This week (13-19th February 2023)

 

This weekend is a Kemsley Down-based Work Weekend

The Railway is closed until Good Friday (7th April) but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything going on!

This time of year we hold our fortnightly Winter Work Weekends.

This weekend we will be working as follows:

  • Saturday & Sunday 10am to 4pm at Kemsley Down – Loco Engineering, Carriage & Wagon, rebuilding the back wall of the café, moving artefacts from the old to new museum and hundreds of other jobs.

Kemsley Down station is located in Kemsley paper mill so if you are coming along (and you are most welcome to!) we will be working from 10am until 4pm. Please park in the paper mill car park (ME10 2TD) by 10am, alternatively, we can pick you up from Sittingbourne National Rail or Sittingbourne Viaduct stations – if you would like to attend please send an email to info@sklr.net so arrangements can be made.

Bring a packed lunch – there should be tea and coffee available. Please wear layers of clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty.

You will need to be a member to work on the Railway, for insurance reasons, and we can process this at the Railway – this is a good time to join as your membership will last until the end of February 2024. Membership has its perks too – free travel on the Railway during the season and discounts to Steam & Beer and Santa Specials plus there’s our in-house magazine ‘The New Bogie’.

If you’re coming along to help please read the tips on this page before you leave home: Work Weekends page


We’ve been shortlisted!

Following the completion of Premier’s restoration last year, we nominated the ‘Premier Back to the Future’ project for an award at the Heritage Railway Association Awards next month.

We were delighted to hear that Premier has been shortlisted for the Coiley Award for Steam Locomotive Engineering, sponsored by Morris Lubricants.

We are up against some much bigger locomotives from standard gauge railways across the UK so short-listing in itself is a great accolade for our little railway and our amazing volunteers.

It took over 20 years to restore Premier with many people helping during that time and we thank you all.

Over £120,000 had to be raised to fund the restoration too, through the Premier Stays, Sponsor a Tube and the shopping list fundraising campaigns. A massive thank you to our supporters and Swale Borough Council who contributed to the fund.

‘Premier Back to the Future’ comes from the project’s aim to restore Premier in as close to as-built condition as possible but also incorporating modern replacement parts and building future requirements into the rebuild. The engine had been completely stripped back to the frames and then rebuilt by our volunteers. The only work carried out off-site was the new boiler tubes, new firebox, new outer wrapping and testing, which was carried out at the North Norfolk Railway

We wish the project team luck at next month’s awards.

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This month (February)

  • Saturday 18thWork Weekend – 10am to 4pm – email info@sklr.net to arrange access
  • Sunday 19thWork Weekend – 10am to 4pm – email info@sklr.net to arrange access

Next month (March)

  • Saturday 4thWork Weekend – 10am to 4pm – email info@sklr.net to arrange access
  • Sunday 5thWork Weekend – 10am to 4pm – email info@sklr.net to arrange access
  • Saturday 18thWork Weekend – 10am to 4pm – email info@sklr.net to arrange access
  • Sunday 19thWork Weekend – 10am to 4pm – email info@sklr.net to arrange access