Showing Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (Railway History) by W.J.K. Davies

One man's dream to build and run his own railway, a dream which became reality, created what has become one of the best known of Britain's small gauge railways, the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch, the world's smallest public railway. That man was Capt J. Howey, in the 1920s a racing motorist, who, nearly 50 years ago with Henry Greenly, long experienced in miniature railway design and construction, built his 1 Bin gauge railway across 15 miles of the Romney Marsh in south east Kent from Hythe to Dungeness. Despite its gauge the RHDR was built as a double track main line, with massive one-third scale locomotives based on Gresley's handsome A1 Pacifies of the LNER, comfortable rolling stock and full signalling. In its early years the railway was not without problems, but it settled down to provide a useful transport function, and in World War II played an important part in the construction of PLUTO, the oil pipe line to France. In this book, W. J. K. Davies describes the line's history, and untangles fact from fiction, for with much of the railway's happenings unchronicled in official records it is inevitable that some RHDR history has been woven around legend rather than truth. Following the death of Capt Howey, the railway's future in recent years has been uncertain, but now, after three changes of ownership, it is in the hands of an enthusiast consortium and prospects for this unique steam-worked line are much brighter.