Westerham's Buffer Depot beside the railway
Early on in the war, the Ministry of Food and the Ministry of Supply formed reserve or ‘buffer’ depots from within Command to feed the civilian population, and it often became necessary to share railheads, such as at Westerham, where the Ministry of Supply built a large ‘buffer’ food supply depot, alongside where 6 AA [Anti Aircraft] Division had an ammunition depot and where later 12 MSD [Movement Supply Depot] found it necessary to construct their warehouses.
The sharing of the railhead between civilian trains and military supply didn’t cause any particular conflict, perhaps due to the fact that the Railway Traffic Officers – with whom the ministries and the military installations had to negotiate – did their utmost to comply.
This aerial photograph taken in 1940 shows the railway top left with the semi-circular food-supply ‘buffer depot’ alongside and adjacent, three long warehouses used by 12-unit Movement Supply Depot.
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