History on display

An exhibition promoting past and present connections to the railways has opened in the waiting room at Rye railway station. The display of posters with blue plaques coincided with national celebrations to mark 200 years of the modern railways.

The plaques are part of a project run by the Marshlink Community Rail Partnership to highlight people who have contributed to the development of the line between Hastings and Ashford International.

The exhibition has plaques with 20 historical links across East Sussex and Kent and 50 modern railway jobs to recruit the next generation of railway workers. It was opened as the rail industry gathered to mark the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway on September 27, 1825.

Kevin Boorman, chair of the Marshlink Community Rail Partnership, praised  a brilliant project. “It’s a fantastic exercise and shows that we can look forward as well as looking at the past. As well as celebrating the fantastic people of the last 200 years, we can celebrate the jobs and people who are coming into the railways to take us forward for the next 200 years.”

Sarah Broadbent, vice-chair of Rye Chamber of Commerce and chair of 1066 Country
Marketing, commented: “We have a huge amount of young people who come through Rye station every single day to go to school here and I think it will give them a better sense of place about Rye and its history – but also about what opportunities the railway might offer for them going forward. I think plenty of young people mightn’t have considered the raft of career opportunities that the railway could involve.”

The research and design for the blue plaques were led by consultant historian Danny Coope from Street of Blue Plaques who lives in Brede. He said: “One of the intentions of the plaques is to show how – over their 200 year history – the railways have never simply taken us from A to B, to and from work. As the 20 plaques from these two lines show, the railways have provided employment for thousands of people including many women, especially in wartime, they’ve been a catalyst for innovation and invention in engineering and station, bridge and tunnel building, and the railways have given us opportunities for adventure and romance.”

The exhibition at Rye station will run for the next few months and into the early part
of next year.

Marshlink is one of 10 community rail lines as part of Southeast Communities Rail
Partnership (SCRP) which connects the communities to their railways.

If you’ve been inspired by the railway and feel prompted to try writing a poem there’s a competition running until midnight on October 31. There are categories for under and over 18s and the winners will have their poems turned into posters and shown in an exhibition at Rye station in January 2026. More details next week in Rye News or to enter simply go to: www.southeastcrp.org/write-on-track/

Image Credits: SCRP .