KESR 50th Anniversary plus Rother Valley Railway!

1/6/24
1st day of June and we're already in with an Anniversary event! The Kent and East Sussex Railway celebrated 50 years since the line was first operated as a heritage railway. To commemorate the special occasion, guest locos were brought in and a reenactment of the opening train was performed. 6 locomotives were in steam on the KESR section, these being as follows:
Home Fleet;
. LBSCR A1X No. 2678 'Knowle'
(Recently returned to traffic)
. Hunslet 0-6-0t 'Hastings'
. Hunslet Austerity No. 25 'Northiam'
. Hunslet Austerity No. 75008 'Swiftsure'
(Not featured in steam in video)
. Rowntree No. 1 (Diesel)
(In use on Driver for a Tenner)
Guest Locomotives:
. BR Standard 4mt No. 76017
(Courtesy of private owner)
. SR U Class No. 31806
(Courtesy of Swanage Railway)
(Move sponsored by Rapido Trains UK)
This was a lovely event, with a great fleet of locomotives working, whilst it's unfortunate that SECR O1 Class No. 65 couldn't attend, given its got personal history with the line, that didn't detract from it being an excellent lineup.
I managed to get in another locomotive I've driven, this being the aforementioned Rowntree No. 1, a very nice loco to drive, remarkably simple and makes a great noise! This is now the 11th loco I've driven and the 5th standard gauge one.
Of great interest to me was the shed tour around Rolvenden, I managed to tick off the other USA Tank on the railway, 30065 and saw bits of the resident P Class, however I'll hold back before I say I've seen it, also in the shed was Ford Dagenham No. 1 Diesel Electric (100 years old soon I believe) aswell as GWR 42xx No. 4253, coming along very nicely! I've now found out which shed actually has most of the locomotives, and it wasn't here😂
Enough about KESR, this isn't just about them, this video also features the Rother Valley Railway, a small section of line that intend to connect up to the KESR in 3 years time! The last time this was open was 11 years ago, so was a big occasion! A railway I hadnt done either! In operation on this section was:
Visiting Locomotives;
. BR Standard 7 No. 70000 'Britianna'
(Courtesy of Locomotive Services Limited)
. BR Class 73 No. 73 128 'Kent & East Sussex Railway'
(Freshly painted into Network Southeast livery and named on the Friday)
(Courtesy of GB Railfreight)
Britianna is always a lovely engine to see, one of my favourites classes, with a lovely chime whistle to fit! Loud bark as always too. Always nice to see this beast up close, magnificent thing! A lovely sight also was the freshly painted class 73, resplendent in NSE colours, looks very fetching, and ofc, named after the railway (No surprises there😂). One of the few times I've heard a 73 working on diesel, the previous was funnily enough probably the now ex NSE liveried 73 140 at Spa Valley!