Ashford West railway station

Ashford West
Location
Coordinates	51°08′51″N 0°51′59″E / 51.1476°N 0.8663°ECoordinates: 51°08′51″N 0°51′59″E / 51.1476°N 0.8663°E
Grid reference	TR 005 426
Operations
Line	Maidstone Line
Original company	London, Chatham and Dover Railway
Pre-grouping	South Eastern and Chatham Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Platforms	3
History
1 July 1884	Station opened
1 January 1899	Closed to passengers
1990s	closed for all traffic
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
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Ashford West railway station was the terminus of the Maidstone Line from 1884 to 1898. It was built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. On the formation of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway, passenger services were transferred to the former South Eastern Railway's Ashford station.

History

The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) extended their line from Maidstone East to Ashford, Kent in 1884.^[1] From 1 January 1899, passenger services were transferred to the former South Eastern Railway (SER) station. A connection between the LCDR and SER having opened to traffic on 1 November 1891. The station was located near Ashford's cattle market,^[2] and was used for cattle and sheep traffic after it had closed to passengers.^[3] The platform canopies were intact in the mid 1930s,^[4] but had been removed by July 1957.^[5]

Facilities comprised three platforms. There was a carriage shed and an engine shed,^[2] with a turntable, which was removed and installed at Deal in 1904.^[4] Two signal boxes controlled the station.^[6] The engine shed closed on 1 January 1899.^[7] was later converted into a works for cleaning cloths used in locomotive cleaning. Over a million were processed annually, with the reclaimed oil being re-used in the lubrication of points and point rodding.^[8] The station site was largely intact as late as 1985,^[9] with the main station building still standing in 1994.^[10] They were demolished in 1999 for the construction of HS1.

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Terminus		London, Chatham and Dover Railway Maidstone Line		Hothfield

References

1. Mitchell & Smith 1994, Historical Background.
2. Mitchell & Smith 1994, Ashford West.
3. Mitchell & Smith 1994, Illustration 117.
4. Mitchell & Smith 1994, Illustration 112.
5. Mitchell & Smith 1994, Illustration 113.
6. Mitchell & Smith 1994, Illustration 115.
7. "Ashford". Kentrail. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
8. Mitchell & Smith 1994, Illustration 116.
9. Mitchell & Smith 1994, Illustration 119.
10. Mitchell & Smith 1994, Illustration 114.

Sources

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1994). Swanley to Ashford. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1 873793 45 6.