Will definitely buy the Shelley light railway book as I spent plenty of time at sheerness in the fifties as a toddler cheers Gary!!
B.F.Lane.
09-Aug-2008 09:41
I'm an old Sheerness'er Born in 1930 and lived there util I was 29 and moved off to an adventuress life in Africa. I left school when I was 14 and worked in H.M. Dockyard for a few years. I have many memories of how it was and not the huge car park it is now. When I came out of the Army (conscript 2yrs.) in 1950 and started working for British Rail on the track maintenance gangs. Sheppey Light Railway 1yr. The track between Queenborough and Kemsley 8yrs. Image/50076126. The locomotive in the picture is a B.R. Standard Class 3. 2-6-2T engine. this was the first brand new engine to run on the Sittingbourne/Sheerness Line for about 70yrs. It was also the first engine with outside pistons to cross the old iron Kingsferry Bridge. (Perhaps Queensferry Bridge.) I see Hero's sign on the right side of the picture. I lived next door to Poppy's Coal Merchants in Short Street when I was a nipper,I use to watch the bottles going round getting filled and the fizz getting put in. Can I recommend you try and get a copy of "THE SHEPPEY LIGHT RAILWAY". Published by Wild Swan Publications Ltd. 1-3 Hagbourne Road, Oxon OX11 8DP. It's full of interesting pictures of old Sheppey as well of the light railway.
