Westerham | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Location | Westerham,Sevenoaks England |
| Grid reference | TQ448544 |
| Platforms | 1 |
| Other information | |
| Status | Disused |
| History | |
| Pre-grouping | South Eastern Railway SECR |
| Post-grouping | Southern Railway Southern Region of British Railways |
| Key dates | |
| 3 July 1881[1] | Opened |
| 30 October 1961[1] | Closed |
Westerham railway station served the village ofWesterham inKent from 1881 until its closure in 1961.
No railway was ever constructed all the way betweenSevenoaks andRedhill to parallel what is now theA25 road and thePilgrims' Way. Reasons for this may include: a) theRedhill to Tonbridge Line had been built quite early in railway history and served the settlements between Redhill andGodstone, b) the difficult choice between boggy land in the valley bottom and the gradients encountered on the A25 route atLimpsfield andNutfield, c) the "pull" ofLondon which meant that the emphasis was on radial routes from the capital.
However, in 1881 theWesterham Valley Railway Company built theWesterham Valley Branch Line from theSouth Eastern Main Line atDunton Green to Westerham with one intermediate station atBrasted. The branch was built assingle track with provision fordouble track as an ambitious extension toOxted was envisaged. TheSouth Eastern Railway took over the company soon after construction, itself becoming part of theSouth Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1899. TheSouthern Railway took over responsibility for the line upon therailway grouping in 1923, followed by theSouthern Region ofBritish Railways upon nationalisation in 1948.
The line was ostensibly closed in October 1961 as being unremunerative due to low patronage[1] and was the subject of a preservation attempt by the Westerham Valley Railway Association. The Association had succeeded in obtaining a lease of Westerham Station from British Rail in April 1962 and had carried out maintenance works. Just after this it was purchased from British Rail by Kent County Council under the terms of compulsory purchase; the Council demolished the road bridge at Chevening in order to build the A21 Sevenoaks Bypass. Whilst the Council was happy to lease the line to the Association this was on condition that the Association had to raise the required funds to construct an overbridge for the now widened A21 atChevening. The Association was unable to meet the costs of constructing the overbridge and the Council promptly in-filled the section, effectively cutting the line in two. The station buildings were later demolished and track lifted by March 1967.[2] Some 15 year later in 1976 the Southern section of the London Orbital motorway, theM25 was built over a proportion of the old line.[1] This closure was coincident with the removal of all steam services in the Kent area following the completion of a number of major electrification schemes.
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | British Railways Southern Region Westerham branch | Brasted |
The "Westerham Flyer" was theClass H 0-4-4T No. 31518 locomotive which pulled the morning trains on the last day of service on Saturday 26 October 1961. The Flyers Wayindustrial estate covers the footprint of the former station site and goods yard and is named after this locomotive, and backs on to original railway cottages. There is no plaque to commemorate the station's history, the only reminder of it being the base of the goods yard crane which is situated on a grass verge near the entrance to the site. It is, however, possible to trace the line of the trackbed eastwards around the site, past the railway cottages on anembankment and into nearby allotments.
51°16′13″N0°04′28″E / 51.27036°N 0.07431°E /51.27036; 0.07431