originally conceived and built in the 1920s by millionaire racing car drivers Captain Jack Howey and Count Louis Zborowski
Count Louis Zborowski had constructed a railway at Higham Park, his home at Bridge, Kent, and agreed to donate the rolling stock and infrastructure to the project. However, he was killed in a motor racing accident at the Monza Grand Prix on 19 October 1924 before the Romney Marsh site was chosen, and Howey continued the project alone.
This miniature train is officially credited with shooting down three German aircraft during the Battle of Britain. Its claims include:
One Messerschmitt Bf 109 (The Luftwaffe's premier fighter)
One Heinkel He 111 (Bomber)
One Dornier Do 17 (Bomber)
It's been a while since I went to the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch railway but its still going strong today and there is a project to make a replica of the armoured train made of steel going on at the moment to replace the wooden replica that was made in the 90's.
ReplyDeleteI've put a link to the project below but have scanned through it and they think the original armoured train was made from metal scavenged from U-118 which was beached in Hastings in 1919.
https://www.rhdrsa.org/armoured-wagon-project/