Kent & East Sussex Railway Re-opening Survey

[paul1609]

I doubt that I will be using any trains - heritage, or National Rail - until a reliable Covid vaccine is available.
Not visited K&ESR since the 1990s, when I got there using an All Line Rover, plus bus from Ashford to Tenterden - and much enjoyed my visit.
All Line Rovers no longer considered as reasonable value for money, and worsened bus service from Ashford makes access much more difficult.

Bevan,
In non Covid times there's still an approximately hourly bus service from outside Ashford International station to Tenterden alternatively via the a28 (2) or Woodchurch (2a). There is also these days a generally half hourly service from Headcorn Station(12) hourly on Sundays. As Headcorn is only an hour from London Bridge this will be the quicker journey from London for many people now. Overall Tenterden probably has the best bus services it's had for many years. Obviously we have been battling to get back to the main line for 60 years as well!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I went to the KESR last year, travelling from Canterbury (where I was staying) to Headcorn by train and then bus to Tenterden.

I think that it took me around an hour to an hour and a half including waiting time at Headcorn, and the same back again.

 

[Titfield]

Face Coverings To Be Mandatory On Public Transport

Hmm. This may put off many potential visitors.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

At the Kent & East Sussex we offer pre paid reservations for all our dining services, real ale trains, Thomas and Santa services. Many of our services are fully prebooked. There's nothing stopping us from making all services reservation only. We use a point of sale system called Merac which is derived from a theatre booking system. It also features a gift card system which allows people to prepay for future visits https://shop.myonlinebooking.co.uk/kesr/shop/category.aspx?catID=8 . Merac is used by a lot of the heritage railways especially in the southeast.

That is good to know, perhaps there will be a way then of pre booking, controlling numbers etc.

 

[paul1609]

Thanks for all your participation. Subject to Government Advice and other contingencies we are planning to restart a very limited public service from Saturday 18th July comprising of 2 return steam trains per day with compartment stock.

 

[Titfield]

Great News. Hopefully all will go well and you will be able to build the service back up as the current pandemic recedes.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Thanks for all your participation. Subject to Government Advice and other contingencies we are planning to restart a very limited public service from Saturday 18th July comprising of 2 return steam trains per day with compartment stock.

Good luck to you all, hope it works out ok. Stay safe.

 

[paul1609]

Vintage Coaches being moved to Tenterden for exam and deep cleaning for re-opening services:

 

[1955LR]

Face Coverings To Be Mandatory On Public Transport

Hmm. This may put off many potential visitors.

Are Heritage railways classed as " public Transport" or not , within the Covid 19 regulations. Most people don't use them as such as far as I am aware, its more a day out.

 

[Titfield]

Heritage Railways are a transport system / public transport as they operate under ROGS.

 

[Cowley]

Heritage Railways are a transport system / public transport as they operate under ROGS.

You could definitely say that the Swanage Railway (if this year had run to plan) was public transport, along with quite a few other lines.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Although I don't like face masks, but of course understand the need for them at the moment, I would wear one, if it meant that I could go on one of the steam railways, I guess I would need to wear one going there as I don't drive so would need to go by train/bus when it is permitted, to a heritage railway anyway. The nearest ones I could get to would be the Mid Hants and Bluebell, which have easy main line connections. I'd probably wait a couple of month though to see how everything is working out.

 

[Scrotnig]

If it's compartment stock and the compartment is reserved for members of the same family the mask rule doesn't apply. There's an exemption for that in the regulations in England.

You will need one to walk down the corridor to get to your compartment though. Unless you want to chance not being caught / named and shamed all over the internet.

 

[Scrotnig]

I will state again though, if going on a heritage railway involves wearing a muzzle, I won't be going. Sorry.
And this is one of my major hobbies so I don't say that lightly.

I'll continue to support the ones I am a member of by remaining a member, but in terms of being a paying passenger - nope.

 

[paul1609]

If it's compartment stock and the compartment is reserved for members of the same family the mask rule doesn't apply. There's an exemption for that in the regulations in England.

You will need one to walk down the corridor to get to your compartment though. Unless you want to chance not being caught / named and shamed all over the internet.

Haven't seen our policy on face coverings yet but a lot of our vintage stock is compartment without corridors so once you've left the station I don't see how it could be enforced.
We have the ability to book whole compartments for customers, interestingly its the biggest growth area in our santa special market. So much so that its been necessary for us to hire in compartment (corridor) stock in from several other heritage railways over the past few years.

 

[bramling]

I will state again though, if going on a heritage railway involves wearing a muzzle, I won't be going. Sorry.
And this is one of my major hobbies so I don't say that lightly.

I'll continue to support the ones I am a member of by remaining a member, but in terms of being a paying passenger - nope.

I don’t see why it shouldn’t be possible just to do compartments (pre-booked if need be), and simply request people to distance themselves when getting on and off.

I completely agree I will not be going anywhere who mandates masks. To be honest even pre-booking is a turn-off for me as it destroys the flexibility of the day, as we’d normally make multiple journeys and combine this with photographs and other things. Also pre-booking could be a spoiler for, as an example, people who like to cross of track in their book as they might not get the full length of a platform, or whatever, or others may not be able to cross a particular carriage off their list. It’s okay as a last resort simply to get revenue flowing, but it isn’t ideal by any means.

 

[paul1609]

We have opened bookings for 18th July. Our site will also give you some idea of how a visit will work. https://kesr.org.uk/reopening/

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

I just heard a very short article about KESR Reopening on BBC Radio Surrey/Sussex.

 

[paul1609]

I just heard a very short article about KESR Reopening on BBC Radio Surrey/Sussex.

Good to hear Stevie,
We also managed to get some tv coverage on South-East Today last weekend for the public reopening.
This weekends (covid capacity) trains are almost sold out so things are looking quite promising. We are operating a four day week in August now.
The Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway are similarly booked I understand.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Good to hear Stevie,
We also managed to get some tv coverage on South-East Today last weekend for the public reopening.
This weekends (covid capacity) trains are almost sold out so things are looking quite promising. We are operating a four day week in August now.
The Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway are similarly booked I understand.

That is all very encouraging.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

We have opened bookings for 18th July. Our site will also give you some idea of how a visit will work. https://kesr.org.uk/reopening/

Is the museum open,? I went there on a visit to the KESR a year or so ago, I found it very interesting as it had quite a bit about the Sheppey Light Light Railway. Which, as I had family connections on The Isle of Sheppey, it fascinated me. My grandparents moved onto the Island in 1950 just as it was closing. I seem to remember several Potting Sheds and chicken houses that allegedly came from the rolling stock on the line.

Any news of the Robertsbridge connection?

 

[paul1609]

Is the museum open,? I went there on a visit to the KESR a year or so ago, I found it very interesting as it had quite a bit about the Sheppey Light Light Railway. Which, as I had family connections on The Isle of Sheppey, it fascinated me. My grandparents moved onto the Island in 1950 just as it was closing. I seem to remember several Potting Sheds and chicken houses that allegedly came from the rolling stock on the line.

Any news of the Robertsbridge connection?

Yes, the museums been open every one of our 4 post Covid operating days. We go to 4 day a week operating next week. We've managed to take a 5 figure sum since reopening, so volunteer morale is high and we are currently looking at further expansion of our services
The Robertsbridge public enquiry was due to start in June but was understandably postponed, obviously rescheduling is not in the Railways control.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Wow, getting a five figure sum already is very good indeed. Nice to hear good news like that.

 

[TDMB_1907]

Great to hear it is successful. We recently visited the (very) local brewery, and watched the train arrive (but didn't travel). It all looked very smooth and well run from an observers viewpoint!

 

[paul1609]

Great to hear it is successful. We recently visited the (very) local brewery, and watched the train arrive (but didn't travel). It all looked very smooth and well run from an observers viewpoint!

Just an update on our progress which remains on an upward trend. Saturdays trains were both sold out, today's had more spaces but were busier than the previous Sunday. Fingers crossed for the mid week running this week.

 

[paul1609]

A further up date for those interested today was the first day of mid week running, morning train from Tenterden was fully booked, afternoon train 80%. I sold £240 of ice cream and drinks at Bodiam Station. Encouraging for us and perhaps other railways who have yet to start.

 

[Cowley]

A further up date for those interested today was the first day of mid week running, morning train from Tenterden was fully booked, afternoon train 80%. I sold £240 of ice cream and drinks at Bodiam Station. Encouraging for us and perhaps other railways who have yet to start.

That’s really good to hear Paul. I hope to make a pilgrimage at some point to have a trip on the line.

 

[paul1609]

That’s really good to hear Paul. I hope to make a pilgrimage at some point to have a trip on the line.

Look forward to it, Drop me a message when your making the visit and I will try and pick you up from a mainline station if possible.

Just a further update we have now had our software upgraded so we can make bookings for a limited number of individuals on our trains at the normal price.
Loadings (at the Covid occupancy remain good).
We intend to operate Wed/Sat and Sunday in September and also hope to recommence Pullman Dining trains, although these will be prebooked from our waiting list.

 

[Cowley]

Look forward to it, Drop me a message when your making the visit and I will try and pick you up from a mainline station if possible.

Thanks Paul. I’ll take you up on that.

 

[paul1609]

Just a further update, Thursday 27th will be the first day we will operate three scheduled returns as the normal 2 are fully booked on the reduced covid capacity.