Day 272 - On track for Dungeness

I hear the train a comin'
It's rolling round the bend
And I ain't seen nothin' but sunshine since I don't know when
I'm stuck in a nuclear wasteland, and it wreaks of timelessness
But that train keeps a rollin' on down to Dungeness

Dungeness Power Plant Blues (with apologies to Johnny Cash for the adaptation)

New Romney station

Okay, okay, for those who read this post and take issue with my comments, please let me say that I concede that people either love it or hate it.  I am not referring to the train ride on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch miniature railway - that was delightful - but rather its destination of Dungeness. I will get to it in a second, but let me chat about the railroad. The RH&D is a 1/3-sized steam locomotive railway that runs from Hythe, where we are staying, through the Romney Marsh and eventually to Dungeness. It's about a 22-kilometre ride. The railroad was the brainchild of two wealthy individuals, Count Zborowski and Captain James Howey, both of whom were race car drivers in the 1920s.  

The steam engine locomotive

By 1928, the line had been completed as a 15-inch wide track (a standard North American railway track is 56.5 inches) and carried tourists back and forth until World War II when it was taken over to be used to move specially adapted cars with large guns on them. Regular service resumed in 1947. 

They now carry over 150,000 visitors a year and the line is owned and managed by a society of train enthusiasts  who volunteer their time to operate it.

At New Romney, there is a museum dedicated to the history of the line that also includes a large train set that visitors can operate remotely.  My nephew, Henry, would absolutely go bonkers over the place.  

The Romney Marsh

Most of the line traverses the Romney Marsh, a triangular-shaped section of land that runs from the edge of the Kent Downs to the English Channel. It is flatter than Prosecco left open overnight or as my mother would have said "it is so flat, you can see your dog run away for three days." It is, however, a unique habitat for flora and fauna with richer soil being used for farming, grasslands for feeding the Romney sheep (whose meat has a particular taste and whose ancestors led to the populating of New Zealand sheep), and large extents of shingle (stones thrown up from the sea) beaches and intermittent grass. You can see for yourself from the pictures here what it looks like.  

Boardwalk across the shingle
headland from the station
to the sea

Ultimately, the rail line's final destination is Dungeness. It's a headland formed of shingle and it has a lighthouse to protect shipping coming through the Channel from grounding on the shore. Fishermen's cottages have been located upon it and you can still find old equipment that were used to winch the fishing boats up onto the shingle beach and and remnants of brick fireplaces and cauldron's used to boil and cure fishing nets so they were more durable. 

Today some cottages remain, but mostly as holiday homes, with long trails of drift wood over the stony terrain to connect their doorsteps to the water line. A restaurant and a pub/restaurant are located at  Dungeness station, so one can get off the train, have lunch, and then return back to Hythe or New Romney.  

View from lighthouse to Dungeness B Nuclear Power Plant

Now why did I hate this destination? Well because the wild beauty is disrupted by the Dungeness "B" Nuclear Power Station that rises up right next to the train station, not only spoiling the view, but also providing a background humming noise no matter where you turn. To deem it an eyesore is an understatement. Heck, conjunctivitis is easier on the eyes. In any case, I was extremely disappointed, which is why for today's post I felt it was appropriate to write it as I saw it.

 Ale of the Day:  Romney Amber Ale, Romney Marsh Brewery, New Romney, Kent