The Camber railway was a single line of 24-inch gauge approximately 3½ miles in length and was built during 1915 and 1916. It remained in use until the late 1920s.
The railway was required when in World War One the Admiralty installed a new communications system, a powerful spark transmitter with an array of high aerials that could be seen to dominate the horizon to the west of town. Unfortunately, during the first trials too much power was applied and many miles of wiring were burnt out. Modifications were made to the giant transmitters and so powerful were the resulting signals that they were picked up by the US Navy on patrol in the North Sea. To produce the massive amount of power required by the spark transmitter, its own steam generating plant had to be built. The narrow gauge railway supplied the coal to the generating station.
The line ran along the northern bank of the inner harbour from the Camber Depot at Navy Point to the station at Moody Brook.
To operate the railway two locomotives were built by Kerr Stuart and Co.Ltd of Stoke-on-Trent and shipped to the Falklands in 1915 by the firm of contractors, W. Cubitt and Company, which constructed the line. There were two KS “Wren” class locomotives (2388 & 2392 of 1915), these locomotives were of the earlier “Wren” type with low boiler, inside valve gear 6″ x 9″ cylinders, 0-4-0 ST and 20″ diameter wheels of 24″ gauge.
The invention of the wireless valve soon made the transmitter obsolete and the huge generators were no longer required. In the second half of the 1920s the railway fell into disuse and the two locomotives together with their wagons were pushed off the end of the jetty at Navy Point. The inshore end of this breakwater was a large scrap dump and over the years more junk was piled on the top until the locomotives and rolling stock virtually disappeared. The Royal Engineers undertook the recovery of both locos from the scrap dump in the mid 1980s and placed them in a container for safety. It was hoped that they could be restored and preserved but sadly they remain in the containers to this day.
On the 3p stamp you can see the old track road looking west towards Moody Brook.
The 24p stamp shows one of the two ‘Wren” locomotives at the jetty.
The 50p illustrates the loco with “Falkland Islands Express” on the tank, whilst the wooden bodies carry removable seats at each end for workmen.
The £2 stamp shows the early sail driven wagon, the wagons were rigged with a single lugsail but with a lever geared to the back axle to permit hand-powered movement against the wind.
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