When Inspiration, the touring exhibition train celebrating Railway 200, visited Hastings Station in East Sussex from Thursday, 12th to Sunday, 15th March, volunteers from the Kent & East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) assisted colleagues from Southeastern Railway to help visitors with the interactive exhibition.

The train is on a year-long tour around the country to mark 200 years of the modern railway, and Hastings was its last stop in southeast England before the tour finishes this summer.

More than 2,200 visitors, including 60 local school children and 20 adults with learning difficulties, visited the train while it was at Hastings, helping them to discover the history of the railways, innovations that it brought in, take part in activities around railway science and engineering, and find out about the wide range of careers on the modern railway.

The K&ESR volunteers also showed visitors fascinating artefacts from their own railway, how important it is to preserve a working heritage line, the enduring value in keeping its history alive through volunteering, and the hidden value in passing on key skills.

They also explained the railway’s Rother Valley Railway project, which will reconnect it to the main line at Robertsbridge in 2028.

Other destinations on the Inspiration train’s itinerary are the Watercress Line, which it visited in February, and the Severn Valley Railway, which it will visit in May.

”Railway 200 has been all about celebrating the future as well as the past and present of our railways and their impact on the modern world. Our heritage has shaped our past, but it is also helping to shape the future. It was inspiring for us to be able to engage with so many visitors – both adults and children – to not only demonstrate the importance of maintaining this key aspect of our heritage but excite them about its future, in particular what lies ahead when the K&ESR is reconnected to the main rail network for the first time in more than half a century. A huge thank you to Southeastern for inviting us to partner with them, providing this opportunity.”

Derrick Bilsby, K&ESR Chairman