Tribute to Bluebell Railway founder and former magazine editor Klaus Marx
THE Bluebell Railway is in mourning following the death of founder member Klaus Marx at the age of 87.
Oxford graduate Klaus joined the newly-formed Bluebell Railway Preservation Society in 1959 and served on the first committee.
He played a leading role in the early days, including taking responsibility for the first museum set up in the Up side waiting room at Sheffield Park and helping Captain Peter Manisty in the production of publicity material. He also assisted with organising the first Bluebell special train which ran from Tonbridge to Horsted Keynes that year.
At the time, he was teaching at Great Walstead School, a short distance from Freshfield Halt, and was a Southern enthusiast. He offered to design the original tickets for the embryonic heritage railway.
Klaus was the editor of Bluebell
News for 35 years from 1960 until 1995, writing several articles based on interviews with people associated with the Lewes to East Grinstead Railway, and he continued to serve on the editorial committee for some years after that, helping with historical information.
He also served as the railway’s archivist until 2008 until Roger Price succeeded him. His handwritten notes are held in the Bluebell archive.
Klaus wrote a book with a definitive history of the Lewes and East Grinstead line which was published in 2001, as well as several volumes on the LBSCR, of which he was an enthusiast.
He served as headmaster of Willington School in Putney and later Wimbledon in London for over 30 years. He was a founder member of the Bluebell’s former London Area Group and hosted its meetings at the school.
A thanksgiving service for his life was held at St Andrew’s Baptist Church in Shepperton on March 20.
Klaus leaves a wife, Dorothea, and children Roger, Tim and Christina.