Colonel Stephens and the economical railway, illustrated presentation – speaker Chris Jackson

While the ‘Colonel Stephens Railways’ have gained a reputation for being somewhat esoteric, down at heel and decrepit, this caricature is perhaps a bit unfair. The Victorian entrepreneur Lt-Colonel Holman Fred Stephens (1868-1931) was a great believer in the potential of low-cost railways, and was involved in upwards of 50 different projects, not all of which came to fruition. As opportunities for promoting new lines declined, his focus moved to running those that had been completed, managing a dozen or more standard and narrow gauge railways from an office in Tonbridge.

Stephens was always looking for ways to build and operate railways more economically, and willing to explore innovative alternatives including a pioneering fleet of petrol railcars. After his untimely death in October 1931, long-time assistant William Austen led the surviving lines through a period of difficult economic conditions to nationalisation and inevitable decline.