Visitors to the South Eastern Division

Kent Rail

Visitors to the South Eastern Division

This section aims to present a selection of pictures depicting untypical or visiting traction on South Eastern Division territory, whether it be the lines of the former British Rail network, or those of the Channel Tunnel link line. Traction from other railway companies and regions have been a feature since the earliest days of Kent's railways. Indeed, the Great Northern Railway loaned a number of locomotives to the South Eastern & Chatham Railway around the period of the Great War, to alleviate a decided engine shortage on the latter's network. Since then, unfamiliar traction has appeared on inter-regional freights, departmental workings and charter specials, thus hopefully this section can record some of those moments.

Here, within the 1959-built electric shed at Stewarts Lane, Class 50 No. 50008 ''Thunderer''

is seen in the company of a Class 73, on 22nd September 1985. David Glasspool Collection

LMS 5MT No. 45407 ''Lancashire Fusilier'' is seen rounding the curve into Strood station on

25th February 2006, having just emerged from the tunnel, hauling the ''Granville Express''.

This class of locomotive has visited Kent in the steam heyday, particularly the ''Chatham'' line

in the 1950s, hauling Summer excursions to the coast from the Midlands. No. 45407 was built

for the LMS by Armstrong Witworth & Co in 1937. Designed by Sir William Stanier, the type

first appeared in 1934, the last in 1951, by which time 842 examples existed. David Glasspool

The 12th September 2004 saw two shunters at the Northfleet Channel Tunnel site which had come

from France. They are coded ''TSO V 211''; the acronym ''TSO'' stands for ''Travaux du Sud-Ouest''.

That would appear to translate to ''Work of the South-West''. David Glasspool

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