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
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.
The Railway is now closed until Santa Specials in December.
Thank you to all our passengers and volunteers for a fantastic 2023 Season.
We will be holding regular Work Weekends to rebuild the platform at Sittingbourne Viaduct and to prepare the Railway for Santa Specials – click here for full details of the Santa Specials.
Santa Specials tickets on sale now!
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
In March, Premier won the prestigious Coiley Award for Steam Locomotive Engineering 2023 – here’s a video about Premier, the Back to the future project and the award.
We have received £26,500 from the Government’s #HereForCulture fund to improve Sittingbourne Viaduct station – find out more here.
Santa Specials at Sittingbourne's Steam Railway
Santa Specials at Sittingbourne's Steam Railway
Become a member
If you would like to become a member and help us in our task you can download a membership form from the membership section of this site or contact us by email at info@sklr.net
Our accessibility statement can be found here
We’re a member of Visit Swale, find out more about Sittingbourne and Swale by clicking on the logo.
This website does not record your personal data. The Railway does collect personal data for membership and volunteer records (safety critical tasks).