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You are here: Home>Community>Transport and Travel

Transport and Travel

Westerham's branch line was opened in 1881 and closed in 1961, so didn't even make its centenary!  It is often assumed that this was the result of a Dr Beeching purge, but he did not take up that responsibility until 1965. The Westerham branch-line closure was the subject of a much darker story surrounding an order from the then Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples. At the time of closure there were 200 season-ticket holders who never received a bean in compensation...
Many of these photographs date from between the wars. For an overview of the history of the Westerham line click here.
For a small video on the line when running click here.

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  • 'Pride of Westerham'

    'Pride of Westerham'

    Photographed behind the Warde Arms in the High Street, John and Mary Townsend were owners of the ‘Pride of Westerham’ a much coveted coach-and-four. The date is 1891 and the photograph was taken by Arthur Thomas Deane, who had his photographic studio at the top of London Road. John Townsend was a highly respected Gentleman ...
    Reference: WH0121
  • 0-4-4 SECR Q Class Loco

    0-4-4 SECR Q Class Loco

    With the formation of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Management Committee in 1899, travelling conditions for passengers began to improve on the Westerham branch line. There were new locomotives in lined Brunswick green and new six-wheeled carriages as well. The elderly Cudworth engines previously used on the branch were replaced with James Stirling’s class ...
    Reference: WH0167
  • 1935 Crown Hotel & Station

    1935 Crown Hotel & Station

    Reference: WH0095
  • 1937 Green Line Coach advertisement

    1937 Green Line Coach advertisement

    Clive Gardiner designed this advert in 1937 for the Green Line Coach Company. In an eye-catching naive but colourful style, it shows Elm View Mill beside the Round Pond in Mill Lane at the west-end of town. For more information, click here
    Reference: 0081
  • Aerial shot of the Railway and Buffer Depot

    Aerial shot of the Railway and Buffer Depot

    This aerial photograph taken circa 1947 shows the railway with the ‘Buffer Depot’ of a large Nissen Hut and several sheds just visible under the wing-strut of the plane. Buffer Depots were where rationed food supplies, building materials and fuel were stored. An important element of the branch line’s social and commercial history, depots such ...
    Reference: WH0115
  • Arthur Finch and car in Rysted Lane

    Arthur Finch and car in Rysted Lane

    Peter Finch “My dad wasn’t a rich man but he looked after his pennies. He worked for the two Doctors, Hay and Cotton. He split his week between them, as a gardener for Dr Hay and a groom for Dr Cotton. He only got labourer’s wages, about two pounds a week, but he’d put something ...
    Reference: WH0164
  • Arthur Finch as Dr. Hay's chauffeur at Borde Hill circa 1932

    Arthur Finch as Dr. Hay's chauffeur at Borde Hill circa 1932

    Alongside being Dr. Hay’s gardener, Arthur Finch appears to have become his chauffeur as well, probably in the early 1930s when Dr. Cotton retired. Here he is standing on the front drive of Dr. Hay’s house, then called ‘Borde Hill’ on Vicarage Hill (now renamed as ‘Old Mill Leat’). Rosemary Pearson recalls  “…Doctor Hay’s daughter Jean moved ...
    Reference: WH0165
  • Black Eagle Motor Dray and drivers

    Black Eagle Motor Dray and drivers

    The first motor dray employed by the Black Eagle brewery was a 1921 ‘Peerless’ originally built for troop carrying in the first World War. Note this example has no windscreen!  Draymen Frank ‘Cracky’ Blake and Jim Obediah Waterhouse would have suffered a chilly journey quite often.   Previous drays had been road locomotives (Traction-engines) preceded by horse-drawn ...
    Reference: WH0133
  • Brasted station garden sign

    Brasted station garden sign

    Clearly an example of ‘time on your hands’, the attractive station garden opposite the platform at Brasted. With one train an hour, plenty of time to do the weeding.
    Reference: WH0118
  • Brasted station goods yard gates and proximity to M25

    Brasted station goods yard gates and proximity to M25

    The proximity to the M25 is clearly seen here. The station building at Brasted stood where the hard-shoulder is now and the trackbed would be under the inside-lane. The goods yard site is now in private ownership as a gated storage area.
    Reference: WH0124
  • Brasted station goods yard, remains of coal staithes

    Brasted station goods yard, remains of coal staithes

    In amongst the undergrowth right beside the M25 on the site of Brasted Station goods yard, the remains of the coal staithe posts, though the boards have rotted away. As well as fuel for the locomotives, coal was sold from this yard to residents from the village by George Alderson, the local coal merchant who ...
    Reference: WH0127
  • Brasted Station Masters house

    Brasted Station Masters house

    At Brasted, a house was built adjacent to the station for the Station Master, as the site was fairly remote, being a good half-mile away from the village in a somewhat wooded area. Built in 1883, the cost of the house at that time was £560.
    Reference: WH0129
  • Brasted station staff on platform with dog

    Brasted station staff on platform with dog

    Brasted station master Mr. E.W. Howard poses with two of his staff around 1912.  By 1924 Brasted and Westerham had lost their station masters and the whole branch was now managed by the Dunton Green station master Frederick William Brockman.
    Reference: WH0114
  • Coal Advertisement from Hookers Almanack

    Coal Advertisement from Hookers Almanack

    A 1903 advertisement for Benjamin Horton, the local coal and timber merchant. Horton’s coal office still survives on the old station site at the edge of London Road, currently housing a barber’s shop (2019).
    Reference: WH0111
  • Flyer farewell journey at Brasted

    Flyer farewell journey at Brasted

    An afternoon train photographed at Brasted station on the last day of services, October 28th 1961. Adorned with a Union Jack, someone had chalked on the boiler plate door “Farewell to the Flyer  1881 – 1961” the Westerham Valley Railway, come and gone in only eighty years…
    Reference: WH0154
  • Flyer farewell journey, 4 coaches

    Flyer farewell journey, 4 coaches

    On October 30th 2011 the Spa Valley Railway simulated the final days of the Westerham Valley Railway to commemorate 50 years since the closure of the branch line. Here a train of four coaches recreates the final day of services, Saturday October 28th 1961 appearing to chuff its way past Chevening Halt heading for Brasted.  ...
    Reference: WH0153
  • Gate at Brasted Station Masters House

    Gate at Brasted Station Masters House

    Reference: WH0128
  • Goods Yard crane base, Westerham station site, view towards goods yard

    Goods Yard crane base, Westerham station site, view towards goods yard

    Reference: WH0171
  • Goods Yard crane base, Westerham station site, view towards station and The Crown

    Goods Yard crane base, Westerham station site, view towards station and The Crown

    Reference: WH0170
  • Goods Yard Crane in use at Westerham

    Goods Yard Crane in use at Westerham

    During the early 1960s there was an attempt to reopen the line by a body who formed themselves as the Westerham Valley Railway Association. Here we see two members of the ‘ganging team’ working on a plate-layer’s trolly in 1962.
    Reference: WH0180
  • H Class loco no 31263 Westerham Station

    H Class loco no 31263 Westerham Station

    Introduced in the early 1930s, ‘H’ Class locomotives were popular amongst the crews from Tonbridge shed. Being of 0-4-4T wheel configuration and tank-engines (no tender), they were stable and easy to manoeuvre  in both directions, there being no turntable on the line.
    Reference: WH0116
  • H Class loco no 31517 Westerham Station

    H Class loco no 31517 Westerham Station

    This locomotive worked out of Tonbridge shed between January 1950 to October 1951 and then again between June 1955 to June 1961. It was ‘Push-and-Pull’ fitted in December 1949. This meant the driver could operate the controls (Regulator, Reverser and Brake) from a compartment at the back end of the train, meaning time was saved ...
    Reference: WH0117
  • H Class loco no 31530 Westerham Station

    H Class loco no 31530 Westerham Station

    This locomotive worked out of Tonbridge shed between July 1953 to June 1956 and then again between March 1961 to the end of operations in October 1961. It was ‘Push-and-Pull’ fitted in June 1953 for branch-line use.
    Reference: WH0120
  • Jolly Boys charabanc in market square

    Jolly Boys charabanc in market square

    The 1920s were relatively hard times due to national recovery being slow after the First World War and annual holidays had not really become established for poorer workers, so a day’s outing to the seaside was a rare treat and all that some workers with large families could afford. “Jolly Boys” charabanc trips were usually ...
    Reference: WH0157
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