The Mid Kent & North Kent Junction Railway (usually referred to as the Mid Kent Railway) was an early railway in

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 ...

England. (Note the name is given both with and without the hyphen in different sources.)

History

Origins

The Mid Kent Railway was formed on 23 July 1855 to construct a 4.75-mile line between the South Eastern Railway (SER) at

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

and the Farnborough Extension of the

West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway The West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway (WELCPR) was an early railway company in south London between Crystal Palace station and Wandsworth, which was opened in 1856. The line was extended in 1858 to a station at Battersea Wharf near t ...

(WEL&CPR) at

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

, later renamed Beckenham Junction. The intention then was to extend this line to

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

at a later date. The line opened 1 January 1857 and was operated by the SER under a ten-year agreement.

Addiscombe Line

Although the company later abandoned its intention of building a line to Croydon, an

extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * E ...

to "Croydon (Addiscombe Road)" from through was completed in 1862 which was also leased to the SER on completion.

Dissolution

The remaining interests of the company were taken over by the SER in August 1866.

The Crays Company

In 1856 an Act was passed authorising the Mid-Kent (Bromley & St Mary Cray) Railway to construct a 4 mile line between the WEL&CPR terminus at "Bromley" (now ) and . The MK(B&SMC)R was commonly called The Crays Company. It was assumed that the Crays line would be operated by the SER in conjunction with the Lewisham to Beckenham line, and eventually acquired by them. But the shareholders heard that the SER was planning a competing line and transferred their allegiance to the

East Kent Railway The East Kent Railway (EKR) was an early railway operating between Strood and Faversham in Kent, England, during 1858 and 1859. In the latter year it changed its name to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway to reflect its ambitions to build a ...

(EKR). After negotiation with the EKR, the Crays Company only built the line from the WEL&CPR at Bromley to "Southborough Road" (). St Mary Cray to Southborough Road was built by the EKR as part of their Western Extension from Strood. The Crays line was leased to the

London, Chatham & 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 ...

(LC&DR, successor to the EKR) in 1862.

Thus despite the similarity of name, the Mid Kent and North Kent Junction Railway and the Mid-Kent (Bromley & St Mary Cray) Railway remained separate and independent until absorbed by the SER and LC&DR respectively.

Legacy

The Lewisham – Elmers End and the Shortlands – St Mary Cray sections now form parts of the

Hayes line The Mid-Kent line (also referred to as the Hayes line by train operators, official bodies and the general public) is a British railway line running from Courthill Loop North junction (just south of Lewisham station) to Hayes railway station in t ...

and the

Chatham Main Line The Chatham Main Line is a railway line in England that links London VictoriaQuail Map 5 – England South ages 2–13Sept 2002 (Retrieved 14 December 2011) and Dover Priory / Ramsgate, travelling via Medway (of which the town of Chatham is ...

, respectively.

References

{{reflist Early British railway companies Railway companies established in 1855 Railway lines opened in 1857 Railway companies disestablished in 1866 1855 establishments in England British companies established in 1855