The Isle of Sheppey sits just off the north coast of Kent, where the Medway and Thames estuaries flow into the North Sea. Over the centuries this location has featured farmland, castles, beaches, a dockyard, an air station and industrial installations. In The Railways of the Isle of Sheppey the author, Graeme Gleaves, seeks to tell the story of the railways on the island. He follows their construction and development, how they were run, and charts the changing times over the following decades.
To serve the needs of the island a small railway line, The Sheerness Line, was built which ran from Sittingbourne to Sheerness. The line opened in July 1860 and the main expense during construction was the building of a bridge over the Swale, which had to open to allow access for shipping. Over time the railway network expanded, and as well as building the Sheppey Light Railway, there was also an urban tram network. The network kept going until economics got the better of it and from there on it became a story of contractions and closure. The Island still boasts a railway today, but it is far removed from the story of its past.
A concise history of the island is followed by chapters covering in detail the history of the railways on the island up to the present day.
99 black & white and 91 colour images. Hardback. 176 pages.