Kent & East Sussex Railway

England's Finest Rural Light Railway

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New Audio Visual Guide

Enhance your visit to the Railway and the Colonel Stephens Museum with an audiovisual Guide available to reserve online or to hire when buying tickets. £3.50 for two people. Please click on the title for more information.

Relive the Fabulous Forties at the Kent & East Sussex Railway on 19 & 20 May

Capture the unique atmosphere of the 1940's at the Kent & East Sussex Railway in Tenterden on 19 and 20 May 2012 when our annual 1940's weekend gets into full swing. Click on the slide title to read more.

Carriage Maintenance Building Extension Appeal - click here for more information

The Kent & East Sussex Railway is running an appeal to raise £200,000 to double the capacity of the main carriage maintenance building at Tenterden station. The expansion is needed to provide sufficient high quality trains to operate the current train time table which carries 90,000 passengers annually.

Donate simply by Text Message!

Together with your help we can achieve our goal. Every donation helps. Simply click on the title to see how easy it is to donate by text message.

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No. 100

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W/C 7 May 2012

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Home > Stock Register > Coaching Stock > No. 100

No. 100 London Underground Coach

No. 100

The early history of this coach is uncertain, and even controversial. The body was found at Dymchurch, where it was in use as a storage shed, in 1976. It is thought to have been moved there from Ashford in 1902, sawn in two and mounted on horse drawn wagons. It is conjectured that the original underframe was scrapped at Ashford. There is no doubt, however, the vehicle was numbered 100 and was 1st class. The number and the class were found painted on the doors in gold leaf whilst the number was found stamped on some door fittings. In addition, the carriage compartments are of the right number and size for first class.

The restored body was mounted on a cut down PMV underframe (from No. 1225 built at Ashford in 1936) and ran for the first time in August 1980. The number 100 seemed to fit the general description of a batch of District Railway coaches built by Ashbury's in 1884, including some four-compartment first class examples. However the No. 100 amongst these had five compartments and was second class.

It has been suggested that the two ends of a longer coach were mistakenly spliced together and a Metropolitan Railway rigid 8-wheeler of some time later than 1868 has been put forward as the possible candidate. This theory fails however as the cut between the two halves was irregular and the portions fitted together exactly. During the course of an intermediate overhaul during 1999 the panelling of one end was removed and renewed. It was observed at that time that the framing, although perfectly sound for its function, appeared to have been cut back from an originally longer structure. This seems to add weight to the theory that No 100 was originally part of a Metropolitan 8-wheeler and not the entire body of a District Railway vehicle.

The previous vanished livery having proved of poor durability the coach is currently carrying a brown livery which is thought to be the colour which District Railway coaches latterly carried in service.

The coach is currently out of service for a body overhaul.