Maidstone West Steam Specials

Maidstone West

Steam Specials

30th August 1999

Over the August Bank Holiday in 1999, a steam shuttle service operated between Maidstone West and Tonbridge.

BR Standard Tank No. 80098 was in charge of a rake of ''Blood and Custard'' BR Mk 1 carriages. This view on

platform 1 reveals the lattice construction of the canopy, and the presence of trade stalls. Notice that, on the

left, a 4 VEP was forming the standard shuttle to and from Strood. Denis Hooker

30th August 1999

The disused western bay platform face can be appreciated in this view (complete with concrete lampposts),

which depicts Standard Tank No. 80098 simmering with the Tonbridge departure. Denis Hooker

30th August 1999

No. 80098 was in sparkling condition; an overhaul of the locomotive had been completed in the previous year.

A former London Tilbury & Southend Railway engine, in 1962 No. 80098 was reallocated to the Western Region,

having been displaced by electrification of the Fenchurch Street route. With the WR rapidly being dieselised, the

Standard Tank was withdrawn from service in the following year, and it found itself at Barry Scrap Yard in the

following year. Denis Hooker

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