It's quite interesting reading this thread as an interested observer. The thread goes quiet, with occasional posts about lack of activity at Mansden, but little response to them.
Then a postive post comes along and there's a flurry of posts!
Personally I am not sure a fast rail link to/from Manston is that important. A fast rail link only benefits those flying into the airport, not necessarially those flying out of it. Because those flying out need to get from their home onto that fast link. So living in Sussex to get to any airport by train I have to go into London and back out again. No thanks, I'll go by car, its quicker to all the London airports.
So if I am going by car which airport will I fly from? Well it makes sense to go from the one which has fastest time from car to plane. The big, busy airports then fail on security checks, as it takes so long to get through the airport.
So in my view what Manston needs to do is to concentrate on minimising the car to plane time, and publicising what routes they offer. It is a chicken and egg situation and if it is to work money will be lost in the early days as passenger numbers build. Obviously in addition to the money already lost!
Then there is the cargo, and the road links from Manston to the M25 are quite good, and I suspect there is little additional cost in the road part of the journey between any London airport, so I suspect that it will build up, but again takes time, and their will be dips and throughs.
What I fail to see is how or why Lydd should do any better than Manston.