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Sittingbourne's Steam Railway Newsletter
Week 38 2019 - 16th September 2019

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to the 34th Sittingbourne’s Steam Railway Newsletter.

This week we're saying goodbye to Paul W, looking back at the Ivor the Engine Weekend and forward to our End of Season Gala Weekend next week.

Farewell Paul!

Paul W, an active member for many years is leaving us to start a new life in the Lake District. We will miss him, his skills and his sense of humour!

A card was presented to him on Monday during the Ivor the Engine Weekend. Ashly M’s photo (above) shows a line up of working members and Paul (next to the loco).

We wish him and his wife well as they embark on this new adventure.

Ivor had a lot of fun!

Ivor the Engine visited the Railway over the Bank Holiday Weekend and had great fun keeping the narrators and station masters on their toes!

His crew were pretty naughty, stealing the coal buckets, Leader’s coal shovel and generally misbehaving but that’s all part of the fun of the Ivor the Engine Weekend.

The sweltering temperatures attracted people to the Kent beaches but it was an enjoyable event with water and ice creams selling fast.

Our next and last event of the 2019 Season is our End of Season Gala Weekend on 28/29th September.

The Paper Mill micropub’s mobile bar (a converted VW camper), Bowaters Models, Rhoda the Roller and a miniature traction engine at Kemsley Down.

Premier will be on display - this may be your last opportunity to see her in bits!

Leader, Melior and Victor will be running but the timetable has yet to be finalised - click on the button below for the very latest information.

Gala Weekend

Volunteers needed!

Membership

The Railway is run entirely by volunteers who come from our membership. Over 80 of our 300 members are active volunteers but it’s still not enough as we need 14-15 members just to run the Railway on a normal day.

You don't have to be a working member (although that helps!) to benefit from membership - you will get a quarterly magazine, The New Bogie, and free travel on the Railway throughout the season. Membership fees are:

Adult annual: £20
Junior (14-17 years) annual: £5
Family annual: £39
Life: £400
Life (over 60s): £200
Family life (available to two adults living at the same address): £600
Don’t forget your membership gets you free travel on the trains (discounted entry to Steam & Beer and for Santa Specials), regular issues of The New Bogie magazine and the opportunity to volunteer at the Railway.

Membership forms can be downloaded by clicking on the button below.

Join Now

Donations

The best way to donate money to the Railway is by using Just Giving and
add any preference for use of the funds in the message box.
The main projects we are raising funds for at the moment are:

Premier Back-dating Project

Alpha Restoration Project

SOS - Sort Out Sittingbourne

Don’t forget to add Gift Aid if you are a UK taxpayer as this gives us
even more money per donation.

Donate Now

Parts for Premier

What's going on?

This month (September):

Sunday 22nd – ordinary timetable – trains will depart Sittingbourne Viaduct station hourly 1-4pm
Saturday 28th – End of Season Gala Weekend – a special timetable will apply from 11am, click the link for more information
Sunday 29th – End of Season Gala Weekend
– a special timetable will apply from 11am, click the link for more information.

Next month:

Saturday 12th – Work Weekend – a Works Train will depart Sittingbourne Viaduct at 10am, returning at 4pm
Sunday 13th – Work Weekend – a Works Train will depart Sittingbourne Viaduct at 10am, returning at 4pm
Saturday 26th – Work Weekend – a Works Train will depart Sittingbourne Viaduct at 10am, returning at 4pm
Sunday 27th – Work Weekend – a Works Train will depart Sittingbourne Viaduct at 10am, returning at 4pm.

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Photos of the Week:

Ten years ago, the Railway was paid to remain closed whilst the ‘service corridor’ (we call it the single line) between Kemsley Down and Sittingbourne Viaduct, Sittingbourne Viaduct station and the paper mill was up for sale.

Photo: Paul B

We hope you enjoyed this 34th Sittingbourne's Steam Railway Newsletter -
please send feedback, news stories and photos for Photo of the Week to newsletter@sklr.net

Don't forget our End of Season Gala Weekend on
Saturday and Sunday 28th & 29th September