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 marks the 200 year anniversary of rail passenger travel and they had created their own open-top carriages and filled it with people waving and celebrating this new milestone in travel.
Vicky Wright, a project officer for Kent CRP who devised the exercise, said: “It was amazing. The children were so well behaved.
“Each one made an 1825-style open railway carriage and filled them with passengers. Then they took part in a huge procession around the green to mark out 200 on the grass.”
She added: “It was a little warm-up for the official birthday of Queenborough station which will be 165 years old on Saturday.”
Hannah O’Connor, art lead at the school, who was in charge of more than 240 youngsters said: “We love being creative at Queenborough. When I explained this, everyone wanted to get on board. It was so nice to be able to celebrate Queenborough station’s birthday and 200 years of passenger rail travel. It was a collaborative project involving the whole school. Thursday was absolutely brilliant.”
Linda Brinklow, who chairs the Swale Rail section of the Kent Community Rail Partnership, said: “This is all about celebrating the history of our rail service.
“We are encouraging people to return to using rails and once again begin letting the trains take the strain.”
Congratulations to all the pupils who took part from Queenborough Primary School and their stunning artwork.
The event was wonderfully filmed by Drone Videographer David Wood (email: thebeardycreative@gmail.com), with photography and ground based videography by John Nurden (The Sheppey Scene).
