Kent & East Sussex Railway

MNDX Serial No. 72 830 0063

	On the Kent & East Sussex Railway, MNDX, Serial No. 72 830 0063 has been stripped out and fitted with UAX Strowger kit...
\| Index \| MNDX 127 \| MNDX 295 \| MNDX 323 \| MNDX 331 \| MNDX 341 \| Serial 0063 \|
POST OFFICE TELEPHONES	72 830 0063

As a registered charity, the Tenterden Railway Company took over part of the Kent & East Sussex Railway in 1973. After many years work, the line is open from Tenterden Town to Bodiam. Further details can be found at www.kesr.org.uk

Nick Wellington, Signal & Telecomms Engineering Manager for the Tenterden Railway Co. Ltd writes...

Telecomms on the KESR goes back right to the very beginning of the preservation era, when a mainly single wire and earth circuit was erected from Tenterden to Robertsbridge. Some parts were however double wire and used omnibus type phones rebuilt from scrap 332s, 706 series intercom sets and some TR (Telephone Rentals) multi pushbutton intercom sets. Relay sets were home designed and built for selective ringing and intruder alarms etc.

Auto working was introduced around 1980, using two wall mounted Ericsson 20 line, two connect circuit PAXs. A subsequent donation in about 1986 of two brand new TR/Ericsson 22/25 line PAXs from Telephone Rentals, along with a second-hand one proved a godsend. Two further examples were acquired for spares, as the new ones were not fully equipped (only 2 out of 4 connect ccts. and 15 extensions, but fully 'loomed'). Two examples were placed in service, at Tenterden and Rolvenden. Wittersham Road, and Northiam were served by long line extensions (without any additional equipment) and two Tie lines were brought into use between Tenterden and Rolvenden.

By this time I became interested in UAXs and the replacement programme was sweeping wholesale. BT was approached regarding UAX equipment, and also a mobile. Under their PR organisation of donating to charity, they gave us an MNDX mobile (delivered to site) and as much UAX equipment as we wanted. We deliberately selected cream racks as these are normally in far better condition. The mobile was stripped out, some items were kept for spares, but most was scrapped, although we did try running it up!

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