Chattenden and Upnor Railway. A late nineteenth and early twentieth century military narrow gauge railway, connecting Chattenden Barracks (Monument 1545088; TQ 7554 7208) and Chattenden Magazines (Monument 1481790; TQ 7534 7295) with the Royal Naval Ordnance Depot at Upnor (Monument 1543146; TQ 7589 7077) and Pontoon Hard (TQ 7579 7008) on the Medway. The line, also known as the Lodge Hill and Upnor Railway, was constructed by the Royal Engineers beginning in 1873, when it ran as far north as Chattenden Magazines. In about 1892 the railway was extended eastwards into the Lodge Hill enclosure. In the early years of the twentieth century, this extension formed the central spine of the Royal Naval Armament Depot (Monument 1077634), with internal spurs serving the magazines, stores and laboratory. In about 1905 the railway was connected, via a transfer point in the Lodge Hill Depot, to the Chattenden Naval Tramway (recorded separately Monument 1545591) and thereby linked with the main line at Sharnal Street to the east (TQ 7885 7421). (1)

At its fullest extent, the Chattenden and Upnor Railway was nearly 6km long, running from the Medway at Pontoon Hard (TQ 7579 7008), via Church Crossing at Upnor (TQ 7574 7096), to Chattenden Barracks (TQ 7552 7204), Chattenden Magazines (TQ 7511 7271), through the Lodge Hill Depot (TQ 7566 7332 to TQ 7733 7391). The railway was used during the Second World War, although traffic declined after the end of the war, and it closed in 1961. The road from Chattenden Magazines to Upnor (Lochat Road and Upchat Road) follows the course of the railway.

The railway as it existed in the Second World War has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. (2-6)

The English Heritage monuments database contains a record of another railway, the Strood and Sharnal Street Branch Railway (Monument 1358009; Linear 840), on the eastern part of the course of the Chattenden and Upnor Railway, and it is possible that that record refers to the same railway as the one described above. However, the southern extent of the Strood and Sharnal Street Branch between Lodge Hill and Strood, as shown on the Monument record layer of the corporate GIS, does not match that of the Chattenden and Upnor Railway and does not appear to coincide with any railway noted on the Ordnance Survey map. The source of the record for the Strood and Sharnal Street Branch Railway is unclear. (7)

<1> Peter Higginbotham, Higginbotham, Peter. 2000. The Workhouse. (Website). SKE53741.

<2> RAF, 1942, NMR RAF/HLA/617 6-100-6-101 20-JUN-1942 (Photograph). SKE56029.

<3> USAAF?, 1944, NMR US/7GR/LOC348 2064-5 27-MAY-1944 (Photograph). SKE56027.

<4> RAF, 1947, NMR RAF/CPE/UK/1923 3086 16-JAN-1947 (Photograph). SKE56030.

<5> RAF, 1947, NMR RAF/CPE/UK/1923 4082-4 16-JAN-1947 (Photograph). SKE56031.

<6> RAF, 1950, NMR RAF/541/591 4029 29-JUN-1950 (Photograph). SKE56032.