Volunteering

The station master gives the stop hand signal (both hands raised above the head) to the driver of Premier so that the locomotive can be coupled to the train.

The station master at Sittingbourne Viaduct station is responsible for running the locomotive round the train. Here, they are using hand signals to the driver to control the movement of the engine back onto the train for coupling up to take the train back to Kemsley Down.

The Railway’s band of active members needs bolstering to enable some of them to have time off, rather than being required to keep the Railway running, especially during August which has trains running 1-4pm every Wednesday and 11am-4pm every Sunday plus the bank holiday Monday – that’s a big ask of our volunteers. We can provide tools and training for operational and maintenance tasks.

We have people at Kemsley Down several days a week but to make things a little easier for new volunteers we have:

  • Tuesday evenings – locomotive engineering
  • Wednesdays – for maintenance of the track, gardens, carriages and wagons from about 10am-4pm
  • Saturdays – various teams carry out work at Kemsley Down from 10am-4pm
  • Sundays, Bank Holidays and Wednesdays (in August) – during the operating season we need staff to operate the Railway as well as maintain it, you will often find the track gang busy at work on the line or at Kemsley Down – this can be quite hard work and a great workout!

On a typical operating day during the season, we need the following roles to be filled:

  • Station Master, Sittingbourne Viaduct*
  • Assistant Station Master, Sittingbourne Viaduct
  • Booking Clerk, Sittingbourne Viaduct*
  • Station Master, Kemsley Down*
  • Assistant Station Master, Kemsley Down
  • Fireman*
  • Steam locomotive driver*
  • Diesel locomotive driver*
  • Locomotive cleaner (a trainee fireman role)
  • Guard*
  • Ticket Inspector
  • Sales person in the Railway Shop
  • 2-3 people in the Footplate Café.

*must be over 18 years of age

So that’s 14-15 volunteers every operating day. When trains start running at 1pm, we have a Staff Train from Sittingbourne Viaduct station at 10am.

If you would like to offer your time for any of the roles listed above or have skills you think the Railway may benefit from, please email volunteer@sklr.net and we will arrange a meeting with you.

It must be noted that only members can be working volunteers, see this page for more information.