This week (23rd-29th September 2024)

It’s Gala Weekend!

The end of the Season is nigh – this weekend we end the season with our annual Gala Weekend during which we will have to passenger trains hauled by steam locomotive ‘Premier’ and diesel locos ‘Victor’ & ‘Barton Hall’ during the day. The carriages of The Admiralty, from the Chattenden & Upnor Railway, and there will be a Bowaters mixed passenger & freight train.

The Garden Railway will also be holding a Gala Weekend, including the attendance of Bowaters Models, who make garden railway scale models of our locomotives, carriages and wagons.

There will also be a variety of exhibits on display (some different each day) too, such as steam traction engines, fire engines etc.

Timetable for both days

Trains from Sittingbourne Viaduct station depart at 11am (V-1), 11.15am (P-2), 11.55am (BH-1), 12.40pm (V-2), 1.25pm (P-1), 2.05pm (BH-2), 2.50pm (V-1), 3.35pm (P-2), 4.15pm (BH-1) and 5pm (V-2).

Trains from Kemsley Down station depart at 11.30am (V-1), 12.15pm (P-2), 12.55pm (BH-1), 1.40pm (V-2), 2.25pm (P-1), 3.05pm (BH-2), 3.50pm (V-1), 4.35pm (P-2), 5.15pm (BH-1) and 5.55pm (V-2).

The information in brackets are Loco-Coaches:

Locos: P – Premier (steam), V – Victor (diesel) and BH – Barton Hall (diesel)

There will be two trains of coaches: 1 – Chattenden & Upnor Railway and 2 – Bowaters mixed freight and passenger train.

Trains will be hauled by steam locomotive ‘Premier’ or diesel locomotives ‘Victor’ and ‘Barton Hall’.

Click here to download the timetable for Gala Weekend 2024.

Fares

Here are the return fares:

  • Adult – £8
  • Senior Citizen – £7
  • Child (aged 3-15) – £4
  • Family (2A + 4C) – £22
  • you can upgrade your ticket to a Rover (which enables you to travel on as many trains as you wish that day) for a £3 supplement at the Ticket Office (not available for Family tickets)
  • Other fares are available – click here for more information.

200 tickets are available for pre-booking on each train from Sittingbourne Viaduct – click on the button below or call the TicketSource hotline on 0333 6663366. There is no need to pre-book, this option is for those who feel more secure having done so. There is a small booking fee for booking through TicketSource.

Operation Sittingbourne

Autumn 2024 sees the next phase in the reconstruction of the platform at Sittingbourne Viaduct station but we need your help!

Over the next two months, the platform will be rebuilt and this takes a lot of work and you know what they say about that – many hands make light work – so please come to Sittingbourne Viaduct station and help us build the new platform before Santa returns to the Railway in December. Click here to visit the Operation Sittingbourne page for more information.

What’s happening?

This month (September)

  • Saturday 28th – Gala Weekend – a special timetable will be in operation with ‘Premier’, ‘Victor’ and ‘Barton Hall’ hauling trains
  • Sunday 29th – Gala Weekend – a special timetable will be in operation with ‘Premier’, ‘Victor’ and ‘Barton Hall’ hauling trains

Next month (October)

We will be working at Sittingbourne Viaduct station from about 10am until about 3pm on the following dates:

Future events (click on the images to find out more)

Photo of the Week

Over the next few weeks, 360-degree photos will be added to the website so you can get an idea  of what to expect in each of the coaches and buildings. This is a selection interior photos of the coaches being used for Santa Specials in December (more on that next week!).

Find out more…

To find out more about the Railway – visit our website (www.sklr.net), call 01795 424899, see our page on Facebook, or find us on X (formerly known as Twitter), Threads or Instagram or Tumblr as @SandKLR. To contact us, email info@sklr.net or call 01795 424899.

We now have a new telephone system – you can be connected straight through to TicketSource to book tickets over the phone, listen to a 4 minute-long talking timetable message or leave a message for one of our volunteers to get back to you if you would like to know about group bookings, footplate experiences, private hire, birthday parties etc. (details are also available on the website) – all by calling 01795 424899.

 

Travel information

We recommend using a live journey planner such as Google Maps due to the large number of road works in the area.

For more information on key closures of the M25 for the Wisley Interchange works click here and for more information on the A249/M2 interchange works at Stockbury Roundabout click here.