This steam railmotor number 3 from Kitson of Leeds was introduced to the branch in April 1906, and seen here waiting at Westerham. In conjunction with the introduction of the railmotor, an unstaffed halt was built at Chevening accessed from the roadbridge by a steep flight of steps. Chevening halt had a short platform but ...
Reference: WH0112
Bill Curtis: “…I travelled with my father on the Westerham branch in the summer of 1959 and as we were the only passengers boarding the empty train at Dunton Green, we were invited by the driver to accompany him and his fireman in the cab for the journey – what a treat! Suffice it to ...
Reference: WH0113
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
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
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
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
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
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
Having taken over and closed Watkins’ Swan Brewery in Westerham, Ben Bushell had further ambitions seeing competition still present from the largest brewery based in Sevenoaks, Alfred Smith and Company. The first approach in 1898 was rejected by the then ageing Alfred Smith, but he was persuaded to sell by his son Percy, who no ...
Reference: WH0130
‘Q’ class 0-4-4 tank-engine number 136 is about to leave Westerham pulling a ‘birdcage’ set of coaches. This peculiar term was used to describe coaches with the little top-light window that the guard would use with a periscope viewer to look at the state of signals ahead – not so easy for the engine crew ...
Reference: WH0131
The tree line moving away from the main-line at Dunton Green is the overgrown track-bed of the Westerham branch-line photographed in September 2017. Fifty-five years without a weed-killing train produces a lot of growth.
Reference: WH0134
Obviously now with a much-elevated ground-level, what is now a tarmac footpath to the village school at Dunton Green was the track-bed of the branch-line going under the A224 London Road heading towards Dunton Green station junction.
Reference: WH0135
Trains leaving Dunton Green junction bound for Westerham would have chuffed under this roadbridge on the way to their first stop at Chevening Halt, slightly less than a mile away.
Reference: WH0140
Coming out of the subway and looking towards Dunton Green village across the fields reveals the original South Eastern and Chatham Railway cast-iron gateposts of 1881 still supporting the boundary fence wires demarcating the extent of railway land for the branch.
Reference: WH0143
Looking-up from the subway tunnel at the lower-level reveals the overgrown track-bed embankment curving away to the west of Dunton Green station over the top of the subway.
Reference: WH0145
This is the view of the entrance to the subway as seen by people walking across the field from Dunton Green village on their way to the station.
Reference: WH0147
This is the view out of the subway onto the field footpath that leads to Dunton Green village. Original South Eastern Railway railings and fence posts still exist identifying the boundary of what was ‘railway land’, not to be trespassed on.
Reference: WH0148
This subway at Dunton Green was built with the line in 1881 to allow passenger access from the village to Dunton Green station by walking under the branch-line. The branch has been closed for 57 years now, but the subway is still there and still in use. The row of trees beyond it in this ...
Reference: WH0151
Looking south-west across Dunton Green station carpark shows the overgrown track-bed of the branch-line curving away to the west in the direction of Chevening Halt, Brasted and Westerham.
Reference: WH0152
