Set 277 again, this time with the D1 No.31739 in charge as it approaches Brasted with the 3.01pm service from Dunton Green on 28 October 1961. This train had taken over the branch service that afternoon from the push-and-pull train and the D1 and Q1 locomotives alternated. While one was on the branch, the other loitered at Dunton Green. When railways closed, a strengthened train was often provided for the final service or final few services but the arrangements for the final day of the Westerham branch were most unusual: even more unusual when considering set 277, normally 10-car but reduced to 7-car for the occasion, was far too long for the branch platforms. BR was usually very good at arranging such things but, of course, most of this ability and flexibility went out of the window with so-called rail privatisation. Back at Brasted we see the points and fan of the goods yard. Compare this view with the March 1960 view taken from a little further back. Note the trap points, right of centre. These would be required to be set in the open position at all times other than when a train required access to or from the main line. Brasted goods yard was to see just one more use: to remove wagons, if any were present, and if so this was likely done late at night on the same day. Normally the up goods was the job of the push-and-pull locomotive after its passenger duties had finished for the day, but on the final day a light engine would have been sent down the line from Dunton Green for the purpose.
Photo by John Cramp from 30937 Transport Photograph Database Flickr photostream

This noticeboard stood at the bottom of the station approach at its junction with Station Road. Note, at the top, the word 'Southern' on the BR 'hotdog' logo as used for BR station totems, on printed matter and so forth. The practice of placing the name of the BR region in a 'hotdog' was common to all regions but the Southern Region made particularly widespread use of it. The poster on the left was the statutory closure notice which became all-too-familiar a few years later. These notices told of which line and / or stations on that line were closing and whether to passengers, freight or both. The heading 'Closure of Westerham Branch Railway Line' may seem to state the obvious but the inclusion of 'Railway Line' was also a legal requirement, but precise wording varied according to local circumstances. For example, 'Withdrawal of Railway Passenger Train Services' might appear if a line was closing to passengers but remaining open for freight or sundry traffic. General wording was also precise to the point of, as in the case of the Westerham branch, stating which stopping places were halts and which were stations. The official date of closure was invariably the Monday of the following week; in the case of the Westerham branch this was Monday 30 October 1961. The rest of the information on these posters gave alternative arrangements for goods and parcels plus details of alternative bus services, including the names and telephone numbers of the bus companies concerned. Just readable above are the full details of the London Transport Executive, at that time the legal title of London Transport. The poster on the right advertises cheap trips to various seaside towns in Kent and in those days 'cheap' meant precisely that. Often these cheap trips were treated as excursions but used ordinary service trains, usually with specified times for the outward journey but with the return valid on any train. The poster seen above is obviously one poster on top of another, with one or the other having been damaged. The artwork was of the rather simple style, relative to the colourful posters of old, which came to symbolise the BR of the 1960s. The photograph was taken on 28 October 1961, the final day of passenger and freight services on the Westerham branch.