Chatham Dockyard's Railway: A great day out watching the train pass by. At its peak, it was estimated there was approximately 17 miles of standard gauge railway within the Dockyard. Today there is just under 1 mile of track remaining. The section (laid tramway style) starts just outside the Historic Dockyard (adjacent to No.7 Slip) and runs through the middle of the site to the far end of Anchor Wharf.

The Railway is operated by dedicated Railway Volunteers, who work tirelessly to restore the locomotives, wagons and cranes, and help to keep a valuable piece of the Dockyard’s history alive.

On Railway Weekends, volunteers operate ‘demonstration’ freight trains (like the one in this film) for about 1/3 mile.You can watch steam locomotive ‘Ajax’ and diesel locomotive’s ‘Rochester Castle’ and ‘Overlord’ haul a number of carefully restored historic freight wagons.

Whether you’re a railway enthusiast, you just have a casual interest or you want to re-live childhood memories. Railway Weekends provide the perfect photo opportunity to get up close to the historic railway and chat to the knowledgeable volunteers.

My thanks to driver 'David' for permitting the use of a Polaroid Cube camera on Ajax - very kind :)

Music track - Anchors Away