Santa Special on the Kent and East Sussex Railway

Last turn on the railway this year. At Wittersham Road signalbox for today's Santa Special service. An 8 train service that finishes in the dark, so that was a new experience for me. Had to ensure all the oil lamps in the signals were working and the level crossing lights were on. I was spared the long lonely walk up the bank this train is coming down in the dark at the end of the day. It's not the best of job, bringing the lamps in at the end of the day. Next week's signalman is coming in tomorrow morning to collect, refill and replace the lamps ready for next weekend's service.

The day started off very cold and clear, fortunately this did not affect the operation of signals or points. I did wonder whether we might have had frozen points as there are no point heaters on the railway. But we were fortunate to escape.

The general quiet running was interrupted when the controlling signalman asked me to cross late running trains at Wittersham rather than the planned crossing place. He did this without knowing one of the engines was taking on coal which resulted in the up train waiting in my lopp for 25 minutes making the late service even later. We finished the day 45 minutes down on the published timetable!

This shot shows the USA Class tank locomotive coming down the bank into Wittersham Road station with an up train for Tenterden Town. You can get an idea of the steepness of the gradient and a sense of the gradient of the line as it disappears over the smmit in the distance. I took a similar shot on 8th December last year.

Thenit was time to switch out the box, switch off all the lights and lock everything up. I was glad I had my head torch with me to help in the dark. The journey home was fraught as I was expecting to get some diesel before setting off, but had left my wallet at home so got as far as the outskirts of Maidstone with only a whiff of fuel left before I called Susan and asked her to bring my wallet out. The digital fule guage had said 0 (zero) for some miles!