Foxcote Manor on the Kent and East Sussex Railway

Foxcote Manoris  on the railway for May, on its holidays from the Llangollen Railway. Foxcote is the largest and longest engine we've had on the KESR and there had to be changes to the timetable to accommodate the engine when attached to the usual 5 coach set. In this formation, it is too long to fit into most platforms, which is only a problem when crossing trains.

For those of you interested, Foxcote Manoris a Great Western Railway locomotive, built in 1950 and part of a class that ran first in 1938. This engine spent much of its working life on the Welsh Marches. The GWR named many of their locomotive classes on stately homes: Granges, Halls, Manors and Castles, crowned of course, by the King Class (which are not stately homes)

The engine is visiting the KESR thanks partly to the Guest Engine Club (of which I'm a member) who make monthly contributions to bring visiting engines to the railway to bring new interest to members and public alike. It is certainly doing that. It cost £6000 to move the loco to and from Llangollen which the club paid for and hopefully, like the Bricks Britannia, will lead to an increase in visitor numbers.

I was signalman at Wittersham today when the first working of Foxecote with stock took place. This shot is from the balcony of the signalbox, a spot I've blipped from before. To accommodate Foxcote the up train has to be brought into the station first and then isolated so that the other train can fit into the platform. It all worked well, one of the extras shows me handing over the token to Northiam from the balcony, courtesy of Alan, the other of Foxecote Manor in the yard at Rolvenden.