Northiam Station on weekend running to Junction Rd

Back on the railway today as crossing keeper at Northiam. A pretty straighforward day on the gates but a very interesting day for the railway.

This weekend saw the first running of public trains from Robertsbridge to Northbridge Street at the far end of the line using the same engine as worked the last public train 50 years ago.

Also a special train ran over all sidings and loops on the railway giving people the chance to ride over stretches of line not normally used by passenger trains. This included a stretch of line west of the current limit of operations at Bodiam to Junction Road. There remains just a 2 mile gap beween Juntion Road and Northbridge Street to complete the route back to Robertsbridge (and alot of work to do as well)

Passengers who wanted to travel the whole route from Tenterden to Robertsbridge could do so by catching a vintage bus from Northiam to Robertsbridge thus recreating the whole journey for the first time.

Today's shots show an unusal situation at Northiam where two diesels crossed at the station. The DMU on the left had just returned from Juntion Road via Bodiam while the diesel had just arrived from Tenterden and was about to depart for Bodiam.

The second shot shows a a double header taking on water - the two locomotives being Charwelton and Terrier 32678. A nice combination of locomotives but working the standard passenger stock.

The final shot shown "Mission Control" at Northiam Gates. When a train approaches a bell on the platform is a signal for the crossing keeper to make their way to the gates and close when safe to do so. The gates are locked, electrically, by pulling the gate lever No.1 this then enables the relevant signal to be pulled off by pulling lever No.2. The relevant signal will only come off if the gates are locked and so by this way the gates are protected until opened to the railway.

After the train has completely cleared the gates, then No.2 is replaced and the No.1 to unlock the gates and then the gates can be reopened to the road. In the little boxes to the left are various telephones to contact the Northiam signalman and other places on the railway. The groundframe containing the two levers is from the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR)