Celebrating Railway 200 with the Signal Box Cafe at Hollingbourne Station, Sunday 19th October.
Author: Gary Outram
Medway’s Life In Miniature On Wednesday 17th September we joined a number of other organisations at Medway Archives Centre to celebrate Railway 200 and Heritage Open Days at the “Medway’s life in miniature” exhibition. Among the other local groups and organisations attending were: Chatham and District Model Railway Club Medway Aircraft Preservation Society The Guildhall…
Rehoming Abandoned Bikes with Maidstone CAN and Making a Difference to Maidstone Earlier this year, Taylor Edwards at Southeastern introduced us to a pile of abandoned bikes in storage at Maidstone West station. In years gone by, these were passed on to the YMCA at Tonbridge, to support a scheme to allow young people to…
Paddock Wood Station’s Birthday Celebrations, 28th August 2025 Railway 200 continues to see us mark our station’s birthdays, bringing Community Rail to the attention of more people in the communities where we work. It was an early start, Southeastern’s Paddock Wood station team wanted to ensure the celebrations could be enjoyed by both their regular…
Ashford Depot Open Day, Sunday 24 August 2025 Southeastern’s Exclusive Railway 200 Depot Open Day celebrated 200 years of the passenger railway in the UK; Southeastern opened the doors to their train maintenance depot in Ashford for one very special day. The unique event was hosted by the Southeastern engineering team. Chris Anthony, Dominic…
Supporting the Muslim Hikers along the North Downs Way, Wye to Canterbury, Sat 16th August 2025 Kent CRP regularly works in collaboration with Kent Downs National Lanscape’s ‘Putting Down Routes’ project, to bring under-represented groups into the Kent Downs, grow sustainable tourism to the area, and extend the typical summer tourist season to all year…
19th July 2025 Queenborough Station & Castle Connections On Saturday 19th July, we came together for a day of activities and celebration to mark Rail 200 (the 200th anniversary of passenger rail travel) and Queenborough Station’s 165th Birthday! Cycle Recycle With thanks to Swale Borough Council for organising Cycle Recycle, there were early queues for…
Black Girls Hike Guided Walk, Saturday 26th July Working in collaboration with Kent Downs National Lanscape’s ‘Putting Down Routes’ project, Kent CRP undertook rail safety training and a guided walk on the Kent Downs Way for Black Girls Hike. Together we aim to bring more sustainable tourism to the area and extend the typical summer…
Maidstone River Festival, 26th July 2025 Following an invitation from the Rotary Club of Maidstone, we set up a promotional stall in the gardens of the Archbishop’s Palace at the Maidstone River Festival. We had leaflets for Railcards, Accessible Travel Services, walking and cycling maps of Kent towns, a wide range of walks from the…
Inspiration – The Railway 200 Exhibition Train Margate 20-21 July 2025 The Railway 200 exhibition train, Inspiration, visited Margate station 20-21 July, an unique exhibition train, part of a national celebration of the 200th anniversary of the modern railway. In addition to the train’s exhibition carriages, a special event at Margate station saw Kent CRP…
10.30, 3rd July 2025 Sheerness Station THE SINGING TRAIN To celebrate 200 years of train travel, since the first passenger journey on 27th September 1825, EKC Sheppey Secondary School decided to create a very special event. EKC Sheppey Secondary School is station adopter to all 5 stations along the Swale Rail Line (Sheerness, Queenborough, Swale,…
South Eastern Railway Stakeholder Forum, 15th July 2025 We were delighted to accept an invitation to attend the South Eastern Railway Stakeholder Forum on Tuesday 15th July, to hear updates and announcements from Southeastern and Network Rail about their integrated working group. Please find below a summary of our notes from the meeting. ….
Rail 200 Queenborough Station & Green The Procession On the morning of the 17th July, over 200 pupils from Queenborough Primary School brought along special Rail 200 artwork and took part in a big procession from the Station onto the Green, creating a “200” to mark “Rail 200” and Queenborough Station’s 165th Birthday. Rail 200…
Train Travel Training and Sustainable Tourism Guided Walk Charing to Lenham, 5 June 2025 Working in collaboration with Kent Downs National Lanscape’s ‘Putting Down Routes’ project, Kent CRP undertook train travel training and a guided this walk on the Kent Downs Way for 9 English for Speakers of Other Languages students and 3 of…
Celebrating Strood Station’s 169th Birthday On Wednesday 18th June we joined Southeastern to celebrate Strood station’s 169th birthday. School groups from St James the Great Academy and laddingford School were treated to free pencils, rulers and other goodies from the Southeastern and Kent Community Rail Partenership stalls. The fun atmosphere continued throughout the afternoon,…
Maidstone’s Big Day Out Rail Ramble, Saturday 14th June 2025 Working in collaboration with Maidstone’s Big Day Out, Kent CRP guided this walk along the river Medway from Wateringbury into the town centre, one of many events taking place that day to celebrate Maidstone’s Big Day Out. At the station another group of around…
10.30 – 12noon, 3rd July 2025 Leaving from Sheerness Station 🎶 Rail 200: The Singing Train 🚆A Celebration of 200 Years of Passenger Rail Travel in the UK Join us for a truly unforgettable journey as we celebrate Rail 200—the bicentenary of passenger rail travel in the UK—with a magical musical experience like no other! In a joyful…
Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th May Kent CRP had a fantastic time with a pop-up stand at the Faversham Festival of Transport. It was a busy weekend, spanning Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th May, with the Faversham streets filled with inspiring vintage vehicles. We were lucky enough to be located in the Mayor’s Parlour in…
Celebrating Tonbridge Station’s 183rd Birthday On Thursday 22nd May, we joined Southeastern, Southeast Communities CRP and The Oaks Specialist College to celebrate Tonbridge station’s 183rd birthday and Community Rail Week. Our stall had promotional materials for our projects and activites, tote bags, pens and other freebies to help us engage with passengers as they passed…
Annual Stakeholder Event, 30th April 2025 We were delighted to welcome our stakeholders, partners, members and volunteers to our Annual Stakeholder Event, on Wednesday 30th April at Maidstone Town Hall. The event provides an opportunity to showcase our achievements to our stakeholders, and to celebrate the contributions of our volunteers. People Powered Movement and…