Westerham railway station
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Westerham railway station served the village of
Westerham Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey. It is recorded as early ...
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 ...
from 1881 until its closure in 1961.


History

No railway was ever constructed all the way between
Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the traditio ...
and Redhill to parallel what is now the
A25 road The A25 road is an east–west main road in the South-East of England. Its carries traffic east from Guildford, Surrey, eastward through Surrey and into mid-west Kent, to the town of Sevenoaks, and then on to Wrotham Heath where it connects wit ...
and the
Pilgrims' Way The Pilgrims' Way (also Pilgrim's Way or Pilgrims Way) is the historical route supposedly taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. This name, of comparatively recent coinage ...
. Reasons for this may include: a) the
Redhill to Tonbridge Line Redhill may refer to: Places England * Redhill, Bournemouth, Dorset * Redhill, Herefordshire, a location * Redhill, Nottinghamshire * Redhill, Hook-a-Gate, Shropshire * Redhill, Sheriffhales, Shropshire * Redhill, Telford, a location in Shrops ...
had been built quite early in railway history and served the settlements between Redhill and
Godstone Godstone is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, east of Reigate at the junction of the A22 and A25 roads, near the M25 motorway and the North Downs. Godstone railway station is separated from it by agricultural land. Blindley H ...
, b) the difficult choice between boggy land in the valley bottom and the gradients encountered on the A25 route at
Limpsfield Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25.
and Nutfield, c) the "pull" of
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
which meant that the emphasis was on radial routes from the capital. However, in 1881 the Westerham Valley Railway Company built the Westerham Valley Branch Line from the
South Eastern Main Line The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are the ...
at
Dunton Green Dunton Green is a small village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It lies in the valley of the River Darent, north of the town of Sevenoaks. Dunton Green is designated as being part of the Kent Downs area of outstandin ...
to Westerham with one intermediate station at Brasted. The branch was built as
single track Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
with provision for double track as an ambitious extension to
Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is south south-east of Croydon in Greater London, west of Sevenoaks in Kent, and north of East Grinstead in West Sussex. Oxted ...
was envisaged. The South Eastern Railway took over the company soon after construction, itself becoming part of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1899. The Southern Railway took over responsibility for the line upon the railway grouping in 1923, followed by the Southern Region of British Railways upon nationalisation in 1948. The line was ostensibly closed in October 1961 as being unremunerative due to low patronageSubterranean Britannica's page on Westerham railway station
- Nick Catford - Accessed 8 September 2007
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 A21 at
Chevening Chevening House () is a large country house in the parish of Chevening in Kent, in Southeast England. Built between 1617 and 1630 to a design reputedly by Inigo Jones and greatly extended after 1717, it is a Grade I listed building. The surr ...
an overbridge across the now widened A21 Sevenoaks bypass. 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.Gould, D., "Westerham Valley Railway", Locomotion Papers no. 72, The Oakwood Press, Blandford, 1974, p. 28-29. Some 15 year later in 1976 the Southern section of the London Orbital motorway, the M25 was built over a proportion of the old line. 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.


Present day

The "Westerham Flyer" was the Class 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 Way
industrial estate An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...
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 an
embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...
and into nearby allotments.


Other stations

* Brasted * Chevening Halt *
Dunton Green Dunton Green is a small village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It lies in the valley of the River Darent, north of the town of Sevenoaks. Dunton Green is designated as being part of the Kent Downs area of outstandin ...


See also

* List of closed railway stations in Britain


References


External links


Westerham railway station on Subterranea Britannica


{{Closed stations Kent Disused railway stations in Kent Former South Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1881 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1961 1881 establishments in England Westerham