The Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway

This unique line was built in 1905 for the transportation of the raw materials required for the manufacture of paper and, of course, the finished product.

The line which is built to a gauge of 2′ 6″, continues to use the steam engines and rolling stock that were supplied to operate the railway in its working life prior to preservation in 1969.

How many other railways can claim that they operate the original engines on part of the original line with original rolling stock? The staff are not original but are all volunteers and new members are always welcome.

Wherever you see orange text this is a shortcut to another part of the website or other media, for example, to visit the Away Sales Events page click on the orange text.

To find out what’s happening this week see the Latest News section on the right of this page or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Check out our series of very short videos showing you ‘What to expect…’ 

Please note that our postcode for Sat. Nav. users is  ME10 2XD – click here for directions to Sittingbourne Viaduct station. The car park’s what3words address is: ///format.fits.trains

Group travel and private hire can be arranged in advance, follow the shortcuts or email info@sklr.net or call 01795 424899.

We will try to run to the timetable, on the days shown and use steam locomotives but reserve the right to change these for operational reasons, without notice.

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It’s a Green Timetable day on Sunday 19th May at the Premier railway

Following ‘Melior’ coming out of service this week, we are now a ‘Premier’ railway as that is our only working steam locomotive at the moment. ‘Premier’ was last year’s winner of the prestigious Cooley Award for Steam Locomotive Engineering 2023.

Trains depart Sittingbourne Viaduct station at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm & 4pm, returning from Kemsley Down at 1.35pm, 2.35pm, 3.35pm & 4.45pm.

You can pre-book tickets if you wish, a limited number of tickets are available for each train, click on the button below, but there is no real need to book as there will be plenty of space on the train – just buy your tickets at the ticket office about 15 minutes before departure time.

Fares

Here are the return fares for 2024:

• Adult – £8
• Senior Citizen – £7
• Child (aged 3-15) – £4
• Family (2A + 4C) – £22
• Other fares are available – click here for more information.
• Special fares apply for Steam & Beer and Santa Specials.

Click on the event icons below for more information on upcoming events.

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We are currently running these fundraising campaigns:

• Let’s put the B back in Superb. – we are fundraising to repair and reinstall Superb’s boiler
• Milton Regis Viaduct Appeal – we are fundraising to pay for the maintenance of the Viaduct during Winter 2022/23. This costs the Railway £25,000 every two years and comes from fares, sales and catering and this fund-raising appeal
• the SOS Campaign is raising money to improve facilities at Sittingbourne Viaduct station – we are now raising money for a new platform
• the Alpha Fund to raise money to cosmetically restore Alpha ahead of full restoration in the late 2020s by today’s younger members

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We have received £26,500 from the Government’s #HereForCulture fund to improve Sittingbourne Viaduct station – find out more here.

April 2024

April 2024