Jan 2011

The number of visitors to this blog has risen in the last couple of weeks. Perhaps this is to do with running to Junction Road? We are looking forward to doing this over the weekend of March 19th and 20th. Tickets are now on sale but those who wish to travel on the first passenger train (which leaves Tenterden ant 10.30am) will need to book their seats through our booking office. Some tickets to travel on this train are already sold.
More info on my previous posting.
Travelling on a “first” is always a great experience. We are looking forward to welcoming many friends, old and new, on this weekend.
Yesterday I paid a visit to Rother Valley Railway at Robertsbridge Station, K&ESR’s eventual destination. The members there have a lot to do, and it is difficult for them at present as they can’t run passenger trains. I had a look at the track bed between Robertsbridge and North Bridge Street. The bridges along the formation are an interesting challenge, but not an impossible one. The ½ mile of track that they own, once restored leaves a relatively small gap to fill in. It is an interesting thought.
We are now in the process of attending the annual round of Group Travel Shows. Group Travel Organisers are always looking for something different and this year there is a lot of interest in a combined visit to K&ESR and the new Mill Toy Museum at Northiam – opposite the station. The Museum opens mid March. I have had a sneak preview and this is going to be a great new visitor attraction. It will make a tip to K&ESR a fantastic big day out.
Phase 1 of our Carriage Shed Extension project is virtually complete and it is being used for a variety of projects already. Thanks to all who have donated to this project. We had a sizeable donation in this morning which is a great help because we still need a further £60k to complete the shed by installing heating, extraction and some better lighting. I am very proud of our achievement to date.
The snow in December hit us badly, and not only did we lose a complete day of Santa Specials, we noticed that visitors came and went quickly, so takings on refreshments and in the shop were somewhat down. On the day we cancelled services we managed to e-mail and ring all our customers except two. We have a computerised booking office system here, which helps us collect Gift Aid and manage pre-booked seats. It produces theatre style tickets, which is a bit of a down side, but it certainly came into its own in December by enabling us to contact our customers easily. We now have quite an electronic database to which we can send information. Just follow this link if you would like to be added to this list.
Despite the snow, we finished 2010 with a reasonable growth in passenger numbers. Had it not been for snow in February and December we might have reached 100k passengers. That gives us a target for this year.
City of Truro will visit us for our gala (30th April – May 2nd) and I am looking forward to this as hitherto I have not had the privilege of riding behind this famous locomotive. Tickets are now on sale. I am confident this will swell our visitor numbers this year.