The Davington Light Railway (TR 0091 6176 - TR 0028 6459), was opened in November 1916 and operated by the Admiralty to link the town of Faversham with the Uplees explosives works (TQ 96 NE 9). The line was 3km in length, built as a single track with a passing loop at Oare and a gauge of 3' 3". The railway was built primarily to provide a reliable all year round transport system for the employees at the works, but it was also used to move goods to and from a road interchange at the Davington terminus. The end of the Great War brought to an end the need for large quantities of explosives and by 1920 the Uplees works had closed and the railway was sold by auction (1a). Few traces of the short-lived Davington Light Railway may be found today. The Davington terminus lay in the angle between Bysing Wood Road and Priory Road - TR 0091 6176, with an embankment to the south west and east. The area of the yard has until recently been occupied as a farm yard (now derelict) and no traces of buildings associated with the railway were found. From the terminus the line headed northwards to Oare village but immediately north of the station the line has been lost beneath a modern housing estate and light industrial premises. The line crossed Oare Creek by a wooden bridge and after crossing the road the route followed the contour of the valley bottom beneath the village. This section may be followed as a modern track from TR 0072 6282, part of which is fenced by utilised light railway track. The line then passed through a tunnel at TR 0070 6319, dated 1916, beneath Church Road (RCHME ground photograph negative 151/G/32). From this point the line may be followed as a farm track west of Court Lodge farm and then northwards into the Uplees explosives factories. The depiction of the course of the railway is correct for 1:2500 mapping purposes (1). Additional references (3,4). Site photographs (4-6).

Historic Enlgand archive material: 662290 Faversham Explosives Industry, Kent In 1991, RCHME Keele carried out a basic investigation of the remains of the gunpowder and explosives industry in Faversham as a background to the Oare Gunpowder Works survey and to enhance the NMR record.Contents : 4 plans, ground photography, 68 prints, supporting materialCondition : SATISFACTORY

<1> Wayne Cocroft/19-NOV-1991/ RCHME: Faversham's Explosives Industry (OS Card Reference). SKE51279.

<2> Minter Taylor M.1968. Davington Light Railway. Oxford. (OS Card Reference). SKE47218.

<3> RCHME/NMR, 1996, RCHME : Faversham Explosives Industry (Collection). SKE6479.

<4> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9536.

<5> 1941, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10013.

<6> 1998, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10202.