About 25 members of the Colonel Stephens Society marked the centenary of the opening of the Camber Sands extension of the Rye & Camber Tramway on 11th October. The celebrations started with a lunch at the Mermaid Inn, Rye followed by a walk, led by Laurie Cooksey, of the trackbed from the site of the Rye terminus to the 1908 terminus at Camber Sands, via the still extant Golf Links station building.

Trackbed looking towards the Rye terminus,  (The brick block substation dead centre is on the site of the engine shed)

The tramway bridge over the Broadwater stream

The tramway bridge over the Broadwater stream looking towards Rye

Laurie Cooksey pointing towards the remains of a sleeper

CSS members pondering the evidence of tracks north of Golf Links station

Closer to Golf Links station

Notice to walkers

Golf Links station

Some of the group led by Laurie Cooksey on the platform of the 1939 terminus. (Laurie’s foot is resting on the only surviving timber post from the platform face!) The original 1908 station was about 200 yards behind and to the left, but it was swept away after the 1938 season when the golf course was remodelled. Although it is fairly easy to work out the site by following the line of the disused embankment, the ‘public’ cannot get to it as it’s in the middle of a fairway! The permissive path follows the realigned route to the 1939 station – which incidentally was designed by William Austen’s son Holly, who was HFS’s godson.