£26,500 grant for the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway

Improvements are expected by March 2021

A £26,500 grant from the Government has been awarded to the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway to help with the impact of coronavirus.

The Culture Recovery Fund helps a wide variety of railways and other companies in the heritage sector to recover from the covid pandemic lockdown, which saw businesses closed.

The money will go towards improving Sittingbourne Viaduct station, which has been a project for many years due to vandalism and arson attacks after the closure of the Sittingbourne Paper Mill.

The money will now help the railway to progress with planning work, which now sees the introduction of Project Sittingbourne.

Fencing between the station site and the skatepark / former mill has been installed at the cost of nearly £10,000.

Grant awarded to the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Railway — Credit: SKLR

The railway has noticed a stairway at Sittingbourne Viaduct station is a pinch point for passengers, which makes social distancing difficult during these covid-19 times. A second entrance is hoped to give long term benefits of providing disabled access, with the railway working with neighbours to make this happen.

Leader on the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway

LMS steam locomotive and heritage wagons win at this year’s Heritage Railway Association Awards

27th March 2022

A lack of toilet facilities is another issue that the railway has found, so it is hoped that the money will be used to provide toilet facilities like the ones found at Kemsley Down.

These improvements must be made by the end of March 2021, so visitors should expect to see work starting soon.

The SKLR follows a variety of railways in announcing grants, such as the Severn Valley Railway, Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway.

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