It is with great sadness that the Isle of Wight Steam Railway reports that Kim Chalkley passed away on the 18th September after a short illness. Our sympathy goes out to his widow Pam and family at this sad time.

Kim became involved in the development of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway as a volunteer in 1966, later moving to one of the cottages beside the railway at Havenstreet. He worked on numerous aspects of improving and maintaining the railway, including being Head of Carriage and Wagon restoration for many years, Guard and full-time Estates Manager, a post he held for the last eight years. Many will know that Kim was instrumental in the establishing the Camping & Caravan Club site at Havenstreet Station, his role as site warden being much appreciated by many visitors. Over the past decade he had been restoring a LBSCR carriage retrieved from a house near Chichester, financed by his selling of second hand books and magazines from the restored compartments.

For a number of years Kim also worked on three mainland steam railways, the Bluebell, South Devon and Gwili railways. He appeared in the remake of the Railway Children, filmed on the Bluebell Railway, as the Ticket Collector. He also enjoyed appearing at Railway Children events in the role of the "Old Gentleman".

In May 2004 Kim was Guard of the Royal Train and was introduced to The Queen when she visited the Railway to open the new Carriage & Wagon workshop. As ever the consumate professional, it was a very proud moment for a very proud man.

IWSR Commercial Director Jim Loe paid tribute to Kim, who he had known since 1971. “He did a vast amount of work over the years in many different fields, from restoration of carriages to painting station benches,” he said. “Kim was a real character, a big player in the team and he will be very sadly missed. He made an enormous contribution to the building up of this major tourist attraction from the days when we did not know what the future had in store for it. Like for like, you can’t replace Kim. People like him don’t grow on trees.”

The funeral service is at the Isle of Wight Crematorium at 11.15am on Friday 28th September followed by a gathering at the railway in Granny Winter's Pantry from 12.15pm onwards, to which all friends and colleagues are invited . Pam and the family have asked that, in lieu of floral tributes, donations can be made to the IW Earl Mountbatten Hospice. Donations should be sent via William Hall Funeral Directors, Springbank, Winford Road, Newchurch, Sandown, PO36 0JX.