The Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway

 

Let’s start the summer holidays with a bang – it’s Wild West Weekend!

Trains will be running both days this weekend as the settlers of Spearfish Creek take over Kemsley Down.

Trains depart Sittingbourne Viaduct station at 11am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm & 4pm. Booking is essential on the 11am train as there is a long wait until the next train at 1pm.

You will be met by some of the settlers from Spearfish Creek who will tell you what is going on and ask you to remain on the train when it arrives at Spearfish Creek station (aka Kemsley Down).

Trains depart on the hour so please make sure you arrive about 15 minutes before that. Advanced booking (by 5pm the day before travel) is available for all trains but only essential on the first train. Tickets can be purchased on the day by card or cash at the ticket office.

After the 15 minute journey to Spearfish Creek, the 11am and 4pm trains will be held-up by bandits before stopping in the platform, the other trains will be pull straight into the platform, then the fun begins! There will be a five minute shoot-out show which will happen on the platform outside your coach.

Once it is safe to do so, you will be advised that you can leave the train and head over to the settlement at Spearfish Creek, feel free to have a look around and speak to the settlers. You can also visit the air-conditioned Footplate Café, Railway Shop and toilets whilst you are here.

Trains return to Sittingbourne Viaduct station at 12.35pm, 1.35pm, 2.35pm, 3,35pm & 4.45pm. Feel free to return on any train, if you wait for a later train, you will be able to watch the next shoot-out from a different angle.

Go to the Wild West Weekend page (click here) to see a video and photos from previous events.

There will be loud bangs – if you do not like fireworks, this event may not be for you.

2026 Return fares

• £10 for adults
• £5 for children (3-15)
• Infants aged under 3 travel free
• £9 for senior citizens
• £27 for families (2 adults and 4 children)
• £2 for SKLR adult members and £1 for SKLR Junior and Family child members
• Other fares available

If you’d prefer to buy in advance, that can be done below. Advanced tickets are purchased through TicketSource so an additional booking fee is added to the purchase. Advanced bookings close at 5pm the day before travel.

 

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Welcome to Sittingbourne’s Steam 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. There are also buttons which take you directly to the page shown.

To find out what’s happening this week see the Latest News section on the right of this page or subscribe to our 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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Future events (click on the images to jump to that page)

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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 2025/26. 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.

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We are working with Ideas Test, who are funding our Writer In Residence, for more information click on the logo.

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

June 2026 at Sittingbourne's Steam Railway

June 2026 at Sittingbourne's Steam Railway