There were two aims to this project.
One was to promote Railway 200 through a published collection of poems from the Rye Harbour Writers which have been displayed in various exhibitions in the waiting room at Rye.
The other was to organise a poetry competition linked to Railway 200 with the winning entries being shown at a future exhibition in the waiting room.
Marshlink line officer Paul Bromley suggested the writing group apply to train operator GTR for a grant as part of their Railway 200 funding.
The group were successful and GTR provided £1,500 for the group to publish their poems.
The writers collated all their previous work and found a publisher who printed copies of the Station Poems book. It was launched at Southeast Communities Rail Partnership’s Rail Fair 200 celebration in Lewes on 1 August 2025 (1.8.25) to an audience of rail enthusiasts and community representatives.
Rye Harbour Writers also had the idea to give away 200 copies of the book in one day. SCRP and GTR helped organise travel warrants, hi-viz jackets and identification for the eight writers to travel on the Marshlink line from Rye station in each direction towards both Ashford International and Hastings on Sunday 24 August which was the day of Southeastern Railway’s Railway 200 Ashford depot open day.
SCRP and GTR also helped the group with the terms and conditions for the poetry competition ‘Write on Track’ which was also launched on 1 August and runs until 31 October 2025. The theme is connected to Railway 200.
Rye Harbour Writers are promoting and publicising the competition locally. They have also organised a poetry reading from the collected poems for late September.
The response was, in the words of the writers, “amazing”.
They gave away 200 copies of the book of poems in two hours. Passengers and railway staff showed interest in the books and the poetry competition.
The project so far has raised awareness of the railways and, in particular, 200 years of the modern railways.
The group has raised its profile within the town of Rye and connected communities to their railways.
Publicity includes stories in Rye News [link] and Sussex Express online [link].
“From the young man who already wrote and loved poetry to the little girl who asked what poetry was, the giveaway felt like a wonderful way to reach a great cross-section of society”
“The book give-away was a phenomenal success. Amazing! The passengers were so interested and wanting to talk about the book and the competition – even the guard on our first train wanted a copy!”