The story of New Romney's secret railway

Many people are passionate about the railway, and nestled in a corner of Kent is a place where that love can find a home.

The Romney Marsh Model Engineering Society has been a fixture since 1969, when it was founded by Cyril Carter and George Barlow who were drivers on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway.

Two years later, a permanent home was set up on Rolfe Lane in New Romney, thanks to member Bernie Brooker who offered to lease a piece of his land for a nominal rent.

Andy Nash, vice chair of the society, told Secret Kent: "Cyril arranged to have a short oval of track put up that they could run engines on, and it gradually grew, and grew, and grew."

Fast forward 55 years, and the society boasts a track which goes both up and downhill, is "about an eighth of a mile long" and has capacity for 2.5, 3.5 and 5in gauge locomotives.

Nash, 66, is a lifelong devotee of the railway.

"I fell in love with the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway when I was three or four...I first came to this track in 1972, and I've been hooked ever since."

For the vice chair, part of the appeal is rooted in the ongoing challenge of "driving a steam engine".

He said: "They are the nearest thing to a living being that mankind has created.

"They all have their moods. Coal is a variable substance, so sometimes the coal will burn properly, other times it doesn't, [and] the temperature it burns at will be part of how well the engine steams."

Currently, his favourite model engine is one which was "built as a Flying Scotsman model in 1934".

"It was rebuilt by my good friend Stuart Christensen in 2013, with a new boiler, and he's made some subtle changes to make it more like Hurricane from the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway," Nash said.

While there is an undeniable draw, Nash admits that, with exceptions, the society's membership of about 200 is a bit skewed.

He said: "Our oldest members are in their mid-nineties, and our youngest, I don't think she can walk yet.

"Sadly our demographic is ageing, like many clubs in all sorts of fields - at 66, I'm one of the younger members."

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