Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
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488 Was Here - The Kent Coast and Bluebell Railways
A railway double-bill is presented here as we visit a locomotive's previous stomping ground before dropping in on its new home - the famous Bluebell Railway
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Overview
This interesting double-bill shows the old stomping ground of Adams Radial Tank No 488 - with footage of the loco in action intercut with scenes of the route it used to serve on the East Kent Light Railway, including the Golgotha Tunnel. The film then moves to 488's current home, the Bluebell Railway, where an open day is in progress. On display are steam trains, a steam carousel, traction engines, vintage and military cars, buses and the inevitable Morris Dancers.
Adams' Radial Tank No 488 has had an interesting history. Originally built by the London & South Western Railway, to serve local suburban lines out of Waterloo until their displacement by electrification, 488 was subsequently sold to the military during World War 1, before being acquired by the East Kent Light Railway in 1919. This line served the villages seen in this film but its main purpose was to transport coal from the many collieries in that part of Kent. Tilmanstone Colliery, seen in the film, was the railway's only profitable business, which continued until the 1984/85 miner's strike. In 1993 trains ran once again along a short stretch of the line, which is now run by the East Kent Railway Trust.
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