Westerham, + Weald. Tarmac surface for the platform

[manna]

G'day Gents

 

I thought for the moment, that the last pic WAS the M25 !!

 

manna

[bigherb]

G'day Gents

 

I thought for the moment, that the last pic WAS the M25 !!

 

manna

It could be, the Kent section is the worst maintained section of the M25.

[jcredfer]

Really    .........................................

 

G'day Gents

 

I thought for the moment, that the last pic WAS the M25 !!

 

manna

 

..........................     can't see any Car Park signs     ..........      

[westerhamstation]

I had to go to the tip today as it was sunny I took some more pics of the site of Chevening Halt

 

Standing  on top of where the bridge would have been. The cutting to Dunton Green would be in the foreground you can just about see the course where the infill has slumped. The high tree in the background is the start of the trackbed.

 

 

 

The other side looking west, the west end of the platform is under the south bound carriageway of the A21 Sevenoaks bypass which would have had to have been a bridge over the railway.

 

The much maligned M25 does not really encroach too much on the trackbed just parts of the clockwise hard shoulder, a lot of it runs beside the line. Junction 5 is 100 or so yards north of the railway. The only part that goes over the trackbed is the section that filled in the Coombe Bank cutting.

Not a good picture a snap shot taken from the dash cam of Coombe Bank Drive, the road was flat here and went over the railway, the cutting has been filled in and the M25 on the top of it, the road has been built up to cross the M25 overbridge.

Hi BigHerb, many thanks for taking the time and effort in taking those pictures, all these little bits of information help in the making of Chevening Halt. All the best Adrian.

[David Todd]

A new year a new project.

Whilst there is still work to do on Brasted and Westerham Stations it's only small details and odds and ends. So I am now moving down the line to have a look at Chevening Halt, and what a sad site that is as the photos will show, It looks like I am going to have my work cut out to clear the cutting, remove all the motorway junctions and get it looking something like it used to be. Time will tell if I succeed or not, but first a little bit of the history courtesy of wikipedia.

Chevening Halt railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 51°17′24″N 0°08′35″E

Chevening Halt Site of Chevening Halt (1983) Location Place Chevening Area Sevenoaks Grid reference TQ495567 Operations Pre-grouping SECR Post-grouping Southern Railway

Southern Region of British Railways Platforms 1 History 19 April 1906^[1] Opened 30 October 1961^[1][2] Station closed Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom Closed railway stations in Britain

A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z UK Railways portal

The Westerham branch in relation to other railway lines in Kent

Chevening Halt is a now-closed intermediate railway station on the Westerham branch line in Kent.

The line was built as single track with provision for double track. The station was built by South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) and opened on either 16^[2] or 19 April 1906.^[1] It was unmanned and consisted of a platform sufficient to accommodate 2 coaches and small waiting shelter with access via a staircase to the adjacent road bridge. Operations were taken over by the Southern Railway with the 1923 railway grouping and thereafter by the Southern Region of British Railways which closed the line on 30 October 1961 ostensibly due to low patronage.^[1] The line was the subject of a revival/preservation attempt which was scuppered by plans for the M25 which called for the use of much of the route of the line.^[1]

The former station site is today a rough piece of overgrown scrubland bordering Junction 5 of the M25; this motorway is infamous as having been responsible for the dashing of any hopes of preserving the Westerham Branch. In 1964, Kent County Council had demanded from the Westerham Valley Railway Association, an association seeking to retain the railway for heritage operations, the sum of £26,215 (approximately £337,000 today) for a bridge to carry the railway line over the M25; failure to pay this sum would lead to the immediate in-filling of the Chevening cutting (in which the Halt lay), which is exactly what happened when funds could not be raised.^[3] According to one account, the halt platform was buried and remains there to this day.^[4]

 

 

I have just scrounged a quick flip with my old chum Biggles in his Tiger Moth, so hopefully some aerial snaps of the area later. (hope he is sober this time).

All the best and chocks away. Adrian.

 

    Moorings A.

 

Are you/have you building,Chav station, I know a book,am certain the plans are in, have to pop down the library to check.

[westerhamstation]

As you are aware, my old totally pc mate Biggles agreed to take me for flight in his Tiger Moth along the route of the Westerham Valley Railway. The purpose of this, was to find out what had happened to the site at Chevening Halt over the last 50+ years, fortunately Bigherb had posted some pictures from ground level which had prepared me for some changes. Meeting Biggles at Biggin Hill one morning at his HQ/Home I found him repairing a puncture in one of the tyres

which he had burst on a previous rough landing. Waving a bottle of scotch with one hand and suggesting a quick snifter to keep out the cold, and asking me to help him get the old kite back on her legs ready for take off, he lit a cigarette, had a swig of scotch from the bottle, and lodged his flight plan with a passing oik.

told me to stop worrying and get in, and with that we were up and away. The link to the aerial footage is best watched full screen.

all the best and happy landings Adrian.

http://youtu.be/XiCu4yjyDDA

 

  

[Jaz]

As you are aware, my old totally pc mate Biggles agreed to take me for flight in his Tiger Moth along the route of the Westerham Valley Railway. The purpose of this, was to find out what had happened to the site at Chevening Halt over the last 50+ years, fortunately Bigherb had posted some pictures from ground level which had prepared me for some changes. Meeting Biggles at Biggin Hill one morning at his HQ/Home I found him repairing a puncture in one of the tyres

which he had burst on a previous rough landing. Waving a bottle of scotch with one hand and suggesting a quick snifter to keep out the cold, and asking me to help him get the old kite back on her legs ready for take off, he lit a cigarette, had a swig of scotch from the bottle, and lodged his flight plan with a passing oik.

told me to stop worrying and get in, and with that we were up and away. The link to the aerial footage is best watched full screen.

all the best and happy landings Adrian.

http://youtu.be/XiCu4yjyDDA

Zoooooom a doom doom, well the station was doomed.......wonderful video,and informative loved the pictures of the station.

......multi talented....smart alec...  ...............................wonderful stuff.......    

[bagpipes331]

You just have to love those videos!!!!! Just don't come flying near my house

[Oldddudders]

Adrian - given your liking for authenticity where possible, and the fact that the branch is going a little backwards in time, rather than forwards, can we look at that Greenline? I mean 711 was from Reigate to High Wycombe, and went straight up Reigate Hill and along the A 217. However, if you were able to get hold of one of these, you would simultaneously backdate the service to the early '50s - and have an authentic route! Not a great pic, but it's a 10T10 on Route 705 via Westerham.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-76-Scale-EFE-29907-Diecast-Greenline-AEC-10T-Single-Deck-Bus-/171394441572?pt=UK_ToysGames_DiecastVehicles_DiecastVehicles_JN&hash=item27e7e7a164

 

EDIT - Here's a better pic http://www.modelbuszone.co.uk/efe/sd/299/29907.html

Edited January 13, 2015 by Oldddudders

[westerhamstation]

Adrian - given your liking for authenticity where possible, and the fact that the branch is going a little backwards in time, rather than forwards, can we look at that Greenline? I mean 711 was from Reigate to High Wycombe, and went straight up Reigate Hill and along the A 217. However, if you were able to get hold of one of these, you would simultaneously backdate the service to the early '50s - and have an authentic route! Not a great pic, but it's a 10T10 on Route 705 via Westerham.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-76-Scale-EFE-29907-Diecast-Greenline-AEC-10T-Single-Deck-Bus-/171394441572?pt=UK_ToysGames_DiecastVehicles_DiecastVehicles_JN&hash=item27e7e7a164

Hi Ian, It's good to have you back, and thanks for all your likes etc. That Greenline looks like it would be a nice addition to Westerham Station and thanks for the link. all the best Adrian

[jcredfer]

Hi Adrian,

I love the video, very clever indeed     ......................................    although  ...............      one tiny little matter causes me slight concern     .........................      

 

As you are aware, my old totally pc mate Biggles agreed to take me for flight in his Tiger Moth along the route of the Westerham Valley Railway. The purpose of this, was to find out what had happened to the site at Chevening Halt over the last 50+ years, fortunately Bigherb had posted some pictures from ground level which had prepared me for some changes. Meeting Biggles at Biggin Hill one morning at his HQ/Home I found him repairing a puncture in one of the tyres

which he had burst on a previous rough landing. Waving a bottle of scotch with one hand and suggesting a quick snifter to keep out the cold, and asking me to help him get the old kite back on her legs ready for take off, he lit a cigarette, had a swig of scotch from the bottle, and lodged his flight plan with a passing oik.

told me to stop worrying and get in, and with that we were up and away. The link to the aerial footage is best watched full screen.

all the best and happy landings Adrian.

http://youtu.be/XiCu4yjyDDA

 

.............    Once Biggles had managed to get the Tiger Moth straight and level [around the 40 sec mark - a nerve wrackingly long time] - he is plainly visible in the rear seat, as is expected     .........................    but, eerr    ............

 

...................    it looks as though you may have been tipped out of the front seat, leaving just the headrest visible there          .........     hardly a surprise given the time to get straight and level  ...........     

 

   .......................    I hope you took a big umbrella with you      ......................    

[ronstrutt]

Well done on the fly-past. It reminded me a bit of the time when I went up (and came down very rapidly) in a helicopter that was practising crash landings.

 

I particularly liked how you managed to align before and after views. What is amazing is how much of the station site (and today's industrial estate) is accounted for by the allotments behind (north of) the platform. This is the bit of land that was intended to be the start of the Oxted extension, the junction between the Dunton Green and Oxted lines being at the far end of the platform. The Oxted line was to cross London Road by an overbridge and would have continued through the site of the Crown, so a steep gradient up from the junction would have been needed (about 1 in 50 I calculate) - a bit like the climb up into Portsmouth & Southsea High Level (1 in 61). I'm not sure where the platform(s) on an extended line would have been - not on the gradient, so presumably on the western side of London Road. The existing station would presumably have become solely goods yard.

 

Fascinating snippet no 834: It was Dr Beeching himself who agreed to sell the line to the Westerham Valley Railway Association for £30,000 when the Southern Region had been demanding up to £70,000 for it. The Southern Region weren't half miffed!

[Oldddudders]

Can I think Ron, by the way, for his snap of Deepdene a few weeks back? After all, I used to live in Deepdene Vale, close by the station - and once or twice was paid to clean the windows at Deepdene House!

[Andrew P]

Hi Adrian, fantastic video and story, really good to get a true insight into the history and changes to the line and now the area.

 

All the best.

[Sweven]

I really enjoyed your last two videos Adrian - great work (and imagination too). Keep them coming. Cheers John

[westerhamstation]

A reminder in case you missed the program first time round. Hidden Histories Britains Oldest Family Businesses BBC4 on Monday 19th Jan.at 8.00pm.

It's about Durtnells the building family who have been based in Brasted for 400 years, and were promoters of the Westerham Valley Railway. Also they built Squire Tippings house who was the the major promoter of the line. This house was later sold to G Alderson who had Coal & Coke depots at Westerham and Brasted. In the program there is some vintage footage of the line.

Edited January 15, 2015 by westerhamstation

[David Todd]

What is (was) the point of those contraptions ? They don't save on fuel, or wear on the engine, the route is very limited... As a technical exercise they are quite interesting, but on a practical level, I can't see why they were invented..

 

Because,........we are British,              old chap.    

 

 

Hi Ian, It's good to have you back, and thanks for all your likes etc. That Greenline looks like it would be a nice addition to Westerham Station and thanks for the link. all the best Adrian

 

Would this be painted along the platform,instead of the yellow line, so, would it be for semi-fast or just slow train's.

 

    Moorings A.

 

Are you/have you building,Chav station, I know a book,am certain the plans are in, have to pop down the library to check.

 

Doubt, now, I should have asked that Q.

At the library today, Chevening Halt, does not bare a mention, in the Southern Country Stations (2). book.

 

That is because, there are no building's present, only a wooden platform,  with what was called  "A waiting shed", no pictures either.

 

but,

 

Found a book,  British Railway Pictorial  Series,  "Railways of Kent",    Chapter on Westerham Branch, page 45. 

A nice b/w pic,very clear, at the foot of the page 46.

Shewing a newish brickover bridge,with adjoining wooden platform, taken in February 1956, hmm, am unsure about the time of day,but it is, daylight.

[westerhamstation]

The new AEC 10T10 Greenline Coach has been ordered and should be at Westerham next week, this will now give me a legitimate reason for building the old brick bridge at Chevening Halt as this would fit into the time frame of early 1950s when the old bridge was changed and the platform altered . Also I will be able to change the time frame for Westerham and Brasted Stations as the mood suits by just changing vehicles and some rolling stock. 1946 to 1953 / 1953 to 1961 will do just fine and give me more scope. So being prompted by Ian to swop the coach has opened up a lot more possibilties. I will change the route blind and destination boards on the RF coach to705 so that will be correct. when used in the 1953 - 1961period.

Thanks David for going down the library and looking at Chevening for me.    You wait all this time for a bus and then two come together.

[bigherb]

Don't forget the London Country 410 Reigate to Bromley double deck bus went past Westerham Station, original operated by RLH and then after they lowered the roadway under the bridge at Oxted RT's, until replaced with RMC's (I liked them very comfy and warm in the winter).

 

That was one of the problems for the railway, the 705 Green Line and 410 London Country hourly buses where staggered so you only had to wait half an hour for a bus stopping at Bromley South or North stations with better connections or just shopping in Bromley.

Edited January 17, 2015 by bigherb

[ronstrutt]

Don't forget the London Country 410 Reigate to Bromley double deck bus went past Westerham Station, original operated by RLH and then after they lowered the roadway under the bridge at Oxted RT's, until replaced with RMC's (I liked them very comfy and warm in the winter).

 

That was one of the problems for the railway, the 705 Green Line and 410 London Country hourly buses where staggered so you only had to wait half an hour for a bus stopping at Bromley South or North stations with better connections or just shopping in Bromley.

 

Indeed. When I visited Westerham from the Bromley area I always caught the 410 (fares on the Green Lines were higher than the buses and the RLHs had a special appeal).  In planning the closure of the line, BR naturally promoted the replacement buses via Sevenoaks and train thence to London because that retained the greatest amount of revenue for BR, but it was a roundabout route. Getting a bus or driving to Bromley was shorter and presumably cheaper though not necessarily quicker. BR didn't even push the Oxted option because that meant revenue going to the Central Division rather than the South Eastern. Many of the ex-branch passengers switched either to Oxted, Bromley, Orpington, or other suburban stations - driving to any of these places, assuming you had a car, was straightforward as yellow lines were only introduced by the Road Traffic Act 1960 and took a long while to become widespread.

[Oldddudders]

Very flattered that our host has adopted my bus suggestion! I think the mention of RLH might be a year or two later, by which time the RFs were on the Green Line. I do not know what preceded the RLH on the 410 - a bus I would sometimes catch from Reigate in my yoof, to visit friends in Godstone. As Ron says, the 410 did have a unique appeal, with a sort of side-corridor upstairs, and 4 seats all in a row on the left.

[Anotheran]

Just watched a programme on BBC4 called "Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses". This episode was about R Durtnell and Sons a building firm from Brasted. One of a line of Richard Durtnell's was a significant sponsor, though apparently not a financial backer, of the Westerham and Brasted line. The program is available for a month on iPlayer. There's a five minute, or so, section about 35 minutes in that looks at the line including some discussion on its backers and showing some archive footage. You've probably seen the footage elsewhere before, but I thought I should point it out just in case.

 

Kind regards, Neil

[ronstrutt]

Just watched a programme on BBC4 called "Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses". This episode was about R Durtnell and Sons a building firm from Brasted. One of a line of Richard Durtnell's was a significant sponsor, though apparently not a financial backer, of the Westerham and Brasted line. The program is available for a month on iPlayer. There's a five minute, or so, section about 35 minutes in that looks at the line including some discussion on its backers and showing some archive footage. You've probably seen the footage elsewhere before, but I thought I should point it out just in case.

 

Kind regards, Neil

 

Richard Durtnell bought 10 of the £10 shares, to which he later added his son-in-law's 10 shares. This compares to William Tipping and Charles Warde, who each took 50, and Charles Thompson, the town's doctor, who took 20. In total, the company only ever sold 419 shares, raising around £4,000 out of the total £70,000 that the line cost to build (roughly equivalent to £50 million today). In terms of wealth, £10 is worth about £10,000 today.

 

Much the same happened when they tried to buy the line off BR for preservation.

[Anotheran]

Richard Durtnell bought 10 of the £10 shares, to which he later added his son-in-law's 10 shares. This compares to William Tipping and Charles Warde, who each took 50, and Charles Thompson, the town's doctor, who took 20. In total, the company only ever sold 419 shares, raising around £4,000 out of the total £70,000 that the line cost to build (roughly equivalent to £50 million today). In terms of wealth, £10 is worth about £10,000 today.

 

Much the same happened when they tried to buy the line off BR for preservation.

 

Ron,

 

That's interesting to me, even though my field is a long way from the South East! The programme definitely intimated that he was a vocal supporter, rather than a financial backer. But I am sure that your statement is the one that is actually correct. It was looking at it from the business side, which, incidentally, it stated from the company's books went on to get over £1,000 (worth about £1 million today) of business the following year with William Tipping alone... a very good reason for Richard Durtnell to be a supporter of the railway!

 

Kind regards, Neil

[ronstrutt]

Ron,

 

That's interesting to me, even though my field is a long way from the South East! The programme definitely intimated that he was a vocal supporter, rather than a financial backer. But I am sure that your statement is the one that is actually correct. It was looking at it from the business side, which, incidentally, it stated from the company's books went on to get over £1,000 (worth about £1 million today) of business the following year with William Tipping alone... a very good reason for Richard Durtnell to be a supporter of the railway!

 

Kind regards, Neil

 

He was definitely a vocal supporter. As far as financial backer is concerned, the modern sense of the word 'backer' would suggest that he put up a very large percentage of the money, which he didn't. He contributed, yes (the equivalent of £100,000 from him and the same from his son-in-law wasn't exactly chickenfeed), but no more than a number of other people. As you say, as a local businessman he had no real alternative. That whole episode is fascinating because there was clearly a strong feeling in Westerham against the idea of a railway. Its supporters were largely those who'd bought or had come into large estates which they realised would increase massively in value if a railway made it possible to develop them. Other people didn't want Westerham turned into another Croydon. There are probably many people in Westerham today who would agree with them!