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Stenlake Publishing - The Westerham Valley Railway


The Westerham Valley Railway



Author : D. Gould
ISBN : 9780853615156
Cover : paperback
Price : £8.95

The railway came to the delightful market of Westerham in 1881 and was to serve the town for 80 years. It was originally intended for the line to continue to Oxted, however, these dreams were destined never to come to fruition. In 1960 the Southern Region stated that it wished to close the branch. In May 1961 the Central Transport Users’ Consultative Committee recommended that the branch stay open as a social necessity (there were about 200 regular passengers every day). However, the minister for transport, Ernest Marples, took the undemocratic step of rejecting the TUCC’s recommendation (possibly the first time that this had ever happened). The line closed in October 1961.

That was not, however, the end of the story. In the summer of 1962 the Westerham Railway Association leased Westerham station from British Railways with plans to reopen the line for use by both commuters and enthusiasts with an early proposal for preservation.

In the end it was all for nothing, and a line that seemed to have so much, did not reopen, despite the best efforts of the association and its hard-working committee. The line has suffered what might be considered the ultimate indignity for a closed line, as part of its trackbed now lies beneath the M25 motorway.

A5 format, 128 pages, 97 illustrations.

The Westerham Valley Railway
£8.95