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A view of the station from the old ‘up’ platform.

BRIDGE

B. Higbwood

As with Canterbury South, Bridge escaped the attention of photographers before
1930 and the only surviving views give an impression of a deserted country station
on a single line. In the happier days of the Elham Valley line, before the Great
War, it may be assumed that the station saw a fair amount of traffic, although the
passenger receipts were probably the lightest of all the stations. Goods traffic was,
however, substantial and a number of surviving consignee cards give evidence of
the considerable tonnage of coal and other materials arriving here. Passenger
receipts dropped considerably from 1920 onwards and it must have been the
loneliest station on the line.

 

Top left: The station cat in one of its odd haunts. Puss was
the daughter of ‘Minnie’ the station cat at Penge, her father
reputedly belonging to the Engineers Department! Left: The
tits’ nest in the letterbox. The enterprising blue tit managed
to successfully raise a family of nine young ones despite the
station cat! Above: Porter B. l-lighwood and his wife.

B. Higbwood

 

 


Early days at Bishopsbourne in this view looking towards Barham. R. W. Ayers

As mentioned earlier, Bishopsbourne station was never planned
by the South Eastern although surprisingly it justified its construc-

 tion. The station was as pretty as the village itself and it was here in
1899 that a very young Eustace Missenden at the age of 13 began
his career as office boy and ticket clerk at half~a~crown a week. He
was so tiny that the signalman made him a little stool to stand on
to enable him to reach the ticket office hatch. In later years he rose
to become General Manager of the Southern Railway and was sub-
sequently knighted for his services.

‘C’ class No. 1580 with the daily goods. Meanwhile Mother Nature reclaims the old ‘up’ platform.
D. Tbompson


 

34 THE ELHAM VALLEY LlNE

Bridge in 1936 with the single line slewed to the former ‘up’ line to accommodate access to the goods yard.

Leaving the station, the climb was resumed to 1 in 77
and a footpath running alongside on the left crossed over
the line beyond the goods yard on a very handsome iron
footbridge (2041) and continued through the open fields
to Nackington. Over the years, no doubt, many a tiny
hand clutched the sooty ironwork here, breathlessly
waiting for a train to appear on the horizon! Crossing over
Nackington Road on a steel bridge (2042), the uphill
gradient slackened to 1 in 183 and, curving gently south-
wards, the line left the embankment and entered a cutting
which was spanned by Gutteridge bridge (2043), another
very tall three-arch structure carrying a farm track. Clear
of the cutting, the line ran onto a high embankment
where to the left the traveller could catch a glimpse of the

allel Watling Street (later the A2) and the trains on the

\LC 8: DR’s Dover line beyond.

Entering another cutting, Bridge distant signal was
passed immediately before bridge 2044 near Renville
Farm and, once past bridge 2045, the line levelled out.
With the surrounding countryside rising, the cutting
deepened considerably and extended all the way to Bridge
station. The goods yard on the right was hewn out of the
chalk hillside, leaving a lasting white gash in the green fold
of the land. The station, perched high in the hills, over-
looked the village a mile away straddling the Roman road
to Dover. Served in later years by the East Kent buses, the
inhabitants must have been easily lured from the long

SE & CR milepost from Bridge

 

 


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ELHAM VALLEY MILITARY RAILWAY 75

 

The gun, under canvas, being propelled through Bishopsbourne station on the occasion of its first firing near Kingston on 13th February

1941.

reversing, the gun could be aimed at Pegwell Bay near
Ramsgate. Capable of hurling a 6 ft shell weighing 1% tons
some 12‘/2 miles, it would have been sufficient to blast
the coastline had the need arisen.

On the bright spring morning of 13th February 1941,
the gun was pushed out of the tunnel by a WD diesel
engine, through Bishopsbourne station to Kingston, where

Imperial War Museum

it was fired for the first time sending several rounds into
the English Channel. Although the villagers had been
warned to open all their windows, considerable damage
was caused by the shock waves which brought down a
number of ceilings. Subsequent firings were carried out
near World’s Wonder bridge and at Lickpot bridge and it
was on one of these trips that an officer in charge, on

The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill,
inspects the gun at Bisliopsbourne on
20th June 1941. Imperial War Museum

  
  

 


The tremendous force propelled the gun backwards, at the same time creating clouds of dust from the trackbed.

Imperial War Mzzxeztm


BRIDGE

 

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  §S%f@llJTHl MWAY

CLOSING
OF THE
ELHAM VALLEY LINE

On and from l6th lune. I947. the train
service over the Elham Valley Line will
be withdrawn and the following stations
will be closed to traffic:_

CANTERBURY SOUTH
BRIDGE
BISHOPSBOURNE
BARHAM >

ELHAM

LYMINGE

In addition Cheriton Halt will be closed
as from the same date.

Goods traffic in less than truck loads and Parcels
traffic hitherto sent to or from stations Canterbury
South to Elham inclusive will be dealt with at ’
Canterbury West and traffic previously sent to
or from Lyminge will be dealt with at Shomcliffe

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HALCYON DAYS 15

arms. A few minutes later a whistle would be heard in
the north and a head of steam at North Elham would
herald the non-stop train. The steam and smoke accom-
panying it would waft through the station and only clear
as the train disappeared under Lickpot bridge and away to
Folkestone. Some twenty minutes later, the gate—keeper
would emerge once more and a shrill whistle from the
south would announce the approach of the diminutive
railmotor bustling in from Lyminge, its arrival coinciding
with the ‘down’ local from Barham which pulled into the
‘down’ platform at the same time. Once the local had left
for Lyminge, the signalman would busy himself to allow
the railmotor to shunt into the ‘down’ platform. At about
4.09 p.m. the gate-keeper would close the gates once more
and the sound of the approaching ‘non-stop’ would drift in
from the south. Bursting through Lickpot bridge, it would
dash through the station and disappear towards Barham
with a warning whistle for North Elham. Half an hour
later the railmotor’s whistle would echo back from the
chalk hills as it announced its departure for Folkestone
and, disappearing away southwards, the peace and stillness
would return to this small Kent country station.

Towards the end of 1913 the SE & CR was faced with
a shortage of locomotives which prompted them to
approach other railway companies for the sale or loan of
engines. Amongst those loaned by the Great Northern
Railway were some class ‘E1’ 2-4-05, three of which,
Nos. 204B, 994 and 1067, were stationed at Ramsgate
and regularly appeared on the 8.20 a.m. Margate Sands to
Canterbury West via Minster, Dover and the Elham Valley
Line.

The year 1914 marked the end of a chapter of a whole
way of life that was to change with the outbreak of the
First World War. Nothing would ever be quite the same
again. Posters, dated 4th August 1914 pasted up at every
station, gave notice that the railways from that day were
under the charge of the government.

The initial effects were disruptions to the advertized

services caused by troop movements through the channel

ports of Folkestone and Dover. To facilitate greater flexi-

bility at Cheriton, alterations were made at the junction" ”

to allow ‘down’ Elham Valley trains to cross to the ‘down
main line, thereby allowing the single ‘down’ Elham Valley
Line to be used as a siding from Cheriton to Shorncliffe
With the vast numbers of troops arriving at Shorncliffe
as well as the many thousands of Belgian refugees flooding
into Folkestone, the strain on the SE & CR was such that

1

Old poster found in _Brid
control of railways._ ' ‘

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