The railway archive

One railway.
Two fleets.

The Historic Dockyard registers document the naval railway and its vehicles. A separate fleet list follows the railway that volunteers care for today.

Explore the registers

CHATHAM HISTORIC DOCKYARD RAILWAYDOCKYARD HISTORY · CHDR TODAY

01Naval Dockyard · historic records

The Dockyard
registers.

These are records of vehicles used by the Royal Naval Dockyard. They include engines, cranes and wagons that left Chatham or were scrapped, as well as the machines that survived.

01Available now

Narrow-gauge
locomotives

18-inch gauge steam and paraffin engines recorded at Chatham.

Open register 02Available now

Standard-gauge
steam locomotives

Thirty engines, from early tramway locomotives to AJAX.

Open register 03Available now

Standard-gauge
diesel locomotives

Nine Dockyard engines, including the Kentish castle fleet.

Open register 04Available now

Steam cranes

Six Grafton locomotive cranes, with works numbers, Dockyard numbers and surviving histories.

Open register

05Coming soon

Standard-gauge
wagons

The wagons that carried stores and materials around the Dockyard.

In preparation

06Coming soon

Narrow-gauge
wagons

Wagons and vehicles of the Dockyard’s 18-inch railway.

In preparation

02Building the archive

Historic registers are being assembled from surviving records and ongoing research. Where details are uncertain, the register will say so.

03CHDR · the railway today

What runs
today.

The present-day railway is a different chapter from the naval vehicle registers. Its fleet list focuses on vehicles kept and used by CHDR today, with current condition and role clearly shown.

View the current fleet