A long standing ambition to connect a heritage railway to the mainline network has taken a step forward after it was granted permission to rebuild a section of a disused railway.
There are two separate organisations involved – the Kent & East Sussex Railway which runs a heritage line between Tenterden and Bodiam, and the Rother Valley Railway which is looking to reinstate a lost railway between Bodiam and Robertsbridge.
The key benefit of the extension is that there’s a mainline station on the Southeastern line at Robertsbridge, a few stops from Royal Tunbridge Wells, which would make it vastly easier for the public to pay a visit to the heritage line. At the moment, the heritage railway is only accessible by car or bus.
To restore the disused railway, the Rother Valley Railway (RVR) submitted an application and a public inquiry was held in 2021.
There were over a thousand objections to the plans though, with 224 letters of support, and the Environment Agency withdrew their objection in part. Most of the objections were about the addition of new level crossings on roads where the restored railway would be crossing, but the inspector’s report concluded in the end that the marginal downsides were more than outweighed by the economic benefits of the railway’s extension.
The ambition to restore the railway link has had previous support from their local MP, Huw Merriman, who just happens to be the Minister of State for Rail and HS2 — so he was recused from the decision making process.
The TWA Order provides the Rother Valley Railway with statutory authority to construct the new railway and maintain the new and existing lengths of the track as a heritage railway from Robertsbridge Junction to Bodiam, where it would join the existing heritage railway to Tenterden and would authorise the crossing of the public highway in a number of locations.
The anticipated cost of the railway extension has been put at £5.3 million, which is expected to generate up to £35 million for the local economy and around 85 jobs over the first decade of its operation.
Southeastern will also benefit from extra passengers, and although the inspector disagreed with the RVR’s estimate of around £330,000 per year for Southeastern, the inspector still agreed it would be a substantial amount. The report also said that the growth in leisure travellers would help to offset the foreseeable reduction in commuters as a result of more people working from home, thereby making the mainline railway more viable.
Connecting the heritage railway to a town with a mainline railway will also be a boost for attractions in the area, such as Bodiam Castle.
Rother Valley Railway chairman Gardner Crawley said: “We are looking forward to working with everyone to bring the new railway to fruition. Work will start at the earliest opportunity to carry out the land and ecological surveys. Substantive physical works are unlikely to start before next year.”
As I recall, something similar is to happen to the Epping-Ongar Heritage system with a connection to Epping as it starts now at poor old North Weald.
Of course there is the problem of all those carbon emissions, but I’m sure someone can come up with some form of battery power and fake steam smell?
Another public consultation success then. Over 1000 against, 224 for: let’s go ahead then, says one inspector. *eye roll*
Though there was a large volume of objections it’s quite likely the majority of them didn’t give valid planning related reasons for their objection. I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few of them could be simply categorised as nimbyism.
Objections to planning applications aren’t a veto or pure numbers game. Planning inspectors are wise to spotting organised campaigns and dismissing unproven or exagerated claims — in fact, you can see evidence of that going on in the inspector’s report into the public inquiry.
As a former volunteer, when The RVR was basically a railway themed social club (2000-2010) this project has always seemed a no brainer, and it will clearly benefit the local and wider economy and be a major tourist draw. The issues around road crossings has been the biggest obstacle for so long, and the stupid short sighted building of the A21 bypass without a bridge that the RVR could have passed under is on the Local Authority.
I presume the Grade crossings will be full automatic fully gated, which should not cause much impact to the A21, and most activity would be at weekends.
I wish the scheme well, and it has been so long in coming that it has haunted my dreams for years!
I agree with Gemma’s criticisms of the Rother Valley Railway Trust, which did little or nothing for many years and treated the Supporters’ Association with open hostility. It was only when Mike Hart joined the Board that real, substantial progress was made. He will now have to show firm leadership if the Trust is to acquire the project management skills to ensure that the rebuilding takes place.
Several farmers will be upset. If you follow the route on Google Earth quite a bit of the route has been covered by fields which end up being carved up. The question begs whether British Railways sold the land to the farmers or not. I wish them well with their endeavours.
The planning inspector report notes some fairly modest purchases will be needed, but most of the land occupied by the disused railway is not being used actively for farming.
If BR did sell the land to farmers, it was probably only for a nominal 1d!
What a confusing name to use. I wish they’d picked something else notwithstanding the historical usage.
Confusing name Fred Bao? What is Confusing about Rother Valley Railway?
This is excellent news and a long time coming.
Good for you, RVR and KESR. Look forward to travelling on the extended line in a few years time.
This would be an amazing completion, considering that the original K&ESR reopening was just a tiny section of light railway between Tenterden and Rovelden.
Remembering the extreme difficulties that the Bluebell Railway had connecting back to the main line at East Grinstead, not to mention the removal of thousands of tons of ancient buried household rubbish from Imberhorne Cutting.
They also experienced massive opposition from some of the many landowners who then owned sections of the trackbed.
It took 19 years from 1994 to 2013 to complete the final extension from Kingscote Station to East Grinstead.
I live in Southport and I’m absolutely for this link, as I will be able to catch the train to Robertsbridge and then travel on the KESR heritage railway to stay in Tenderden.
Excellent news. The rural community along the old track and the farmers who had acquired the land have not welcomed the returning line. It’s very picturesque and surely no more of an eyesore than the bluebell railway. Ominous talk of decades of delays because of the rubbish filled ravine are wide of the mark. That was lazy waste disposal by east grinstead council. This is easy territory to regain.
Rejoining the mainline is already a done deal; see google maps.
Readers might care to check a bit of railway history a mile east of robertsbridge where the fine inn The Salehurst Halt will surely lure thirsty rail travellers to this well hidden hamlet once again.
It’s been along time coming,i no that they have been campaigning for years to get this section of the line finished,i however do feel for the landowners who have lost there land,but if it’s needed as a tourist attractionfor the area then so be it.
Pity there are no plan’s if it could but doubt very much that it could be extended the other way and link up back at headcorn thus making over 20miles of railway line linking to main line stations once again.I wish the KESR all the very best in the plan to arrive 1day back at Robertsbridge…
I am really pleased to hear that this is going ahead. It is fantastic when a heritage line connects to the main railway network.
We had a holiday in Tenterden a few years ago and rode this existing line to Bodiam a couple of times.
From where we used to live we have seen the Mid Hants Railway (Watercress Line) reconnect to the Main Line in Alton, then the Bluebell Line to East Grinstead.
Although we live in the Southwest, we would certainly make the journey to ride the full length of this line.
I only wish that the West Somerset Line could connect fully at Taunton as an everyday service.