Colonel Holman Fred Stephens (31 October 1868 – 23 October 1931) was a British light railway civil engineer and manager. He was engaged in engineering and building, and later managing, 16 light railways in England and Wales.

Biography Stephens was the son of Frederic George Stephens, Pre-Raphaelite artist and art critic, and his wife the artist Rebecca Clara (née Dalton). He was named after his father's friend and former tutor, the painter Holman Hunt, although the two later fell out. He was a great nephew of the naturalist, explorer and biologist, Charles Darwin.

Stephens was apprenticed in the workshops of the Metropolitan Railway in 1881. He was an assistant engineer during the building of the Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Railway, which opened in 1892. In 1894 he became an associate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, which allowed him to design and build railways in his own right.The Colonel Stephens Railway Museum - An Appreciation of His Life and Works

He immediately set about his lifetime's project of operating light railways for rural areas, mostly planned and built under the Light Railways Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 48). His first two railways, the Rye and Camber Tramway and the Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway, predated this, but he built the first railway under the act, the Rother Valley Railway (later the Kent and East Sussex Railway).

The railways were planned, and some later run, from an office at 23 Salford Terrace in Tonbridge, Kent, which Stephens had rented in 1900 and purchased in 1927.

Many of his railways stayed independent of the larger systems created in the Grouping under the Railways Act 1921.

Stephens had no close relatives and never married. He had few interests outside of railways other than voluntary military service and Liberal Party politics, having befriended MP for Caernarfon David Lloyd George during Stephens' period as Manager of the Welsh Highland Railway and Ffestiniog Railway between 1925 and 1931. In 1916, during World War I, Stephens attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Territorial Army (TA) with which he had been associated since the 1890s. He continued to support the TA throughout most of the 1920s.The Colonel Stephens Railway Museum

When he died in 1931 aged 62, the management of his railways was taken over by his assistant and life partner W. H. Austen, who ran them until they closed or were incorporated into the national system in 1948.

A museum devoted to his life and achievements is at Tenterden Station in Kent.

The railways There are several books about Col. Stephens's railways.See, e.g., Strange, Peter, "The Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Railway: A Pictorial Record," (1989, Twelveheads Press)(). The railways in which Stephens was involved were:Colonel Stephens' Railways NameYearopenedYearclosedPassengerservicesstartPassengerservicesendGaugeNotesAshover Light Railway1924195019251936Built primarily to carry stoneBurry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway1859199619131953Originally coal-carrying, adapted for passenger traffic by Stephens;absorbed by Great Western Railway 1923Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Railway18921961Worked by, and absorbed by the South Eastern Railway in 1900.Stephen's first assignment following his training. Also known as the Hawkhurst Branch LineEast Kent Light Railway19111980s19161948Built to serve the Kent Coalfield;branch to Richborough; part now a heritage railwayEdge Hill Light Railway19191925nonenoneIronstone-carrying; included a 1 in 6 cable-worked incline; never formally openedFestiniog Railway1832OpenManaged by Stephens c1923-1931, now a heritage railwayIsle of Wight Central Railway18871966Stephens was Engineer and Locomotive Superintendent for a brief period in 1911.Kent and East Sussex Railway and Rother Valley RailwayRother Valley Railway1900196119001954Now a heritage railwayNorth Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway1925198219251965Originally a china-clay carrier; Stephens engineered its reconstruction and extension; operated by Southern Railway at outset, remaining an independent company until nationalisationPlymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway18901966 (part)Built by an independent company but operated by the London and South Western Railway as part of its main lineThe branch from Bere Alston to Callington was engineered by Stephens and opened in 1908section to Gunnislake is still operatingRye and Camber Tramway18951939Used intermittently by military during World War II and never reopenedSheppey Light Railway18961950Engineered by Stephens but operated by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway,which took ownership in 1905Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway (S&MR)186619601933Reconstructed from the long-closed Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway in 1911.Regular passenger services ceased 1933.Taken over for military use during World War II and remained under military control until closure.Snailbeach District Railways18771962Lead- and later stone-carrying railwayWelsh Highland Railway19231936Incorporating the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway (opened 1877).Rebuilt 1997 – 2011 as a heritage line.West Sussex Railway18971935The "Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway"Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway18971940Extension opened 1907

Other projects Stephens was involved in many projects that did not come to fruition, 18 of which reached the early, light railway order, stage. Many were extensions to existing railways; one was the 1920s 'Southern Heights Light Railway', a single-track electrified railway from Orpington to Sanderstead.

He was involved in: Central Essex Railway East Kent Light Railway Extensions East Sussex Railway Gower Railway Hadlow Railway Headcorn and Faversham Junction Railway Headcorn and Maidstone Junction Railway Hedingham and Long Melford Railway Kelvedon, Coggeshall and Halstead Railway Lands End, St Just and Great Western Junction Railway Long Melford and Hadleigh Railway Maidstone and Faversham Junction Railway Maidstone and Sittingbourne Railway Newport and Four Ashes Railway Orpington, Cudham and Tatsfield Railway Shropshire Railways (Shrewsbury and Market Drayton Extension) Southern Heights Light Railway Surrey and Sussex Railway Worcester and Broom Railway

Locomotives The majority of the locomotives were second-hand, but a few were bought new from Hawthorn Leslie and Company including:The Colonel Stephens Museum – locomotives

Railway No. Loco name HL Works No. Build date Wheels Disposal BR numberIan Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, 1949 edition, part 2, pp 15–17 KESR 1 Tenterden 2420 1899 2-4-0T Scrapped 1941 — KESR 2 Rolvenden 2421 1899 2-4-0T Scrapped 1941 — KESR 4 Hecate 2587 1904 0-8-0T to SR and BR 30949 PDSWJR A. S. Harris 1907 0-6-0T to SR and BR 30756 PDSWJR Earl of Mount Edgcumbe 1907 0-6-2T to SR and BR 30757 PDSWJR Lord St. Levan 1907 0-6-2T to SR and BR 30758 SMR Pyramus 1911 0-6-2T sold c.1916 — SMR Thisbe 1911 0-6-2T sold c.1916 —

None of these has been preserved.

References

External links Colonel Stephens Society Colonel Stephens Railway Museum