At the end of the day

I was returning the long section staff to the main signalbox at Rolvenden this evening and in the disposal line at the locomotive yard were the three engines from today's service being disposed of at the end of their work.

32678 is a Stroudley Terrier, entering service in July 1880 and run over 1,000,000 miles between then and 1923, so goodness knows how many miles she's covered in her life. Always a great attraction on the KESR and one of several old Terriers which have survived into preservation.

Next is No 23, Holman F Stephens of which I've written before, entered service in Bicester in 1956 as War Department 191, Black Knight. joined the KESR in February 1972 and entered service in August 1974. This engine by comparision only ran 23,000 miles in War Department Service.

At the back is USA Tank No 65 (KESR 22) joined the KESR in 1968 and entered service in 1974. These engines were built in the USA for service overseas and after the war some were bought by the Southern Railway for use in Southampton Docks. This engine was supposed to be scrapped in 1967 but failed with a hot axle at Tonbridge and was spotted by a KESR member and so cheated the scrappers torch.

This was at the end of another very interesting day at Wittersham Road Signalbox, working the Sunday timetable including the prestigious Sunday Luncheon Wealden Pullman set. We did get some benefits though, as well as collecting the single line token as this train passed the box we also collected soup on the down run and roast potatoes on the up run. Quite an art collecting soup from a moving train.