Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway 4.01

The Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway in Kent is a narrow gauge heritage railway that operates from Sittingbourne to the banks of The Swale.The line was developed as an industrial railway by paper maker Frank Lloyd in 1904, to transport pulp materials and finished products between Ridham Dock, on the River Swale, and the company's paper mill at Sittingbourne, and from the mid-1920s to a second mill at Kemsley.In the late 1960s the railway faced closure by its then owners Bowater, but the Locomotive Club of Great Britain accepted an offer to operate the railway from 1970. The section of line from Kemsley Down to Ridham Dock was however abandoned for redevelopment of the paper mills.In 2008-09, the line survived a threat of closure due to the owners of Sittingbourne Paper Mill closing the mill and selling the land, the lease then held by the railway expired in January 2009. Negotiations resulted in the railway being saved, although no public trains ran in 2009.In September 2010, press reports announced the possibility that the railway would operate an anniversary service - over a short section between Kemsley Down Station and the Milton Regis Halt - to celebrate 40 years of operation. The service carried more than 700 passengers over several days during October.