hythe 1986

This is the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch line at Hythe back in 1986.

I always liked this line which is pretty much unique in the  world. A miniature railway of 15" gauge that provides a proper passenger service.

It could do a lot more though. It needs main line connections, at Hythe, New Romney or Dungeness. There are standard gauge trackbeds and goods lines that could easily be converted to 15 inch gauge. At the moment everyone has to come in by car or bus, not a good recipe for future survival. It would be good to generate freight traffic as well. And perhaps the 15 inch gauge would be a very good cheap alternative for light to medium trafficed routes in the future - particularly for short branch lines (five miles or less) and some industrial lines. Fifteen inch gauge lines may well become very commonplace in the future - their development was rather stunted by the appearance of cheap oil, with the end of cheap oil the development of the gauge can proceed!