Hothfield railway station (later Hothfield Halt) was a railway station on the Maidstone Line at

Hothfield Hothfield is a village and civil parish in the Ashford Borough of Kent, England and is 3 miles north-west of Ashford on the A20. It is completely split in two by Hothfield Common. Geography In the north west is Hothfield Common, 58 hectares (1 ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. It was situated between Ashford and stations. The station opened in 1884; it closed to passengers in 1959 and general freight in 1964 although the sidings continued to be used for deliveries of aggregate traffic.

History

Hothfield station was opened by the

London, Chatham and Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London and no ...

on 1 July 1884, when the railway between and opened. From 1 January 1899, passenger trains ran to and from the former South Eastern Railway's Ashford station. In 1922, weekday passenger services comprised ten down and nine up trains. Four trains ran in each direction on Sundays. The station was listed as "Hothfield for Westwell". From 6 January 1935, eleven trains served the station daily. On 25 September 1937, the station was reduced to an unstaffed halt. From 2 July 1939, an hourly service was provided. During the Second World War the station buildings were damaged by enemy action. The station closed to passengers on 2 November 1959, and freight on 22 February 1964, as it was deemed uneconomical to improve the station to cater for electrification of the Maidstone line. but the platforms remained and were used by railway staff until the 1980s. The signal box at Hothfield remained in use until 28 April 1984, and then served as a

ground frame Mechanical railway signalling installations rely on lever frames for their operation to interlock the signals, track locks and points to allow the safe operation of trains in the area the signals control. Usually located in the signal box, th ...

until 16 February 1985. Freight facilities comprised four sidings on the down side of the station, one of which served a

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...

. A crane of 1

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

15 cwt (1,800 kg) capacity was provided.

References

;Sources * *

External links

Signal diagram for Hothfield
{{Closed stations Kent Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1884 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1959 Disused railway stations in Kent Former London, Chatham and Dover Railway stations Transport in the Borough of Ashford 1884 establishments in England 1959 disestablishments in England