There are not many Lifeboat Stations around the UK that you can reach by Steam Railway let alone a narrow gauge one. On 11th August we attended the Dungeness Lifeboat Station Open Day in Kent. Parking at Hythe, about 14 miles along the coast from the RNLI station, we boarded train and headed south. As it was the Open Day the steam loco dropped passengers outside the lifeboat station before heading on to its terminus at Dungeness.
"Since 1927 the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway has been an integral part of the landscape of the Romney Marsh. Known as “Kent’s Mainline in Miniature”, the world famous one-third full size steam & diesel locomotives have powered their way along the 13½ miles of track from the Cinque Port town of Hythe, terminating in Dungeness; a National Nature Reserve. With 4 stations in between, all within walking distance of a beach."
Find out more by visiting their website
We arrived at just before 11am and the station was already extremely busy. We had logged our visit on the first weekend of our Challenge back in June but the station was closed by the time we arrived. We visited the shop and picked up our pin badge before heading into the Boathouse where there were several craft stalls and competitions such as “hook-a-duck”. To our surprise their Shannon Class Lifeboat, Cosandra (13-12), was out on a shout and so the SLARS was sitting outside the station, boatless.
We had a look around the gazebos outside and got chatting for quite some time with a unique Police unit called the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. We had not heard of them but they described themselves as being a similar niche force to the British Transport Police but providing Police support to the UK’s Nuclear sites. We had so many questions and it was fascinating listening to them.
Find out more at their website
We took a wander down to the beach and the tide was a long way out. We decided to have our lunch looking out over the English Channel towards Dover. A check on the Marine Traffic App identified the Lifeboat midway across the Channel with several other SARS vessels. However, it was soon heading back and word had got out at the station that a Shannon recovery was imminent. The crowds gathered and we all enjoyed watching the beaching and the SLARS recovery. It was incredible how fast the tide came in as they were getting the boat mounted on the SLARS. Once off the sand the boat rotated and returned to the Station. It had been called out just before 9am.
The plan for the Open Day was to launch the boat at 1:30pm and we initially doubted that the crew would want to go back out again but, not wanting to let anyone down, they grabbed a cuppa and a burger and back out they went. We watched the launch from the same vantage point but this time the tide was right up to the pebble beach. The Shannon was joined by the Atlantic 85 from Littlestone Lifeboat Station a little further round the bay. This boat was called Jean McIvor (B-922), another that we had not seen when we visited in June.
Both boats gave the crowds a sail past and then the Shannon demonstrated a casualty rescue from the sea and a tow of a rowing boat. The Atlantic 85 suddenly shot off across the bay, we presumed on a shout and later confirmed as such in St Mary’s Bay.
After watching the Shannon performing for a while longer we headed to catch the train back to Hythe.
What a fantastic day we had, a launch and recovery in the same day was the icing on the cake.
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