Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway

16 May 2026   Hythe, Kent, UK

This weekend I had a ‘Daddy Day’, as Mummy was out with her friend. My colleague at work mentioned that he’s planning on coming to Dungeness for a few days soon as a short holiday. It’s been a long time since I went there, but I do know that there are only a few things to do there: the lifeboat, the lighthouse and the railway. I have vivid memories of the railway from my childhood and I’m not surprised because the thing is pretty incredible as a kid. For those that don’t know, it’s basically a miniaturised but fully operational railway, not quite ‘sit-on’ miniature, but small enough that a driver can just about fit in the cab of a locomotive. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but you’ll get the idea from the pictures. It’s pretty legendary. And so with that, I couldn’t quite shift the itch to go and see it this coming weekend.

As I’ve learnt from reading Wikipedia as an adult, the RH & DR is a 15-inch gauge light railway built in the 1920s and opened in July 1927. During World War II, the railway was requisitioned by the War Department and used to transport troops along the coast. It even featured the world’s only miniature armoured train, and played an important role in the construction of PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean), which supplied fuel to the Allied invasion forces after D-Day. I’m so pleased that this curiosity is still here and that Charlotte can experience something which is almost exactly identical to my experience of it 30 years prior (and frankly that of my parents 50 or so years prior).

So with a Daddy Day planned, we headed off with a packed lunch and Dexter in tow ready to explore and experience the power of steam. Now, while Dungeness would have been lovely, we opted to start at the other end of the line at Hythe. This was the tradition as far as I can recall as a child and coincidentally far easier to get to than Dungeness. And while we were on the thread of being sensible, I decided that completing the full journey to Dungeness probably wasn’t the wisest thing (it’s about an hour), so instead booked us to New Romney, a more practical 30-odd minutes away.

We took the diesel train to New Romney as we ended up arriving a little early and didn’t feel the need to wait around. We found out that this weekend was a Gala weekend where the railway was holding a special timetable and running some guest locomotives. This was a little lost on me to be honest but it was nice that there were some things going on. Tickets weren’t cheap (inflation has certainly visited since I came last) but for a day out for two of us it wasn’t too much to worry about, although probably not something we’d come back to on the regular.

Charlotte was a little unsure of the trains at first but soon got into the groove and couldn’t wait to get going. Dexter remained reserved throughout the day. We passed lots of sights on our way out of Hythe including plenty of sheep (Romney Marsh is famous for its wool). There were a fair few people around, but we had no problem finding plenty of space on board and having a compartment to ourselves. Once we were on our way Charlotte had a huge grin and was very excited.

We arrived into New Romney, the main base for the railway, to lots more people and the Gala vibe was evident. We hopped off the train which was to continue on and found ourselves amongst more excitement in the play park. We hung around here for a good while, ate our packed lunch and watched things (and trains) go by. It was a bit chilly, but perfectly fine. There was the claim of a beer festival at the station and after a little sniffing around I managed to find a man in a conservatory with four casks of New Romney beer—beautiful! I allowed myself one before we went to the second play park in the station.

As ‘The Blue Train’ pulled into the station we’d decided we’d had enough and opted to get on our way. Dodging people, Charlotte, Dexter and I just about got onboard and were delighted to discover that we had a carriage to ourselves. We were under steam power for the journey back and it was rather relaxing listening to the noise and slow clickety-clack of the rails. We waved at people as we steamed past and found plenty of fun for ourselves.

It was still fairly early in the day, so we decided to drive up to Sandgate to see what was going on there. It was very windy, so much so that the car doors wouldn’t stay open! We had a nice walk along the high street there, had an ice cream and found a lovely homeware shop where we bought a few things. The beach was calling us so we walked up a way and threw some stones into the sea before calling it a day.

Charlotte slept the entirety of the 1 hour drive home only to claim that she wasn’t really sleeping once we got back! A super day out!