Mr Doodle, known for his signature doodles has been challenged by the Kent and East Sussex Railway to a major doodle project.

As part of its 50th Anniversary celebrations, on the 26th July at 11am, the K&ESR will see Mr Doodle tackle a large doodle on the outside of a railway carriage.

He will carry out the project he has funded, at his hometown station of Tenterden to create the doodle train.

A special protective wrap will be used to protect the carriages before the doodles are carried out.

Once completed the carriage will join the regular passenger fleet on selected services into August.

The first two services will depart at 11:25am on the 27th and 28th July from Tenterden. Mr Doodle will be present for the first trains departure to see his special train off.

To further the celebrations, a randomly selected ‘golden ticket’ will be given to a Doodle Train passenger on the first two dates, entitling them to a family tickets for a future trip.

The Doodle Train will be included in the railways Summer ‘Kids Go FREE’ offer that runs through July and August.

Due to the limited number of seats available, advance booking is necessary at www.kesr.org.uk.

“I am very happy to be doodling a train! It’s the first time my drawings have appeared on a vehicle this size. It’s going to be so fun! It’s especially nice that it’s all happening in my hometown. I hope the people here will enjoy it!”

 Mr Doodle

“As a local artist and frequent visitor to the K&ESR, we were delighted that Mr Doodle agreed to literally ‘make his mark’ on our 50th Anniversary celebrations. We’d also like to extend our thanks to Mr Doodle for funding the project and giving his time to help support the local community.

“Some heritage rail enthusiasts might raise their eyebrows at this initiative, but I believe such innovations and experiments are very much in the spirit that Col Stephens himself demonstrated in bringing the light railway to the Weald more than 120 years ago.

“For our 50^th Anniversary we committed to not only celebrating the achievements of the past five decades but also to looking to the future and how we can continue to thrive – not just survive – bringing new audiences to our railway and to the area, as the opening of the re-connection to Robertsbridge gets ever closer.”

Robin Coombes, K&ESR General Manager