PACIFIC POWER: Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway’s Davey Paxman 4-6-2 No. 1 Green Goddess leaves Dungeness with the 13.30 train to Hythe on May 1, amid a background scene dominated by Dungeness ‘Old Lighthouse’ (built in 1904 and actually the fourth at this location), Dungeness A & BNuclear Power Stations and RH&DR’s Dungeness station. The railway ran an all-steam service over the three days of the bank holiday weekend, with four locos in operation each day.
TONY PAGE
RAVENGLASS & Eskdale Railway (R&ER) celebrated the 100th anniversary of Davey Paxman 2-8-2 River Esk being delivered to the 15in gauge line, with an April 29-May 1 gala weekend.
The star guest had been billed as Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway’s (RH&DR) Davey Paxman 4-8-2 No. 6 Samson, however tests following its arrival revealed issues with some of R&ER’s turnouts.
RH&DR pulled out all the stops and dispatched its Davey Paxman 4-6-2 No. 2 Northern Chief to Ravenglass to save the day. With slightly different dimensions and less driving wheels, tests of Northern Chief confirmed it was fine to participate in the gala. The unplanned outcome was the presence of three RH&DR locos at Ravenglass during the event; Northern Chief in operation, Samson on display while out of ticket Davey Paxman 4-6-2 No. 7 Typhoon was already in Ravenglass Railway Museum pending John Fowler Engineering commencing its overhaul.