Talk – “Crab and Winkle Railway”

WYC Wanderer sailor and historian Richard will present his visual presentation of the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, opened on May 3rd, 1830, and the first steam passenger railway in the World. There are many Firsts about the C&W railway. It was designed with the 1st harbour built to serve a railway and combined the engineering genius of Thomas Telford (the harbour), George Stephenson (the railway) and son Robert (the locomotive). The Crab and Winkle also had the 1st railway tunnel and sold the 1st season ticket (for sea bathing). The Invicta loco, now in Whitstable Museum, was also a revolutionary design for 1830. For 120 years steam power and a forest of sailing ship masts epitomised the unique character of the C&W and harbour.  The presentation will explore the significance of the railway as a model of railway technology nationally and worldwide. It will also take the audience through the Crab and Winkle line experience, then and now, from Whitstable harbour to Canterbury, and the places where the author has been involved in saving the railway’s heritage.