Rye and Camber Tramway
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The Rye and Camber Tramway was a light rail line between Rye and Camber in East Sussex , England . It was a 2.8 km long narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 914 mm (3 ft ), which is unusual in Britain . In operation from 1895 to 1939, it ran from Rye to the coast. There were three train stations: Rye, Golf Links and Camber Sands.
history
The railway line was built between January and July 1895 exclusively on private property. It was designed by the engineering service provider Holman F. Stephens , who built and operated railroad lines across the country.
The railway line was originally built to bring golfers to Rye Golf Club and initially ran from Rye Station to the Golf Club. In 1908 it was extended to Camber Sands Station and the intermediate station was renamed Golf Links . The terminus in Camber was relocated to a more accessible location and a kiosk was opened in the summer, but only operated for a few months until the start of the war.
The small railroad was initially profitable, but increasingly faced competition from car and bus traffic, which, as with many small railways, led to an economic downturn. Passenger service ceased at the outbreak of World War II, but the railroad was used extensively by the government during the war for the transport of goods for Operation PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) , for which Canadian troops created a special siding to a new pier at station Golf links was built.
The railway line was in such a shabby state at the end of the war that it was sold for scrap value in 1947. The Rye & Camber Tramways Co Ltd was liquidated in 1949.
Rolling stock
Locomotives
There were initially two steam locomotives from WG Bagnall named "Camber" and "Victoria", but later only one diesel locomotive was used.
| Surname | Manufacturer | design type | date | Work number | cylinder | wheelbase | Boiler pressure | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camber | Bagnall flat share | 1'B (2-4-0T) | 1895 | 1461 | 127 mm × 229 mm (5 in × 9 in) | 1 676.4 mm (5 ft 6 in) | 9.6 bar (140 lb / sq in) | Scrapped in Rye in 1947 |
| Victoria | Bagnall flat share | 1'B (2-4-0T) | 1897 | 1511 | 152 mm × 140 mm (6 in × 10 in) | 1 968.5 mm (6 ft 5½ in) | 9.6 bar (140 lb / sq in) | Sold in 1937 |
| Kent Construction Company | 4wPM | 1924 | 1364 | In the Simplex design by Motor Rail . Sold in October 1946 |
dare
There were two closed passenger cars and several on-site two-axle carts that were used to transport sand from the beach to local contractors. Several temporary branches were built for this, and the dunes that were removed can still be seen today.
Several remains, including the frame and bogies of one of the passenger cars, can be seen in the Colonel Stephens Museum in Tenterden .
Infrastructure
The Golf Links train station has survived almost unscathed. There are even tracks embedded in concrete from the time when the track was also used as a road. A footpath now runs along most of the former track bed, but a small section was destroyed by a gravel works.
Trivia
The railway line plays a role in several works by the Rye-based writer Edward Frederic Benson .
literature
- Judge, C .: The Rye and Camber Tramway . The Oakwood Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85361-473-3 .
- Thomas, Cliff: The Narrow Gauge in Britain & Ireland . Atlantic Publishers, 2002, ISBN 1-902827-05-8 .
- Laurie A Cooksey: The Rye and Camber Tramway: a Centenary History . Plateway Press, 1995, ISBN 1-871980-26-7 .
Web links
- A Talk on the Camber Tram
- Rye and Camber Tramway ( Memento from June 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- The Colonel Stephens Railway Museum
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 16.8 ″ N , 0 ° 46 ′ 12 ″ E