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This is the gallery of Paul Best, the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway's Press Officer.
LATEST NEWS:
M-real and SKLR reach agreement about light railway operations at Sittingbourne
M-real closed down its papermaking operations in Sittingbourne at the beginning of 2007. After seeing to the removal of the papermaking machinery and dealing with the employment, pension and environmental issues at the site, M-real plans to sell all the land associated with the operations.
Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway (SKLR) was therefore given 12 months notice that its arrangements with M-real would come to an end and SKLR would have to cease operating on M-real's land at the end of January 2009.
Since the announcement of the mill closure at the end of 2006 and the notice from M-real at the start of 2008, SKLR has been actively investigating possible ways of securing the future of the light railway and has run a successful campaign highlighting its significance for the town of Sittingbourne and seeking support for its continued operation.
Both M-real and SKLR are pleased to announce that they have been able to agree an interim solution which will allow SKLR's operation to continue as a key part of the development of tourist and leisure activities at Sittingbourne.
The agreement will allow SKLR to provide train services in the future within the Swale Country Park.
As part of the agreement, M-real has donated tracks, sleepers and materials to SKLR in addition to its previous donations of rolling stock.
With the support of Swale Borough Council and specialist professional advisers, SKLR is working on a new business plan for future operations and is grateful for the input and support received from all interested parties. SKLR has decided to suspend its passenger operations for 2009 in order to have time to focus on a number of very important issues which are involved in securing the future of this heritage attraction.
SKLR is also grateful to M-real for a cash donation made by M-real to assist SKLR with its expenses during this period of reduced income.
Both parties would like to express their gratitude to the Officers and Members of Swale Borough Council for their assistance in bringing this agreement about and to Mr Wyatt for his support. Support from Cllr Bowles, Cllr Wright, Ms Barbara Thompson and Mr Ian Lewis has been particularly valuable in bringing the parties together to reach this agreement.
It is hoped that SKLR will now be able to obtain grant funding to help to secure its long-term future, providing a steam railway for the benefit of the people of Swale and beyond for many years to come and allowing the continuing development of Sittingbourne as a major town in the South East.
“We are delighted that we have been able to reach agreement with SKLR. We think it gives the railway a much-needed boost for its future survival,” said David Scudder, Company Secretary at M-real.
“Our future is not yet guaranteed, but this agreement gives us a valuable opportunity to survive and thrive. We still have a great deal of work to do, both internally and externally, and we may have to rethink how we do things, but at least we are able to continue our work with a much greater degree of security”, Bob Newcombe, Chairman of the Trustees of SKLR added.
SKLR would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the legal and property advisers and other specialists who have donated their time and expertise as part of this process. Without their help there would have been no future for SKLR.
The above represents the outcome of over twelve months of negotiations between M-real and the Light Railway and, whilst it does not give us all that we would want, it does represent a starting point for our ultimate goal of keeping the whole Railway operational. The part of the Railway included in the above press release runs on the land that M-real owns in the area of the Country Park. It does not include Sittingbourne Viaduct station, Kemsley Down station or the viaduct itself. However the Light Railway is now in a position to open negotiations with SRP New Thames Ltd regarding the Kemsley Down station site and with the purchaser of the Sittingbourne end of the line once that land has been sold by M-real.
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We still have some way to go to safeguard the whole of the line and our SOS Campaign will continue. Swale Borough Council has recently started consultation on the draft version of its Masterplan for Sittingbourne Town Centre and it is important that all views supporting the retention of the viaduct and the Light Railway terminus at Sittingbourne are recorded. You can view and comment on the draft masterplan at www.swale.gov.uk and click on Masterplan.
The Save Our Steam railway/Save Our SKLR Campaign has been running since the late summer but it is not too late to have your say and send us a letter or email of support.
The Railway's Trustees are working as hard as they can to save the Railway but this costs money, particularly for legal fees, so please donate some cash to our Fighting Fund: www.justgiving.com/sklr
We also have a Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4868804097
For media enquiries, press releases etc please email stopem@stopem.net, call 07973 192938 or leave a message using the link below.
An extensive library of photographs of the Railway can be found by visiting http://www.flickr.com/photos/stopem
If you have any comments or suggestions please leave a message below.
Thank you for visiting my site,
Paul |
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 | 1st Jul 2009 | June Work Weekend (6 images)
The June Work Weekend saw the movement of 'Melior' and Coach 647 to Preston, near Canterbury, in preparation for the Preston Rally over the last weekend of the month.
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 | 4th Jun 2009 | May Work Weekend (8 images) |
 | 4th Jun 2009 | April Work Weekend (12 images) |
 | 5th Apr 2009 | March 2009 Work Weekend (81 images)
The March Work Weekend saw work being carried out on 'Leader' and 'Superb' in the engine shed, Coach 647 in the Carriage & Wagon Siding, some signalling equipment for future use and the PWay trying to fix a problem with the points they refurbished in January.
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 | 22nd Feb 2009 | February 2009 Work Weekend (12 images)
Photographs of the Saturday of the February Work Weekend.
Trackwork is progressing on the points at the entrance to Kemsley Down station. The points being worked on last month have been completed and even the weeds are growing back!
Refurbishment of Coach 647 is progressing well with the steelwork at the Ridham-end of the vehicle.
The side rods have been taken off 'Premier' for use on 'Leader', this will enable the latter's original rodding to be refurbished.
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 | 19th Feb 2009 | January 2009 Work Weekend (6 images)
A small selection of photos taken during the Work Weekend in January 2009.
The steam locos are stored safely in the engine shed and work progresses on Coach 647 which is being refurbished.
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 | 11th Jan 2009 | Santa Specials 2008 - the last day of operation? (15 images)
Boxing Day, 26th December 2008, could have been the last day for the public operation of the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway. Unless we Save Our Steam railway (see SOS Campaign) the Railway will not reopen in April 2009 but, instead, be forced to clear the site.
Negotiations are currently underway with our landlords and the land sales agent.
Please send a message of support or make a donation/purchase SOS Merchandise or display a poster or car sticker to show your support at this difficult time. See http://www.sklr.net for more information.
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 | 27th Oct 2008 | Andrew Wilton Memorial Day & Bowaters Light Railway Handover 39th Anniversary (58 images)
SKLR member Andrew Wilton died earlier in 2008, the weekend after the end of the Season saw members of the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway and Kent & East Sussex Railway (Andrew was a working member there too!) had a day playing trains and remembering a good friend.
This day also coincided with the 39th Anniversary of the handover of Bowaters Light Railway to the Locomotive Club of Great Britain. The original headboard was carried by 'Triumph' all day.
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 | 22nd Oct 2008 | Gala Weekend 2008 (8 images)
These are the best of the Gala Weekend photos for 2008.
This could have been the last weekend passengers could turn up and go on the trains, it was with a heavy heart that the passengers left the last train, many stopped to watch the empty train depart for the last time.
The Railway will still be operating Santa Specials for the weekends leading up to Christmas with the final day of operation on Boxing Day - check the website for more info http://www.sklr.net and also to see the latest news on our fight to Save Our Steam railway.
Sorry for the delay uploading them, I've been so busy with the SOS Campaign that I hadn't realised they still needed to be uploaded.
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 | 31st Aug 2008 | SOS - Save Our SKLR / Save Our Steam railway (20 images)
The Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway could be forced to close down on Boxing Day, 26th December 2008, unless there is a dramatic change to circumstances.
Future trains are very unlikely unless the current land owners M-real change their minds and allow the Railway to buy the land over which it operated. Perhaps they were running Sittingbourne paper mill at a loss and did need to cease production but did this Finnish company have to have total disregard for the history that they were entrusted with? This history goes back nearly 150 years to the day when Edward Lloyd first started paper production in Sittingbourne and which carried on successfully via Bowater's and UK Paper.
Sittingbourne's Steam Railway was given notice to quit the land on which it operates at the beginning of 2008 when their landlords Messrs M-real decided to pull out of Sittingbourne including closing Sittingbourne paper mill, which is currently up for sale. The railways licence to operate on the land expires on 28th January, 2009. By that date we are supposed to remove all the locomotives, coaches, wagons, buildings and all other paraphernalia. How can a charity that has struggled to survive for most of the 40 years it has operated afford to make such a move and where to?
Following on from an idea from one of the railways junior members a poster/car sticker campaign has being launched - you can download a SOS (Save Our Steam railway) poster or car sticker now from our website (http://www.sklr.net) or collect them from the Railway. We are asking the public to display these in their windows, on their cars, everywhere.
To contribute to the Fighting Fund to pay for legal fees, posters, advertisements etc please visit http://www.justgiving.com/sklr or send cheques payable to SKLR to SKLR (SOS Campaign), PO Box 300, Sittingbourne, ME10 2DZ. Please also send letters of support to that address or email info@sklr.net or join the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway group page on Facebook.
Only public opinion can save what is South East England's only preserved former industrial narrow gauge railway. Your opinion counts.
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 | 25th Aug 2008 | Story Time with 'Ivor the Engine' (11 images)
Peter Firmin, co-creator of 'Ivor the Engine', visited the Railway to see a narrow gauge 'Ivor' for the first time.
Saturday was a record breaking day with more passengers than last year.
You will notice SOS posters in some of the photos, please see the SOS Campaign collection for more information - we need your help to save the Railway from closure in January 2009.
I took two different cameras today so there will be a delay posting the larger, quality photos as they need processing from the original RAW format.
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 | 24th Aug 2008 | Model Rail Day 2008 (7 images)
The annual Model Rail Day was a great success, despite the wind trying to blow the marquees away!
A number of guest layouts joined the Railway's usual layouts for the free model railway exhibition at Kemsley Down.
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 | 9th May 2008 | Story Time with 'Jack the Station Cat' and 'Edward Bear' 2008 (10 images)
The Railway's annual Story Time event featuring 'Jack the Station Cat' and 'Edward Bear' coincided with the best weather so far this season which brought in more visitors to the event than last year on both days.
'Jack the Station Cat' stars in a series of books written by Alan Cliff. The Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway was the first railway to be granted a license to operate such an event and is featured in one of the books as the Llanberis & Sittingbourne Extension Railway. For this event Sittingbourne Viaduct station becomes 'Tails End' and Kemsley Down, 'Much Purring'. See the link on the right of the front page for more information on 'Jack the Station Cat'.
'Edward Bear' is a member of the Railway and features in his own series of books written by Barry Langford and availabole only from the Railway.
The August bank holiday weekend will see the return of Story Time with 'Ivor the Engine' following the resounding success of last year's event.
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 | 8th Apr 2008 | Sunday 6th April 2008 - Snowy Sunday (7 images)
I've never managed to get a picture of the Railway in snow before - and this is the Summer Season!
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 | 7th Apr 2008 | Commercial freight traffic returns to Sittingbourne's Steam Railway (8 images)
For the first time since 1969, the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway is operating scheduled freight trains.
National Grid is refurbishing the high voltage power lines between Canterbury and Kemsley so the Railway is running a freight train to the site to save the laying of a temporary road across the marshes.
UPDATED: I have taken some photos, from the train, showing the work that had been carried out to Monday 5th May. The scaffolding has been erected into towers so that the cables can be lowered without blocking the railway and the insulators on the Sittingbourne-side of the pylons have been replaced.
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