128-611: The Hawkhurst branch line was a short railway line in Kent that connected Hawkhurst , Cranbrook , Goudhurst and Horsmonden with the town of Paddock Wood and the South Eastern and Medway Valley lines, a distance of 11 miles 24 chains (11.30 mi; 18.19 km ). The line was promoted by the Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Railway (C&PWR), which was incorporated in 1877, but took until 1892 to open
256-408: A crank on a driving axle. Steam locomotives have been phased out in most parts of the world for economical and safety reasons, although many are preserved in working order by heritage railways . Electric locomotives draw power from a stationary source via an overhead wire or third rail . Some also or instead use a battery . In locomotives that are powered by high-voltage alternating current ,
384-586: A dining car . Some lines also provide over-night services with sleeping cars . Some long-haul trains have been given a specific name . Regional trains are medium distance trains that connect cities with outlying, surrounding areas, or provide a regional service, making more stops and having lower speeds. Commuter trains serve suburbs of urban areas, providing a daily commuting service. Airport rail links provide quick access from city centres to airports . High-speed rail are special inter-city trains that operate at much higher speeds than conventional railways,
512-731: A fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway , now part of the London Underground Northern line . This was the first major railway to use electric traction . The world's first deep-level electric railway, it runs from the City of London , under the River Thames , to Stockwell in south London. The first practical AC electric locomotive was designed by Charles Brown , then working for Oerlikon , Zürich. In 1891, Brown had demonstrated long-distance power transmission, using three-phase AC , between
640-542: A funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel . The line is still operational, although in updated form and is possibly the oldest operational railway. Wagonways (or tramways ) using wooden rails, hauled by horses, started appearing in the 1550s to facilitate
768-492: A hydro-electric plant at Lauffen am Neckar and Frankfurt am Main West, a distance of 280 km (170 mi). Using experience he had gained while working for Jean Heilmann on steam–electric locomotive designs, Brown observed that three-phase motors had a higher power-to-weight ratio than DC motors and, because of the absence of a commutator , were simpler to manufacture and maintain. However, they were much larger than
896-431: A steam engine that provides adhesion. Coal , petroleum , or wood is burned in a firebox , boiling water in the boiler to create pressurized steam. The steam travels through the smokebox before leaving via the chimney or smoke stack. In the process, it powers a piston that transmits power directly through a connecting rod (US: main rod) and a crankpin (US: wristpin) on the driving wheel (US main driver) or to
1024-469: A transformer in the locomotive converts the high-voltage low-current power to low-voltage high current used in the traction motors that power the wheels. Modern locomotives may use three-phase AC induction motors or direct current motors. Under certain conditions, electric locomotives are the most powerful traction. They are also the cheapest to run and provide less noise and no local air pollution. However, they require high capital investments both for
1152-462: A book or two of these stories each year from 1869 to 1894. Some sources on his life, such as Encyclopaedia of Fantasy say 12 such books. Others, such as Oxford Reference , say 15. The collections were popular and commercial successes in the Christmas book market, and his publishers illustrated them with the leading illustrators of their time such as Gustav Doré and Richard Doyle . Far from being
1280-550: A diesel locomotive from the company in 1909. The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railway in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. The locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through
1408-478: A double track plateway, erroneously sometimes cited as world's first public railway, in south London. William Jessop had earlier used a form of all-iron edge rail and flanged wheels successfully for an extension to the Charnwood Forest Canal at Nanpantan , Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1789. In 1790, Jessop and his partner Outram began to manufacture edge rails. Jessop became a partner in
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#17327832167491536-516: A lack of impetus on the part of the SER and the merger of operations of the SER with the rival London, Chatham and Dover Railway . The buffer stops at Hawkhurst were nevertheless positioned so as to allow the extension of the line without the need for alterations to the existing layout. Holman Fred Stephens, the Hawkhurst line's resident engineer, later became the chief engineer in the construction of
1664-437: A large turning radius in its design. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Since 1980, rail transport has changed dramatically, but a number of heritage railways continue to operate as part of living history to preserve and maintain old railway lines for services of tourist trains. A train is a connected series of rail vehicles that move along
1792-498: A larger locomotive named Galvani , exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors , with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators . It hauled a load of six tons at four miles per hour (6 kilometers per hour) for a distance of one and a half miles (2.4 kilometres). It
1920-533: A level for half a mile through Swigs Hole valley on a 42-foot-high (13 m) embankment . After crossing a deeply wooded cutting , the line reached the 86-yard (79 m) Horsmonden Tunnel which was situated on the summit level at the end of a 1-mile (1.6 km) climb at 1 in 66 and carried the B2162 road over the line. Horsmonden was the first station to be reached. It was 4 miles 20 chains (4.25 mi; 6.84 km) from Paddock Wood). The station had
2048-423: A locomotive. This involves one or more powered vehicles being located at the front of the train, providing sufficient tractive force to haul the weight of the full train. This arrangement remains dominant for freight trains and is often used for passenger trains. A push–pull train has the end passenger car equipped with a driver's cab so that the engine driver can remotely control the locomotive. This allows one of
2176-477: A number of trains per hour (tph). Passenger trains can usually be into two types of operation, intercity railway and intracity transit. Whereas intercity railway involve higher speeds, longer routes, and lower frequency (usually scheduled), intracity transit involves lower speeds, shorter routes, and higher frequency (especially during peak hours). Intercity trains are long-haul trains that operate with few stops between cities. Trains typically have amenities such as
2304-676: A piece of circular rail track in Bloomsbury , London, the Catch Me Who Can , but never got beyond the experimental stage with railway locomotives, not least because his engines were too heavy for the cast-iron plateway track then in use. The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray 's rack locomotive Salamanca built for the Middleton Railway in Leeds in 1812. This twin-cylinder locomotive
2432-465: A pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of the steam locomotive. His designs considerably improved on the work of the earlier pioneers. He built the locomotive Blücher , also a successful flanged -wheel adhesion locomotive. In 1825 he built the locomotive Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the northeast of England, which became the first public steam railway in
2560-409: A private house called "Haltwhistle" stands on part of the old goods yard. The old station lights have been re-used along the drive of the house. Cranbrook station was used for many years as a pottery, and its stationmaster's house is now a private dwelling, with part of the goods yard also having survived. The signal box has survived and the station building has been extended to meet with it; the trackbed
2688-439: A revival in recent decades due to road congestion and rising fuel prices, as well as governments investing in rail as a means of reducing CO 2 emissions . Smooth, durable road surfaces have been made for wheeled vehicles since prehistoric times. In some cases, they were narrow and in pairs to support only the wheels. That is, they were wagonways or tracks. Some had grooves or flanges or other mechanical means to keep
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#17327832167492816-739: A single lever to control both engine and generator in a coordinated fashion, and was the prototype for all diesel–electric locomotive control systems. In 1914, world's first functional diesel–electric railcars were produced for the Königlich-Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen ( Royal Saxon State Railways ) by Waggonfabrik Rastatt with electric equipment from Brown, Boveri & Cie and diesel engines from Swiss Sulzer AG . They were classified as DET 1 and DET 2 ( de.wiki ). The first regular used diesel–electric locomotives were switcher (shunter) locomotives . General Electric produced several small switching locomotives in
2944-556: A single platform on the up side. Goods facilities consisted a loop on the down side, and two sidings on the up side. The signal on the approach from Goudhurst had arms for traffic from both directions. Leaving Horsmonden, the branch crossed Goudhurst Road by a plate girder bridge , running along the valley of the River Teise towards the Wealden hills. After climbing much of the way through gradients of 1 in 85 and 1 in 60, Goudhurst
3072-407: A standard. Following SNCF's successful trials, 50 Hz, now also called industrial frequency was adopted as standard for main-lines across the world. Earliest recorded examples of an internal combustion engine for railway use included a prototype designed by William Dent Priestman . Sir William Thomson examined it in 1888 and described it as a "Priestman oil engine mounted upon a truck which
3200-632: A terminus about one-half mile (800 m) away. A funicular railway was also made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1604. This carried coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the River Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns. The Wollaton Wagonway , completed in 1604 by Huntingdon Beaumont , has sometimes erroneously been cited as the earliest British railway. It ran from Strelley to Wollaton near Nottingham . The Middleton Railway in Leeds , which
3328-408: A wheel. This was a large stationary engine , powering cotton mills and a variety of machinery; the state of boiler technology necessitated the use of low-pressure steam acting upon a vacuum in the cylinder, which required a separate condenser and an air pump . Nevertheless, as the construction of boilers improved, Watt investigated the use of high-pressure steam acting directly upon a piston, raising
3456-410: Is a single, self-powered car, and may be electrically propelled or powered by a diesel engine . Multiple units have a driver's cab at each end of the unit, and were developed following the ability to build electric motors and other engines small enough to fit under the coach. There are only a few freight multiple units, most of which are high-speed post trains. Steam locomotives are locomotives with
3584-399: Is dominant. Electro-diesel locomotives are built to run as diesel–electric on unelectrified sections and as electric locomotives on electrified sections. Alternative methods of motive power include magnetic levitation , horse-drawn, cable , gravity, pneumatics and gas turbine . A passenger train stops at stations where passengers may embark and disembark. The oversight of the train is
3712-494: Is now part of the lawn. The site of Hawkhurst station is now occupied by Kent Woodware Co, a wood turnery business. The main station building was demolished in the 1960s but the engine and goods sheds, stationmaster's house and signal box are still extant. The owner, a railway enthusiast, ensures that the signal box receives "a good coat of paint every other year". In September 2008 representatives from Hawkhurst, Goudhurst, Horsmonden and Paddock Wood Parish Councils met to discuss
3840-408: Is usually provided by diesel or electrical locomotives . While railway transport is capital-intensive and less flexible than road transport, it can carry heavy loads of passengers and cargo with greater energy efficiency and safety. Precursors of railways driven by human or animal power have existed since antiquity, but modern rail transport began with the invention of the steam locomotive in
3968-556: Is worked on a temporary line of rails to show the adaptation of a petroleum engine for locomotive purposes." In 1894, a 20 hp (15 kW) two axle machine built by Priestman Brothers was used on the Hull Docks . In 1906, Rudolf Diesel , Adolf Klose and the steam and diesel engine manufacturer Gebrüder Sulzer founded Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH to manufacture diesel-powered locomotives. Sulzer had been manufacturing diesel engines since 1898. The Prussian State Railways ordered
Hawkhurst branch line - Misplaced Pages Continue
4096-486: The Board of Trade on 3 September 1892, the line between Paddock Wood and Hope Mill, for Goudhurst and Lamberhurst was opened to passenger and goods traffic nine days later. The first service drawn by Cudworth E1 class 2-4-0 No. 112 left Hope Mill at 08:25 and free travel was offered throughout the day. The official opening took place on 1 October 1892, and services were extended to Hawkhurst on 4 September 1893. The line
4224-572: The Metropolitan Railway , was appointed to oversee the works and he recommended the 22-year-old Holman Fred Stephens as resident engineer. The contract for the construction was awarded to J.T. Firbank who had overseen the building of the Metropolitan's line between Aylesbury and Quainton Road . Work began in the spring of 1890, and the first section between Paddock Wood and Hope Mill was opened on 1 October 1892. The remainder of
4352-575: The Rother Valley Railway (RVR), later known as the Kent and East Sussex Railway) which opened in 1900 from Robertsbridge as far as Rolvenden (then known as "Tenterden"). In 1899, Stephens obtained a light railway order authorising the Cranbrook and Tenterden Light Railway , which would run from Cranbrook station through a 40-foot (12 m) tunnel under Hartley Road for a distance of 9 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (15.29 km) to join
4480-528: The Second World War as more and more freight was taken to market by road. Coal traffic remained constant as did the transport of pot plants from local nurseries at Flimwell and Wadhurst for F W Woolworth . This was an important source of revenue for the line with one million pot plants a year being transported from Hawkhurst, bringing in around £1,000 per week. Up to four parcels and miscellaneous vans were loaded daily at Hawkhurst and attached to
4608-692: The United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century. The first passenger railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway , opened in 1825. The quick spread of railways throughout Europe and North America, following the 1830 opening of the first intercity connection in England, was a key component of the Industrial Revolution . The adoption of rail transport lowered shipping costs compared to water transport, leading to "national markets" in which prices varied less from city to city. In
4736-615: The United Kingdom , South Korea , Scandinavia, Belgium and the Netherlands. The construction of many of these lines has resulted in the dramatic decline of short-haul flights and automotive traffic between connected cities, such as the London–Paris–Brussels corridor, Madrid–Barcelona, Milan–Rome–Naples, as well as many other major lines. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates
4864-414: The overhead lines and the supporting infrastructure, as well as the generating station that is needed to produce electricity. Accordingly, electric traction is used on urban systems, lines with high traffic and for high-speed rail. Diesel locomotives use a diesel engine as the prime mover . The energy transmission may be either diesel–electric , diesel-mechanical or diesel–hydraulic but diesel–electric
4992-458: The puddling process in 1784. In 1783 Cort also patented the rolling process , which was 15 times faster at consolidating and shaping iron than hammering. These processes greatly lowered the cost of producing iron and rails. The next important development in iron production was hot blast developed by James Beaumont Neilson (patented 1828), which considerably reduced the amount of coke (fuel) or charcoal needed to produce pig iron. Wrought iron
5120-418: The rotary phase converter , enabling electric locomotives to use three-phase motors whilst supplied via a single overhead wire, carrying the simple industrial frequency (50 Hz) single phase AC of the high-voltage national networks. An important contribution to the wider adoption of AC traction came from SNCF of France after World War II. The company conducted trials at AC 50 Hz, and established it as
5248-540: The 1880s, railway electrification began with tramways and rapid transit systems. Starting in the 1940s, steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives . The first high-speed railway system was introduced in Japan in 1964, and high-speed rail lines now connect many cities in Europe , East Asia , and the eastern United States . Following some decline due to competition from cars and airplanes, rail transport has had
Hawkhurst branch line - Misplaced Pages Continue
5376-521: The 1930s (the famous " 44-tonner " switcher was introduced in 1940) Westinghouse Electric and Baldwin collaborated to build switching locomotives starting in 1929. In 1929, the Canadian National Railways became the first North American railway to use diesels in mainline service with two units, 9000 and 9001, from Westinghouse. Although steam and diesel services reaching speeds up to 200 km/h (120 mph) were started before
5504-508: The 1960s in Europe, they were not very successful. The first electrified high-speed rail Tōkaidō Shinkansen was introduced in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Since then high-speed rail transport, functioning at speeds up to and above 300 km/h (190 mph), has been built in Japan, Spain, France , Germany, Italy, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (Republic of China),
5632-464: The 40 km Burgdorf–Thun line , Switzerland. Italian railways were the first in the world to introduce electric traction for the entire length of a main line rather than a short section. The 106 km Valtellina line was opened on 4 September 1902, designed by Kandó and a team from the Ganz works. The electrical system was three-phase at 3 kV 15 Hz. In 1918, Kandó invented and developed
5760-530: The Butterley Company in 1790. The first public edgeway (thus also first public railway) built was Lake Lock Rail Road in 1796. Although the primary purpose of the line was to carry coal, it also carried passengers. These two systems of constructing iron railways, the "L" plate-rail and the smooth edge-rail, continued to exist side by side until well into the early 19th century. The flanged wheel and edge-rail eventually proved its superiority and became
5888-490: The Colonial Office... "We should like to know whether Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen maintains his intercourse with the fairies of the Colonial Office. If so, what department of office duty is specially favourable to them; whether, too, they come when Parliament breaks up, or whether their visits are intermittent all the year round." In a letter of 1971, J. R. R. Tolkien recalled that, as a small child, his bedtime reading
6016-850: The Colonies under Gladstone from 1871 to 1874. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1873 and raised to the peerage as Baron Brabourne , of Brabourne in the County of Kent, in 1880. Shortly after becoming a peer he joined the Conservative party, citing his opposition to the interventionist policies of Radicals like Joseph Chamberlain . In 1882 he became a founding member of the Liberty and Property Defence League . Though forgotten and unread today, Knatchbull-Hugessen wrote many well-known short stories of fantasy and faery . He produced
6144-514: The DC motors of the time and could not be mounted in underfloor bogies : they could only be carried within locomotive bodies. In 1894, Hungarian engineer Kálmán Kandó developed a new type 3-phase asynchronous electric drive motors and generators for electric locomotives. Kandó's early 1894 designs were first applied in a short three-phase AC tramway in Évian-les-Bains (France), which was constructed between 1896 and 1898. In 1896, Oerlikon installed
6272-509: The Home Department under Lord Russell in 1866 and under William Ewart Gladstone from 1868 to 1871 and was also Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies under Gladstone from 1871 to 1874. In 1880 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Brabourne . Born Edward Hugessen Knatchbull, he was the younger son of Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet , who twice served as Paymaster General , and his second wife Fanny Catherine Knight, who
6400-513: The Horsmonden end served a brickworks . Although some sources state that Churn Siding was out of use by 1940, photographs show that it was still in use in 1951 and it was named in the closure notice. Towards the end of the line's existence, Churn Siding was used for storage of wagons. The siding was located at the start of the 1 in 78 climb to Horsmonden. If wagons had to be left on the running line while shunting took place, they had to be left on
6528-461: The Paddock Wood side of the level crossing, where there was level track. Pattenden Siding was located between Goudhurst and Cranbrook stations, just after milepost 42 and thus 7 miles 20 chains (7.25 mi; 11.67 km) from Paddock Wood. The siding was located on the down side of the line. was accessed by a trailing connection in the down direction (towards Hawkhurst). Its main use
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#17327832167496656-470: The RVR at a triangular junction just beyond Rolvenden where it would join the proposed extension of the RVR to Headcorn . Due to the increase in the use of motor transport, apart from the section between Rolvenden and Tenterden Town , the line was never built although it continued to appear in Kent and East Sussex Railway reports until 1937. Following a satisfactory inspection carried out by Major Marindin of
6784-521: The South Eastern Main Line through Paddock Wood commenced on 12 June 1961, the first day on which there was no service on the Hawkhurst branch. Elisabeth Beresford , who was subsequently well known as the creator of The Wombles , wrote a children's book Danger on the "Old Pull 'n Push" based on the Hawkhurst branch. Subsequently, this was televised by Rediffusion for ITV in two six-part series The Old Pull 'n Push and Return of
6912-472: The blandly moralistic fare of the later Victorian period, The Times newspaper noted that his stories... "are of a very high order; light and brilliant narrative flow from his pen, and is fed by an invention as graceful as it is inexhaustible." He was widely likened by the reviewers to masters of the fairy-tale such as Grimm and Andersen, and his prolific output of the tales even led a critic at The British Quarterly Review to question his dedication to his job at
7040-528: The country. The carriages tended to be old or in poor condition, since the hoppers had a reputation for drunkenness and violence. This traffic was however already in decline as rising living standards and paid holidays led to a decline in the hop-picker workforce, and many of those who remained chose to travel by car or van. By 1959 the Sunday service consisted of a single two-coach unit, with an evening working to London Bridge. As mechanical pickers gradually replaced
7168-454: The direct bus services to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells over the indirect railway journey, as shown by the fact that no more than 250 return tickets were sold from Hawkhurst in the final years of the line. Only the line's expanding pot plant traffic justified its continuing existence. It was therefore no surprise when closure notices were posted in March 1961. The last day of regular services
7296-457: The district. The necessary funds could not be raised and by April 1878 only £11,000 had been found and, on the suggestion of the SER, it was decided to save costs by locating Cranbrook station in Hartley , 2 miles (3.2 km) from Cranbrook's centre, where land prices were higher. Preliminary construction works were commenced in 1879 but soon ground to a halt due to a lack of funds. Undissuaded,
7424-461: The down side, with a passing loop opposite it. Four sidings were on the down side of the line, but on the Goudhurst side of the station. Heading towards its southern terminus at Hawkhurst (11 miles 24 chains (11.30 mi; 18.19 km)), the branch climbed again at 1 in 85 up to the 178-yard (163 m) Badger's Oak Tunnel, the line's summit, before dropping at 1 in 80. To save costs,
7552-430: The duty of a guard/train manager/conductor . Passenger trains are part of public transport and often make up the stem of the service, with buses feeding to stations. Passenger trains provide long-distance intercity travel, daily commuter trips, or local urban transit services, operating with a diversity of vehicles, operating speeds, right-of-way requirements, and service frequency. Service frequencies are often expressed as
7680-414: The end of each term. These were loaded at Hawkhurst and Cranbrook, attached to the daily up goods working and forwarded to Paddock Wood by parcels train. The behaviour of pupils from both schools was described by one regular passenger as "hysterical", with the girls from Benenden being compared to those of the fictional St Trinian's . On 18 February 1948 C Class locomotive 1225 was wrongly despatched into
7808-402: The end of the 19th century, because they were cleaner compared to steam-driven trams which caused smoke in city streets. In 1784 James Watt , a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, patented a design for a steam locomotive . Watt had improved the steam engine of Thomas Newcomen , hitherto used to pump water out of mines, and developed a reciprocating engine in 1769 capable of powering
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#17327832167497936-471: The end of the 19th century, improving the quality of steel and further reducing costs. Thus steel completely replaced the use of iron in rails, becoming standard for all railways. The first passenger horsecar or tram , Swansea and Mumbles Railway , was opened between Swansea and Mumbles in Wales in 1807. Horses remained the preferable mode for tram transport even after the arrival of steam engines until
8064-527: The engine by one power stroke. The transmission system employed a large flywheel to even out the action of the piston rod. On 21 February 1804, the world's first steam-powered railway journey took place when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales . Trevithick later demonstrated a locomotive operating upon
8192-475: The era of great expansion of railways that began in the late 1860s. Steel rails lasted several times longer than iron. Steel rails made heavier locomotives possible, allowing for longer trains and improving the productivity of railroads. The Bessemer process introduced nitrogen into the steel, which caused the steel to become brittle with age. The open hearth furnace began to replace the Bessemer process near
8320-432: The famous three-night long debate on the motion: ‘That the state of the nation imperatively requires a return to Protection’. The motion was supported by Robert Cecil, the future Prime Minister, and Knatchbull-Hugessen concluded the proposition arguments on 28 February 1850, declaring that: 'From one end of the country to the other, Protection is becoming the glorious watchword of thousands of true Englishmen. To check
8448-522: The first commercial example of the system on the Lugano Tramway . Each 30-tonne locomotive had two 110 kW (150 hp) motors run by three-phase 750 V 40 Hz fed from double overhead lines. Three-phase motors run at a constant speed and provide regenerative braking , and are well suited to steeply graded routes, and the first main-line three-phase locomotives were supplied by Brown (by then in partnership with Walter Boveri ) in 1899 on
8576-626: The first section of the line to Hope Mill. Services were worked by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR). The line was extended to Hawkhurst in 1893. In 1900, the SECR absorbed the C&;PWR. Sunday services ceased in 1917. In 1923, the SECR was absorbed into the Southern Railway at the Grouping . The line became part of British Railways at Nationalisation on 1 January 1948. The line
8704-482: The highest possible radius. All these features are dramatically different from freight operations, thus justifying exclusive high-speed rail lines if it is economically feasible. Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne PC (29 April 1829 – 6 February 1893), known as E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen , was a British Liberal and later Conservative politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for
8832-581: The human workforce, hop-picking had become a memory by the time the branch closed in 1961. Special services were also laid on for the Benenden and Cranbrook boarding schools . Special trains to Benenden were laid on from Charing Cross , quite often with six corridor coaches hauled by E1 or D1 class 4-4-0 locomotives. The last special train ran on 2 May 1961 from Charing Cross at 2:46pm, hauled by D1 class 31749. Boarders' trunks and other belongings occupied so much space that utility vans were required at
8960-422: The last train to Tonbridge, with further collections possibly being made at Horsmonden; special services were laid on in the busy period before Mothering Sunday . There were two sidings on the line which were available for public use. Churn Siding was located between Paddock Wood and Horsmonden stations. The siding was on the up side of the line. It was accessed by a facing connection in each direction. A siding at
9088-1230: The limit being regarded at 200 to 350 kilometres per hour (120 to 220 mph). High-speed trains are used mostly for long-haul service and most systems are in Western Europe and East Asia. Magnetic levitation trains such as the Shanghai maglev train use under-riding magnets which attract themselves upward towards the underside of a guideway and this line has achieved somewhat higher peak speeds in day-to-day operation than conventional high-speed railways, although only over short distances. Due to their heightened speeds, route alignments for high-speed rail tend to have broader curves than conventional railways, but may have steeper grades that are more easily climbed by trains with large kinetic energy. High kinetic energy translates to higher horsepower-to-ton ratios (e.g. 20 horsepower per short ton or 16 kilowatts per tonne); this allows trains to accelerate and maintain higher speeds and negotiate steep grades as momentum builds up and recovered in downgrades (reducing cut and fill and tunnelling requirements). Since lateral forces act on curves, curvatures are designed with
9216-538: The line as far as Cranbrook when she visited the National Sanatorium at Benenden . The five-coach Royal Train was pulled by a Maunsell E1 class 4-4-0 No. 31067, Her Majesty using a Pullman car named Malaga , which was flanked by two corridor composites; there was a corridor third brake at each end of the train. Malaga was one of six twelve-wheel first-class kitchen cars which had been built in 1920–1; and following an extensive refit in late 1949,
9344-520: The line for a month. Two extra services had been added by 1928 and an extra Saturday afternoon Paddock Wood working was added in 1930. By 1938 the timetable had taken on its final form of seven up and six down services plus the Saturday afternoon working; by special regulation, the push-pull services were guardless except for the first train of the day. On 6 July 1950, the Queen Mother travelled
9472-456: The line to Hawkhurst followed a year later. The four stations were built by Mancktelow Bros, Horsmonden. At Paddock Wood , the line's northern terminus, the rear of the Up platform was adapted to accommodate Hawkhurst services and 3 ⁄ 4 mile (1.21 km) of single track was laid parallel to the main line up to the point where the routes diverged. This arrangement kept branch services off
9600-400: The line was 30 miles per hour (48 km/h), with a restriction of 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) at Smugley Farm occupation crossing, which was between Pattenden Siding and Cranbrook station. By 1925, the frequency had increased to eight with the introduction of push-pull working by former LCDR R1 class 0-4-4T locomotives. In 1926, a Sentinel - Cammell steam railbus was trialled on
9728-526: The line, whose dead-end nature deprived it of much of its usefulness. Even before construction had been completed, businesses in Tenterden were pressing the SER to link with their town. In response, the SER asked Edward Seaton to come forward with proposals for an affordable extension. Three schemes were put forward in October 1893 which would see the line extended from either Cranbrook or Hawkhurst. The first
9856-429: The locomotive-hauled train's drawbacks to be removed, since the locomotive need not be moved to the front of the train each time the train changes direction. A railroad car is a vehicle used for the haulage of either passengers or freight. A multiple unit has powered wheels throughout the whole train. These are used for rapid transit and tram systems, as well as many both short- and long-haul passenger trains. A railcar
9984-473: The main line and avoided the cost of installing a signal box to control the junction. The branch gradually turned to the south and ran on the level, passing under a road bridge and over two level crossings , while climbing gradients of 1 in 78 and 1 in 66 through orchards and hop gardens , before reaching Churn Lane siding . The line then passed an accommodation crossing and under a road bridge carrying Yew Tree Green Road, climbing to 1 in 66 before running on
10112-569: The main portion of the B&;O to the new line to New York through a series of tunnels around the edges of Baltimore's downtown. Electricity quickly became the power supply of choice for subways, abetted by the Sprague's invention of multiple-unit train control in 1897. By the early 1900s most street railways were electrified. The London Underground , the world's oldest underground railway, opened in 1863, and it began operating electric services using
10240-433: The mid-1920s. The Soviet Union operated three experimental units of different designs since late 1925, though only one of them (the E el-2 ) proved technically viable. A significant breakthrough occurred in 1914, when Hermann Lemp , a General Electric electrical engineer, developed and patented a reliable direct current electrical control system (subsequent improvements were also patented by Lemp). Lemp's design used
10368-412: The noise they made on the tracks. There are many references to their use in central Europe in the 16th century. Such a transport system was later used by German miners at Caldbeck , Cumbria , England, perhaps from the 1560s. A wagonway was built at Prescot , near Liverpool , sometime around 1600, possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to
10496-573: The nominally independent Weald of Kent Railway from Paddock Wood to Hythe via Cranbrook for which the SER obtained parliamentary authorisation as defence against a similar scheme by the rival London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR). The SER's enthusiasm for the scheme waned after the LCDR's financial collapse in 1866 following the Overend Gurney crisis . Another independent company, the locally promoted Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Railway, revived
10624-410: The north sidings at Goudhurst and derailed. The inconvenient siting of stations and the decline in hop-picking in the area all contributed to diminishing returns on the line by the late 1950s. Apart from the 16:25 daily working from Paddock Wood which was well patronised by children, few trains carried more than a dozen passengers. Passenger journeys were estimated in 1958 at around 170 per day, to which
10752-554: The occasional use of Stirling B Class and F class 4-4-0s . Since at least 1912, services had been drawn by an ageing Stirling Q class 0-4-4T locomotive. After the First World War , Kirtley R and R1 class 0-4-4Ts were introduced. These provided the mainstay of services until they were withdrawn in the 1950s and replaced by Wainwright H class 0-4-4s. In 1922, the timetable showed six down trains and seven up trains daily except Sundays. The maximum speed allowed on
10880-482: The old Pull 'n Push , shown in 1960–61. These were filmed on the Hawkhurst Line shortly before it closed. The platform bay at Paddock Wood from which most of the line's trains departed is now part of a car park, with the edge of the platform fenced off. Parts of the line are still visible, such as the embankment through Swig's Hole valley and the approach to Horsmonden tunnel. Some bridges still remain, although
11008-431: The passenger to Cannon Street at 10.15 after two changes. In the evening, the 16:32 departed too early for many commuters while the eleven-coach 18:18 Ramsgate service was overcrowded and divided at Tonbridge where three coaches were detached for Ashford. Hawkhurst-bound passengers had to change at Paddock Wood and cross over to the bay platform for the branch service which arrived in Hawkhurst at 19:58. Locals preferred
11136-578: The picking would begin, and informed the railway who then set about the planning of the special trains. A "Hop Control Centre" was set up at Paddock Wood to organise these services, ensuring that hoppers could alight at London Bridge and be taken directly to the nearest hop farm. Since the hopping season generally coincided with the end of the holiday season, most serviceable trains were already in use elsewhere, so spare rolling stock would be brought out of storage and pressed into service for just three weeks; sometimes carriages had to be borrowed from other parts of
11264-451: The plate girder bridge over Goudhurst Road, Horsmonden has been removed. Horsmonden station has been converted to a private garage trading as the "Old Station Garage", with the old stationmaster's house in use as a private dwelling. A station sign is preserved on the garage wall and part of the platform survives in the workshop. Goudhurst station, yard and level crossing have disappeared as a result of road-widening and residential development;
11392-525: The possibility of a smaller engine that might be used to power a vehicle. Following his patent, Watt's employee William Murdoch produced a working model of a self-propelled steam carriage in that year. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built in the United Kingdom in 1804 by Richard Trevithick , a British engineer born in Cornwall . This used high-pressure steam to drive
11520-438: The possibility of converting all or part of the former line into a trail which could be used by cyclists and walkers. The proposal was supported by Kent County Council and a 2-mile (3.22 km) section between Hawkhurst and Goudhurst has been identified as being easily convertible into a trail. The remainder to Paddock Wood is said to be "more difficult but not impossible". Horsmonden Parish Council has declined to participate in
11648-552: The railway company obtained two further Acts of Parliament in 1882 and 1892 which authorised a "cut-price" route between Goudhurst and Hawkhurst. Financial problems meant that construction was further delayed between 1884 and 1890, by which time the SER had taken over the board of the Cranbrook Railway on which now sat Alfred Gathorne-Hardy , Lord Brabourne and Alfred Watkin, son of SER Chairman Edward Watkin . Edward Seaton, an engineer and independent consultant to
11776-404: The scheme in 1877 promoted it until its opening in October 1892. The company was incorporated on 2 August 1877. The Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Railway obtained authorisation for a single track line to link the two towns from which the company took its name. Agreement had been reached with the SER that it would provide £50,000 towards construction costs once the local company had raised £25,000 in
11904-404: The scheme on the basis that any trail would not be able to follow the former railway alignment in its area due to private ownerships and in-filled sections. On 10 June 2011, Kent County Council organised a walk of the trackbed from Gills Green to demonstrate the work that would be needed to convert the trackbed for use by walkers and cyclists. The Kent and Sussex Courier reported that the project
12032-441: The standard for railways. Cast iron used in rails proved unsatisfactory because it was brittle and broke under heavy loads. The wrought iron invented by John Birkinshaw in 1820 replaced cast iron. Wrought iron, usually simply referred to as "iron", was a ductile material that could undergo considerable deformation before breaking, making it more suitable for iron rails. But iron was expensive to produce until Henry Cort patented
12160-451: The station was situated at Gills Green, around 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles (2.01 km) from Hawkhurst village. Hawkhurst station was 46 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles (74.43 km) from Charing Cross . The single platform was on the down side of the line, with a passing loop opposite, which also gave access to the two road engine shed. The five sidings were located on the down side of the station. Various abortive proposals were made to extend
12288-478: The three largest being Cranbrook , the former heart of the defunct Wealden cloth industry , Hawkhurst and Tenterden . There were no large landowners or wealthy industrialists to promote a branch line , while the local railway company - the South Eastern Railway (SER) - preferred to wait for local enterprise funding. A variety of abortive schemes were proposed, including one in 1864 by
12416-631: The tide of revolutionary agitation – to prefer your own countrymen to foreigners – to ameliorate, to vindicate – is not this a high, a national cause?' The motion passed by 102 votes to 31. He owned 4,000 acres in Kent. In 1857 Knatchbull-Hugessen was elected Member of Parliament for Sandwich , a seat he would hold until 1880. He served as a Lord of the Treasury under Lord Palmerston from 1859 to 1860, as Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs under Lord Russell in 1866 and under Gladstone from 1868 to 1871 and as Under-Secretary of State for
12544-475: The time, was Liverpool and Manchester Railway , built in 1830. Steam power continued to be the dominant power system in railways around the world for more than a century. The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen in Scotland, and it was powered by galvanic cells (batteries). Thus it was also the earliest battery-electric locomotive. Davidson later built
12672-543: The track. Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most trains carry a revenue load, although non-revenue cars exist for the railway's own use, such as for maintenance-of-way purposes. The engine driver (engineer in North America) controls the locomotive or other power cars, although people movers and some rapid transits are under automatic control. Traditionally, trains are pulled using
12800-447: The trains were lengthened with the addition of former LSWR push-pull set No. 656 and a Maunsell corridor coach . The same locomotive worked the last 17:00 train from Hawkhurst, while every seat was taken by locals and railway enthusiasts. The daughter of bandleader Jack Payne was on-hand to toast the final departure. The line's last public train ran the next day, hauled by Class O1 0-6-0 No. 31065 piloting C class no. 31592. This
12928-471: The transport of ore tubs to and from mines and soon became popular in Europe. Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola in his work De re metallica . This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from
13056-451: The up side. The route then continued along the valley of a tributary of the Teise in a south-easterly direction. An intermediate siding at Pattenden served the local farming community and timber industry. Cranbrook (9 miles 70 chains (9.88 mi; 15.89 km)) was the line's third station and reached following a climb up the valley through woodland. There was a single platform on
13184-629: The wheels on track. For example, evidence indicates that a 6 to 8.5 km long Diolkos paved trackway transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. Paved trackways were also later built in Roman Egypt . In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug ,
13312-622: The world in 1825, although it used both horse power and steam power on different runs. In 1829, he built the locomotive Rocket , which entered in and won the Rainhill Trials . This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives for railways in Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, and much of Europe. The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all
13440-716: Was S7874, a Pullman carriage built in 1926. Both locomotives are preserved on the Bluebell Railway . Theodora is preserved on the Kent and East Sussex Railway . The track was lifted in 1964, the contract for the work was awarded to The Demolition and Construction Co Ltd, of Croydon , Surrey . By March 1964, Goudhurst station yard was in use for the dismantling of track panels into their component parts. Sleepers with chairs attached and rails being loaded separately into goods wagons for removal. The track lifting had been completed by October of that year. The station sites were offered for sale in 1967. Electric services on
13568-405: Was Saturday 10 June 1961 when a pair of C class 0-6-0's replaced the usual H class tanks . The event was recorded by a BBC cameraman who filmed the 09:07 departure from Paddock Wood. The Tonbridge crew had chalked on the cabside of the engine " Shed no tears for the single track, for perhaps we may come back. And if we do, you can be sure, we'll see you all again once more ." Later in the day
13696-489: Was a niece of author Jane Austen . In 1849 he assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Hugessen, which was the maiden surname of his father's mother. Knatchbull-Hugessen was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford , where he was President of the Oxford Union . During his Oxford days he was a strong proponent of agricultural protection, and as President of the Oxford Union in 1850 he helped to instigate
13824-512: Was a soft material that contained slag or dross . The softness and dross tended to make iron rails distort and delaminate and they lasted less than 10 years. Sometimes they lasted as little as one year under high traffic. All these developments in the production of iron eventually led to the replacement of composite wood/iron rails with superior all-iron rails. The introduction of the Bessemer process , enabling steel to be made inexpensively, led to
13952-602: Was accomplished by the distribution of weight between a number of wheels. Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, and is the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814, George Stephenson , inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick, Murray and Hedley, persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. Stephenson played
14080-403: Was added around 100 schoolchildren. Even the school traffic was lost once the local authority hired the services of Maidstone & District Motor Company . The line was unpopular with commuters due to the poor connections to and from London. Only the 07:34 service would ensure arrival at Charing Cross before 10:00 with one change at Paddock Wood , the following train at 08.20 would only get
14208-572: Was always light on the branch, and the addition of through coaches to London in the 1890s failed to encourage patronage. The inaugural passenger service of ten trains daily each way (two on Sundays) remained unchanged until 1917 when, as a result of economies imposed by the First World War, the frequency was reduced to four weekday services with no service on Sundays. Initially, passenger trains were worked by Cudworth 118 class 2-4-0 locomotives. Later, Cudworth E class 2-4-0s were used, with
14336-514: Was built by Siemens. The tram ran on 180 volts DC, which was supplied by running rails. In 1891 the track was equipped with an overhead wire and the line was extended to Berlin-Lichterfelde West station . The Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883 in Brighton , England. The railway is still operational, thus making it the oldest operational electric railway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened near Vienna in Austria. It
14464-706: Was built in 1758, later became the world's oldest operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit now in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in the Americas was built in Lewiston, New York . In the late 1760s, the Coalbrookdale Company began to fix plates of cast iron to the upper surface of the wooden rails. This allowed a variation of gauge to be used. At first only balloon loops could be used for turning, but later, movable points were taken into use that allowed for switching. A system
14592-672: Was buried in St Mary the Virgin Churchyard at Smeeth , Kent, on 9 February. He was twice married: first, on 19 October 1852, at St. Stephen's, Hertfordshire, to Anna Maria Elizabeth, younger daughter of the Rev. Marcus Richard Southwell, vicar of that church, by whom he had two sons and two daughters: Lady Brabourne died on 2 May 1889, and on 3 June 1890 Lord Brabourne remarried Ethel Mary Walker, daughter of Colonel Sir George Gustavus Walker . They had two children: Lord Brabourne
14720-755: Was closed in June 1961, before the Beeching Report was published. The construction between 1842 and 1853 of the Ashford to Hastings Line , the Tonbridge to Hastings line and South Eastern Main Line between Redhill and Folkestone left a triangle of land within the Kentish High Weald with no rail services. It was a heavily wooded and agricultural area with many small villages and hamlets;
14848-566: Was essentially a continuation to Appledore , passing near the villages of Benenden , Newenden , Sandhurst and Rolvenden , but only passing within 1.5 miles (2.41 km) of Tenterden. The second would see the Hawkhurst branch becoming part of the proposed Loose Valley Railway linking Maidstone with Dungeness via Headcorn , Tenterden and Appledore. The final proposal began with a junction at Cranbrook station, before running to Appledore via Sissinghurst , Biddenden , Tenterden and Reading Street . None of these schemes came to fruition due to
14976-548: Was introduced in which unflanged wheels ran on L-shaped metal plates, which came to be known as plateways . John Curr , a Sheffield colliery manager, invented this flanged rail in 1787, though the exact date of this is disputed. The plate rail was taken up by Benjamin Outram for wagonways serving his canals, manufacturing them at his Butterley ironworks . In 1803, William Jessop opened the Surrey Iron Railway ,
15104-590: Was keenly supported by all parish councils involved except for Horsmonden. The scheme was initially suggested by Hawkhurst Community Partnership. The proposed cycleway will be known as The Hop Pickers' Line should it be constructed. On 15 July 2011, it was reported that an application for a £1,000,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund was to be made in the coming week, with the result of the application being known in September 2011. In March 2013, it
15232-489: Was light enough to not break the edge-rails track and solved the problem of adhesion by a cog-wheel using teeth cast on the side of one of the rails. Thus it was also the first rack railway . This was followed in 1813 by the locomotive Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. This
15360-671: Was occasionally used in the Royal Train. It was withdrawn in 1961, and is preserved close to Shepperton railway station . Goods traffic was more substantial, with fruit, hops and timber being sent out and coal being received. The 1937 timetable showed two down freight workings from Paddock Wood and one conditional working for Goudhurst, while in the other direction two conditional workings ran from Hawkhurst and one from Goudhurst. These were market trains and carried wagons for Blackfriars Goods attached to freight services at Paddock Wood. The volume of goods carried fell into steep decline after
15488-524: Was part of a railtour organised by the Locomotive Club of Great Britain. Bearing the nameplate "The South Eastern Limited", the train travelled the line as part of its "Farewell to Steam" tour. Later that day it also navigated the remaining section of the K&;ESR from Robertsbridge to Tenterden - the northern section to Headcorn having closed in 1954. Amongst the carriages that formed the train
15616-424: Was reached (6 miles 25 chains (6.31 mi; 10.16 km)), although it was a mile (1.6 km) away and some 250 feet (76 m) lower than Goudhurst village. It was initially more correctly named "Hope Mill, for Goudhurst and Lamberhurst". Goudhurst station had a passing loop and two platforms, and was signalled so that either platform could be used by down passenger trains. There were three sidings on
15744-765: Was reported that a decision from the Heritage Lottery Fund was still awaited. Rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport ) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks , which usually consist of two parallel steel rails . Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport , next to road transport . It is used for about 8% of passenger and freight transport globally, thanks to its energy efficiency and potentially high speed . Rolling stock on rails generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, allowing rail cars to be coupled into longer trains . Power
15872-705: Was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use. It was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their job security. By the middle of the nineteenth century most european countries had military uses for railways. Werner von Siemens demonstrated an electric railway in 1879 in Berlin. The world's first electric tram line, Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway , opened in Lichterfelde near Berlin , Germany, in 1881. It
16000-541: Was the fairy stories of Knatchbull-Hugessen. He recalled especially being read one story of an ogre who catches his dinner by disguising himself as a tree. Brabourne also edited the first edition of the novelist Jane Austen 's letters, published in 1884. This edition included about two-thirds of her surviving letters, and was dedicated to Queen Victoria . He inherited the letters after his mother's death in December 1882. He died on 6 February 1893 at Smeeth Paddocks, and
16128-636: Was the first tram line in the world in regular service powered from an overhead line. Five years later, in the U.S. electric trolleys were pioneered in 1888 on the Richmond Union Passenger Railway , using equipment designed by Frank J. Sprague . The first use of electrification on a main line was on a four-mile section of the Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1895 connecting
16256-555: Was to import shoddy which was used as fertiliser for hop gardens. During the early 1950s, well over 4,000 hop-pickers and some 23,000 visitors travelled in 56 "Hopper specials" – extra services laid on during the late August – early October hop season; at the busiest period, up to six trains per day ran through to the branch from London. In 1912 there had been 26 specials each carrying as many as 350 people; they generally started at London Bridge and called at New Cross or New Cross Gate . The farmers agreed between themselves when
16384-610: Was worked by the SER (soon to become the SECR ) which formally absorbed the Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Railway on 29 January 1900. Shortly before the entire line was opened the residents of Cranbrook, regretful that the village was not directly served, approached the SER with a proposal to construct a 2-mile (3.22 km) "light line" between Hartley and Cranbrook at an estimated cost of £10,000, which they offered to guarantee themselves. The scheme never came to fruition. Passenger traffic
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