Last weekend saw our first beer festival held with the Ashford, Folkestone and Romney Marsh branch of CAMRA. There were over 40 real ales available including a couple of brews exclusively on the trains. We read lots of press stories of drunkenness and problems associated with drink, but in a relatively small space we saw 1200 people enjoying alcohol without any problems at all and the atmosphere at Tenterden station was excellent.

We have had a pretty good June. In passenger number terms we missed “Thomas” for June but that apart the railway has been busy. Coach companies bring groups of visitors every day and there has still been the usual stream of visitors here to enjoy the Kent & East Sussex countryside which is at its very best at the moment.

Our events teams are working on some great activities for the remainder of this year and next year too. This weekend we see The Antiques Railshow, with valuers from Dreweatts here on Saturday, and several model railway layouts on display over the weekend. We then look forward to Ivor The Engine returning on 25th and 26th July, when Northiam station will be transformed into Llaniog for a weekend of fun.

In July 2010 we will combine a diesel gala with a bus rally. We have not had a diesel gala here for a couple of years, but with the success of our galas over the last 2 years, some interesting diesels and on track machinery of our own and a guest diesel loco or two, we will be able to create an excellent event. Next year we will also celebrate 10 years of operating to Bodiam and 20 years of running trains to Northiam. Is it really 20 years since ‘Challenge Aneka’?

We have just completed our annual line audit, a little bit late this year. The K&ESR looks better every year, and has certainly benefitted from the investment in line side maintenance by our contractor and by the additional and highly noticeable efforts of our small Forestry and Conservation team.

Now is the time for nominations for the Pride In Ashford and Tenterden Awards. Our volunteers pride themselves in our care for our customers, and I hope that we get plenty of nominations for awards, as in 2008, the last time the scheme operated, when our volunteers were appropriately recognised.

We have just had a wonderful May – with record breaking visitor numbers, due to our extremely successful Gala, magnificent Forties Weekend and a strong half term holiday week.
Currently we are receiving a large number of visitors in coach parties. K&ESR is a great destination for coach party days out, and we operate a number of joint visits with local attractions such as Biddenden Vineyards. Cream Teas on the train are extremely popular.
The management team has been working on our timetable for next year, and there are a number of special events planned including celebrating 20 years of running trains to Northiam and ten years of operating to Bodiam.
I have just heard that the edition of 'Escape To The Country' filmed here for BBCTV will not be shown until September, which is disappointing. Recently part of a programme for UKTV called 'My Little Soldier' was filmed here. That appears to be a very entertaining series featuring children who become stars and I look forward to seeing the final production.
Last week we attended the Sussex County Show – for the first time. We welcomed over 1000 people to our stand in 3 days and look forward to seeing them as visitors.
Preparations for the CAMRA beer festival are well underway. We will be extremely busy on Saturday 27th June with over 40 different ales available for consumption. This looks like being a regular event in the K&ESR diary. Finally for now – K&ESR is proving to be a great day out for Fathers this weekend (Sunday is Father’s Day). We have had a special beer brewed 'Dad’s Delight', and this is on sale at the railway shop but stocks are running out fast. Better get some for Dad now!

THE GWR Railcar is now in the Carriage Shed and visitors can see what has been achieved to date. We have now raised over £20k towards the £70k needed to fully restore the vehicle. Our staff in the Carriage & Wagon department will always be pleased to talk about it, and show the work that has been completed so far. The next job is to send off the bogies for sandblasting.Our new "Help to Run the Railway" leaflet has at long last appeared, completing our set of DL leaflets on the K&ESR. We hope it will encourage you to help us as a volunteer. We have over 400 volunteers who do a variety of jobs, and indeed most of the staff you see when you visit are dedicated enthusiasts, who perform various tasks, that when knitted together make the Kent & East Sussex Railway the wonderful experience that it is.

The new season is about to start for us with our Branch Line weekend, and we will celebrate the centenary of the P Class loco with a birthday cake each day at around 11.30am.
The P Class is then going off to France for the Chemin de Fer Baie de Somme’s Fete de Vapeur on 25th and 26th April. When it came back from its week at the Bluebell we turned the loco so it is facing the opposite direction to our other engines, for a bit of innovation, and some new photographic angles.
Last week we were filmed by Talkback Thames for an edition of the BBC programme Escape To The Country. The contributors are planning to move into the area and we will look forward to welcoming them as volunteers. The production team got some great footage of our Terrier “Bodiam” in action, and the weather was magnificent so we will look forward to seeing the programme in June.
Our Gala Team are putting together a great timetable featuring a number of “last trains” that ran on K&ESR. We are looking forward to the 01 loco returning here for the first time in preservation. This locomotive used to work between Headcorn and Rolvenden in the days of passenger steam services. Our colleagues at the Bluebell railway have been doing some repairs to make the loco fit to operate here. See elsewhere on this website for more info on the gala.
Our engineers have been hard at work on some blast pipe modifications to the USA Tank to improve its efficiency. We are about to do a steam test to see if it all works. The USA will visit the Spa Valley for their gala in May and then will work hard during a busy summer.
Terrier locomotive 32678 is nearing the end of its overhaul and we hope to see that in service for our gala too.
Our Carriage and Wagon department are finishing repair work on our Pullman carriage “Theodora” and she will look great once the painting is finished. The GWR Railcar will then be going into the shed for its restoration. We have currently raised £17k towards the £75k costs of restoration, and there is still a lot to do but on open days visitors will soon be able to see what work has been done, and what it is still to do.
We are working on plans to extend out Carriage & Wagon shed but this is proving to be an expensive potential project.
One of the most talked about issue at the moment is the 700m extension of the track bed at Bodiam West towards Robertsbridge. The track now extends to about 200m short of Junction Road. Rother Valley Railway is the organisation charged with rebuilding the line back to Robertsbridge, and no doubt one of their next rpojects will be obtaining a crossing order.
Our head gardener has been doing a great job at Tenterden and the daffodils are in bloom. Lets hope the sun keeps shining for a great weekend and the P’s birthday party!
And next week we are going to host a charity Pump Trolley Push for Bexhill Responders - great fun in store

This is a busy time of year - mainly associated with planning. We are selling more and more Railway Experience day vouchers which is a good sign for 2009, and Pullman bookings continue to come in. Last week a chap came in to buy tickets for New Years' Eve. Sensibly he was trying to book 31st December 2009 - but it was a pity we had to disappoint him as this is of course already sold out.
Our new volunteering and membership leaflets are also work in progress. The volunteering version is also near to being finalised. I hope it will be a valuable tool in recruiting new volunteers. If you are reading this and thinking of volunteering, it is a great way to meet new friends and it certainly helps us to continue to provide the service of which we are all proud.
Arriva have offered me a price for operating an early morning bus journey between Maidstone, Headcorn and Tenterden (Service 12) together with a late afternoon journey. It is not an unreasonable price but I do not think K&ESR should be paying for this in total as it would provide a link for Tenterden and Biddenden residents to either come to the town or go to Maidstone and beyond for the day. KCC say they do not have the funds to support this service - just £2k per annum which is disappointing, and I was only looking for part of that. All is not lost, Tenterden Chamber of Commerce may be able to make a small contribution and help has also been requested from other potential funders, and it is my objective to provide a positive transport link with the main line on Sundays. The circuitous bus routes from Ashford and Paddock Wood are unsatisfactory because of the length of time they take.

I was very pleased to hear yesterday that we have been granted permission by the local authority to extend our carriage and wagon shed. This is vital to assist our fitters, by covering over the pits and enabling volunteer groups like the diesel owners to maintain their rolling stock in the dry. We expect to launch an appeal towards this project in 2009.
We have a new book for sale in the railway gift shop. It is an excellent publication appropriately titled "The Kent & East Sussex Railway" by one of our members Hugh Nightingale. Hugh, as the book proves, is a good photographer and he has recorded some unusual opportunities well. THe author also has a passion for "Terrier" class locomotives and this is reflected in the book. It is a colourful pictorial record of the railway and will make a great present at just £14.99.
Hugh is also happy to autograph copies upon request - just ask at the shop.

This weekend has been an interesting one. Yesterday's Antiques Railshow was very popular. Members and visitors brought some interesting items to be valued by the experts from Dreweatts. We look forward to seeing them back next year in July for our Hornby Weekend (working title). Hornby Models will be here and we put on the railway the stock that has been modelled over the years. We also hope to have a small gauge railway to ride as well. That's for July 2009.

Saturday was our AGM which was over in record time. We will shortly be advertising membership over a rolling year, and a new category of membership for families.
The best part of the AGM for me was presenting some of our hard working volunteer staff with achievement awards. I shall not embarrass them by naming them here, but as always there were some magnificent contributions to our operation from a vide variety of support roles.

Some fantastic pictures of the Hoppers Weekend have just been put on display at http://kesr.photobook.org.uk/c01596360.html