Dramatic photographs of one of the South East’s favourite steam railways feature in a book to be
launched on Saturday 10th October 2020 at Tenterden Town station.

The full-page monochrome pictures in ‘Steel-Oil-Steam’ were shot using a giant camera made in
1886 and vividly depict the world and work of the engineers, fitters and volunteers whose efforts
behind the scenes at the Kent & East Sussex Railway’s locomotive department at Rolvenden, keep
the locomotives running.

This beautifully printed book, with 67 facsimile-quality full-page black-and-white reproductions,
explores the engineering underpinning the railway. It goes behind the scenes and into the
workshops, and shows the people who keep everything working, as volunteers and employees,
engineers and fitters, cleaners, steam-raisers, firemen and drivers. Tom Evans and Terry Hulf took the photos between 2016 and 2020, using a giant 15×12” camera
originally used by two Victorian photographers to take pictures of locomotives made at the Beyer
Peacock works in Manchester.

Railway Chairman Simon Marsh said: “One of the aims of the Kent and East Sussex Railway is to
recreate the living past. It is wonderful to have these pictures of what we do and the people
who do it. It’s even more wonderful that they are taken on a camera which is older than most
of our locomotives, and which was used to take engineering photographs at the height of the
railway age. We pride ourselves in keeping old skills and equipment alive, and so do the
photographers. A perfect collaboration.”

There will be a chance to see the historic camera and high-quality images at the launch, which will
take place in the Refreshment Rooms at Tenterden Town Station on Saturday, 10 October, from
midday until 4pm. Tom Evans and Terry Hulf will be happy to sign copies of the books.
Non-travellers must purchase a £1 platform ticket