but have never actually visited this museum. 
What a wonderfully atmospheric surprise this was. You enter the building via a tiny entrance, next turn through a warren of corridors and passageways all crammed with railway memorabilia and then it suddenly opens up like a Tardis to reveal a huge space with a full sized light railway engine and a railway carriage with two life sized mannequins (a mother and child) dressed in Edwardian attire - one of which lets out a disembodied "Hello" as you sit next to them!
This kind of museum would have bored me rigid as a kid but I loved it - maybe a sign of advancing years!
Of course we still managed to fit a pint in at a nearby pub, The Vines, before we headed back home. Another excellent micro trip!