green_old32.jpg) A last day, 28 October 1961, view of No.31518 and green liveried Maunsell set. Having taken over from No.31324, No.31518 has already made at least one trip to Westerham and back as the smokebox and tank inscriptions have now appeared. These are believed to have been applied at Westerham. On the platform, some examples of the fashions of the time can be observed. In push-and-pull days a shift on the Westerham branch must have been an easy job for the locomotive crews if not, perhaps, a little monotonous. The service ran basically hourly and journey time was eleven minutes each way with ample dwell time at each end. With the London Congestion Charge, expensive parking (if one can find anywhere to park) and motoring being generally no longer the dream so beloved of 1960s pro-road propagandists, if it ever was, one wonders what the situation with the Westerham branch would be today had it not closed.
Photo by Lamberhurst, reproduced from Wikimedia Commons under creative commons licence |
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