The Red Lion in Rusthall closed earlier this year. The living accommodation is occupied by the people who ran the pub. It is rumoured they will leave before the end of the year, but what then? Local gossip relates that at least eight prospective tenants have turned the pub down.
UPDATE
The pub is re-opening on 23 December.
KENT COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: acerbic, carping, caustic, curmudgeonly,critical, cynical, grumpy, moaning, sardonic and plain speaking.
Monday 15 December 2014
Friday 12 December 2014
Wednesday 26 November 2014
Goodbye Facebook
Today I took the plunge and deactivated my Facebook account. Doubtless there will be withdrawal symptoms to be faced, but I shall be brave.
Friday 21 November 2014
Transport arrangements
This week I applied for my bus pass. I could have applied a few years ago, but the advantages of using the car along with my predilection to walking to and from town convinced me not to bother.
The cost of owning and using a car is a significant drain on resources, so much so that I am toying with the idea of disposing of the car. It is convenient having the use of a car but it is doubtful if convenience when set against cost provides value for money.
The cost of owning and using a car is a significant drain on resources, so much so that I am toying with the idea of disposing of the car. It is convenient having the use of a car but it is doubtful if convenience when set against cost provides value for money.
Sunday 16 November 2014
Monday 20 October 2014
Tuesday 1 April 2014
HS1 for Hastings?
Long-suffering passengers on the Tonbridge-Hastings line will be relieved that the line is now open along the whole route following a series of land slips. The MP for Hastings is calling for express train services from Hastings to London to run non-stop to Tunbridge Wells. I doubt there is demand for three trains an hour along the route, so some intermediate stations would lose their current two trains an hour service. Possibly one of the morning commuter trains could run non-stop.
The MP is calling also for HS1 to be extended from Ashford to Hastings.
http://amberrudd.co.uk/rail/
Overhead electrification of the Ashford-Hastings line makes no sense unless all services on the route are operated by electric powered trains. The current Ashford-Brighton service is diesel powered and the trains could by replaced by trains equiped to run on dc or ac current.
Surely an even better case could be made for electrifying the Oxted-Uckfield line and extending the line to Lewes.
The MP is calling also for HS1 to be extended from Ashford to Hastings.
http://amberrudd.co.uk/rail/
Overhead electrification of the Ashford-Hastings line makes no sense unless all services on the route are operated by electric powered trains. The current Ashford-Brighton service is diesel powered and the trains could by replaced by trains equiped to run on dc or ac current.
Surely an even better case could be made for electrifying the Oxted-Uckfield line and extending the line to Lewes.
Thursday 13 February 2014
Smoking ban in cars
Following the vote by the House of Commons in support of a ban on smoking in cars conveying children I thought I would re-run my 2010 April Fool article.
http://kentcommunityactivist.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/another-blow-to-liberty_01.html
http://kentcommunityactivist.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/another-blow-to-liberty_01.html
Saturday 25 January 2014
Watching the trains go by
Like many youngsters one of my pleasures was to watch trains go by. The noise and smell of steam locomotives was addictive. Many a happy hour was spent looking at trains of many varieties. Trains of fish wagons, trains laden with coal, iron ore and steel, general freight trains, slow passenger trains and express passenger trains.
One of our favoured locations was Tapton footbridge, just north of Chesterfield Midland station. There we would watch express passenger trains starting from Chesterfield station and we would stand on the bridge over the track the train was running along. We would be enveloped in smoke and steam as the locomotive passed under the bridge.
Our favourite location was Lockoford Lane bridge over the Midland line, just north of Tapton Junction. From this vantage point we could see the line to Sheffield curling away to our left and the 'old road', the original North Midlands Railway, making its way down the Rother valley to Staveley. Below us the Great Central's Chesterfield Loop passed under the two aforementioned lines, then curved away to the north to Brimington station and ran parallel with the 'old road'. When we saw the steam from a train coming along the Great Central from the Brimington direction one of our number would be dispatched on a bicycle down Lockoford Lane hill to the 'iron bridge' over the Great Central to 'cop' the locomotive. He/she had to take care as the hill was steep and half way down an an abandoned rail track crossed Lockoford Lane and could be slippery in wet or cold weather.
The line to Sheffield was for the most part the route passenger trains took. We would see a succession of Jubilee and Black 5 locomotives, sometimes piloted by a 4-4-0 and occasionally one of the 4-4-0 compounds. The 'old road' was busy on summer Saturdays with passenger excursion trains to the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire coastal resorts.
The 'old road' was very busy at other times with southbound coal trains. For much of the day, just as the locomotive on a coal train had passed under the bridge, the next one would come into sight from the Staveley direction. There was a steady flow northbound of iron ore trains.
Much has changed. The Great Central closed in the 1960s and the coal and iron ore traffic has gone. One abiding memory of of the empty fish vans train in the early evening. All the doors were open and the smell lingered for minutes after the train had passed.
One of our favoured locations was Tapton footbridge, just north of Chesterfield Midland station. There we would watch express passenger trains starting from Chesterfield station and we would stand on the bridge over the track the train was running along. We would be enveloped in smoke and steam as the locomotive passed under the bridge.
Our favourite location was Lockoford Lane bridge over the Midland line, just north of Tapton Junction. From this vantage point we could see the line to Sheffield curling away to our left and the 'old road', the original North Midlands Railway, making its way down the Rother valley to Staveley. Below us the Great Central's Chesterfield Loop passed under the two aforementioned lines, then curved away to the north to Brimington station and ran parallel with the 'old road'. When we saw the steam from a train coming along the Great Central from the Brimington direction one of our number would be dispatched on a bicycle down Lockoford Lane hill to the 'iron bridge' over the Great Central to 'cop' the locomotive. He/she had to take care as the hill was steep and half way down an an abandoned rail track crossed Lockoford Lane and could be slippery in wet or cold weather.
The line to Sheffield was for the most part the route passenger trains took. We would see a succession of Jubilee and Black 5 locomotives, sometimes piloted by a 4-4-0 and occasionally one of the 4-4-0 compounds. The 'old road' was busy on summer Saturdays with passenger excursion trains to the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire coastal resorts.
The 'old road' was very busy at other times with southbound coal trains. For much of the day, just as the locomotive on a coal train had passed under the bridge, the next one would come into sight from the Staveley direction. There was a steady flow northbound of iron ore trains.
Much has changed. The Great Central closed in the 1960s and the coal and iron ore traffic has gone. One abiding memory of of the empty fish vans train in the early evening. All the doors were open and the smell lingered for minutes after the train had passed.
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