page_title: Kent and East Sussex Railway
section_title: Preservation history
hierarchical_section_title: Kent and East Sussex Railway / Preservation / Preservation history
caption_attribution_description: English: Tenterden Town Station Building on the Kent and East Sussex Railway
context_page_description: The Kent and East Sussex Railway refers to both a historical private railway company in Kent and East Sussex in England, as well as a heritage railway currently running on part of the route of the historical company.
context_section_description: Preservation activities began immediately. However, due to difficulties in obtaining the necessary Light Railway (Transfer) Order, it was 1974 before the line partially reopened as a heritage steam railway between Tenterden and Rolvenden. Extensions followed, notably to Wittersham Road in 1977 and Northiam in 1990; then to Bodiam in 2000, and an extra one mile (1.6 km) extension to the site of Junction Road halt in 2011.
  The preserved railway has had a tempestuous history, with two financial crises and major disputes between the volunteer group and their elected board of directors/trustees. In the late 1990s, the company was almost bankrupted but avoided administration due to an error in the bank's loan agreement. The financial position has since improved.
  Recently the railway has increasingly had to rely on paid employees to secure its continued operation, and as with most heritage railways, has relied on special events days to boost income.
  The railway has suffered from the legacy of Colonel Stephens's cheap and poor construction of the permanent way; thus the preserved railway has sought to update permanent way features, for instance by renewing culverts and embankments.
  In 1990, the railway had to remove 200 metres of embankment damaged by badgers. There are some problems of subsidence outside Rolvenden, which often requires speed restrictions to avoid further damage to the line's foundations.  Most of the permanent way between Northiam and Bodiam has now been rebuilt to modern standards.
caption: Tenterden Town Station
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