The removal of a short stretch of old rusting railway line has split a community in two.

Half of residents on the Isle of Sheppey are celebrating now that unwary cyclists will no longer run the risk of being thrown into the path of thundering lorries.

But the other half is mourning the loss of another part of Island history which dated back 150 years.

The tracks crossed Brielle Way at Blue Town and led into Sheerness Docks. For years they were also part of a network serving Sheerness steelworks.

In its hey day, steam trains sometime loaded with ammunition, would rumble across the road and pass through giant steel gates into the former Royal Dockyard.

In fact, diesel trains were still performing the deadly mission as recently as 1982 taking bombs to ships en route to Gibraltar for the Falklands War.

Now the tracks have been dug up and removed for good.

Iris Adams of Minster admitted: "I'm glad they've gone. Years ago I came off my bicycle there. My wheel went into the gaps and I was thrown into the road.

"A driver coming round the bend behind me fortunately had time to brake otherwise he would have driven over me. But he still went into shock thinking he could have killed me.

"There were many other cyclists and motorbike riders who came off there. One rider ended up being thrown off and sliding under a lorry. That lorry driver was so shaken up he never drove again. "

But Clifford Ball, a mechanical engineer from Sheerness who studied at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard, said: "It’s a crying shame. We should all be very proud and fight to preserve the Island’s brilliant maritime heritage. So much has been lost to the bulldozer.

"This was the railway line which connected Sheerness Royal Dockyard to the outside world. The dockyard is steeped in British maritime history. It served the Royal Navy and the nation for the best part of 300 years before its closure in 1960."

Norman Sells, a former signal engineer at British Rail, thinks the part of the track left should be cleaned and an information board installed so their importance can be shared.

He said: "All it needs is for some volunteers to tidy up the cobbles and clean that stretch of trackbed to preserve what's left. An information board could be installed to remind and inform people what part that rail line played in the history of the dockyard."

He added: "What is needed is a large mural painted on the steel gates in the dockyard wall where the track goes to give the impression of what lay beyond the gates. We just need to keep our history alive."

Former Royal Navy sailor Dave Parsons recalled: "They were used to bring in explosives during the Falklands War. I was working on the tugs in the docks at the time. Each berth had a limit of what the ships could load."

Retired heating engineer John Stockham once rode the train when he worked at the former Sheerness Steel over the road.

He said: "I only rode it into the docks once. It was very frightening. It would derail and pop back in. I had a set of keys for the (level crossing) gates for years."

Andrea Raee said: "I remember seeing a steam train on that track. It seemed like a huge monster to me as a child. Probably because there was no platform to cover its wheels."

But not everyone had wistful memories.

Paul Crockford, writing on Facebook's Sheppey History Page said: "I can’t believe people are moaning about losing history. It's 20 yards of boring rail track across a road. The access into the dockyard remains - and that’s far more interesting and worthy of saving. The rails were a danger. Fortunately, I never came off my bike going over them but I nearly did on a couple of occasions.

"The safest way to cross them, especially when wet, was to ride over them at 90 degrees. But because of the angle, that meant riding towards the middle of the road. You therefore had the option of either riding in front of traffic or keeping to the edge of the road which then raised the possibility of slipping on the rails. They should have been removed years ago."

Swale and Kent councillor Cameron Beart said: "Contractors Conway did a brilliant job to get this project completed and to a good standard. It was always part of the port masterplan that any future rail operation would be from a railhead within the Wellmarsh site and that was part of the reason for building a new bridge across the road. This line was never going to function again."

But he added: "I do think the rest of the track leading to the dockyard gate should be cleared, cleaned and maintained to a higher standard."

An update on the crossing was given at Swale council's Sheppey Area Committee earlier this week.