old6.jpg) A general view of Westerham station from the goods yard sometime in the 1950s, complete with the seemingly ever-present stacks of sleepers. A number of advertisements can be seen standing to attention at the rear of the platform and two Southern 'target' nameboards are visible along with the running-in board. There is no activity in the goods shed although the tracks appear to be well used. Note the white point lever; it was normal practice for points in goods yards to be locally operated and the white paint, another common feature, ensured that the levers were more visible during the hours of darkness. Beneath the platform canopy the white bases of the canopy supports, which were wooden, stand out clearly. This may have been a hangover from the blackouts during WWII. Photo from John Mann collection old8.jpg) Westerham station building in 1950, taken from somewhere near the dock. There is no obvious sign of the fire buckets which once hung on the side of the shed on the left. They later appeared dumped on the platform beneath the nearest window. The shed on the left is a bicycle store.
Photo from John Mann collection old118a.jpg) Westerham station on an unknown date in 1952. Unfortunately what exactly is happening is not clear; the starting signal is 'off', suggesting that a train has just departed, and there are people milling around on the track near the signal box. The gentleman third from left and looking towards the camera is Mr Frank 'Joe' Jenner. Winston Churchill acquired Chartwell, his country residence two miles south of Westerham on Mapleton Road, in 1922 and Mr Jenner was Churchill's chauffeur from 1925 until the latter's death in January 1965. Churchill had purchased a Rolls Royce 20/25 for the purpose but also for Jenner to use for his own private purposes and for this reason the Rolls was registered in Jenner's name. The Rolls was used to take Churchill and other dignitaries to and from London as well as to and from Westerham station on occasions. Frank Jenner also ran an upmarket local taxi business with his brother and the pair were known as 'Fat Jenner' and 'Thin Jenner' respectively. The Rolls was, on Jenner's retirement, sold to the proprietor of Wolfe Garage, Westerham, the garage which once serviced and maintained all of Churchill's vehicles. The Rolls, registration number NJ 5500, has changed hands since and is still on the road today but no longer based in the Westerham area. It appeared at Windsor for Her Majesty the Queen's Silver and Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Frank Jenner is believed to have retired in 1964, shortly before Churchill's death, and died in 1975.
Photo from Bill Curtis collection old16.jpg) A general view of Westerham station in Coronation year, 1953. There is some evidence of goods activity while, in the distance, a locomotive can be seen. It is too far away to tell for certain if a passenger train is approaching or if a train has shunted out of the station for its locomotive to take on water but the latter scenario would appear to apply. The advertisement hoarding is extolling the virtues of, among other things, Guinness and Oxo. Far left a London Transport (country area) bus can be seen. It appears to be an RF type and, if so, would have been quite new. Introduced in 1954, London Transport ultimately purchased some 700 of these AEC Regal IV based buses and the last survivors continued in normal LT service until the late 1970s. The RF type can still be seen at Westerham today, during the occasional 'running days' organised by bus museums. The small building on the left with a corrugated metal roof is the lamp room.
Photo from John Mann collection old5.jpg) A 1950s view along Westerham's platform, giving an idea of what lurked beneath the canopy. On the left is the obligatory sack barrow and then, left to right, a row of fire buckets, a dustbin and a bench. Fire buckets were generally hung from wall brackets and not dumped on the platform as here. The dustbin probably served as a litter bin and would not have been a very pleasant sight for passengers. The problem with this type of unventilated bin was the stench emitted when the lid was lifted. There appears to be a southern 'target' nameboard fixed to the wall of the building while under-canopy lighting could probably be described as adequate at best. The suspended signs look like BR types.
Photo
from John Mann collection
old46.jpg) During the 1950s Class H No.31520 takes on water at Westerham. In the foreground is the site of the former engine shed with an apparently full ash pit. The brick wall is the base of the shed. The train is operating Tonbridge duty 303 and as can be seen from various photographs several duty numbers applied to the Westerham branch. This could be for one or both of a couple of reasons; duties altered from time to time as requirements change or several different duties doing a stint on the branch during the course of a day. The latter, in particular was common across the network as, for example, locomotives needed to return to shed for coaling. In BR days at least, coaling does not appear to have been undertaken at Westerham so locomotives would need to be changed at intervals for this purpose. The Westerham branch locomotive worked not only passenger trains ,but it started its day in the early hours with the branch goods, and at the end of the day's passenger service returned with the goods to Dunton Green by which time a different locomotive was involved.
Photo from Jim Lake collection old48.jpg) Westerham station forecourt sometime in the 1950s. The London Transport bus stop has acquired a second flag; the image is too unclear but the second flag is probably for Green Line services. Green Line was London Transport's limited-stop network of routes which mainly, but not exclusively, ran from one side of London to the other, passing through the central area on the way. In later years the network's tentacles reached to a radius of some 50-or-so miles from central London with, for example, three routes north to Cambridge. Vehicles used were for many years essentially standard London Transport types adapted for the longer distance limited stop role, with a fleet of proper coaches appearing in later years. Westerham was served by Green Line route 706 Westerham - Aylesbury, originally via Sanderstead, Selsdon, South and West Croydon, Norbury, Streatham, Brixton, Stockwell, Vauxhall, Victoria, Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Kilburn, Cricklewood, Colindale, Edgware, Stanmore, Bushey, Watford, Kings Langley, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring. As with many Green Line routes, the precise route of the 706 varied over the years with tweaks here and there. Once very popular, Green Line, like many bus routes, began to suffer with unreliability due to increasing traffic congestion and could not compete, time wise, with railway electrification. In 1969 the Westerham - Chelsham section of the 706 was reduced to peak hours only and in 1975 this section was withdrawn altogether. However, a summer-only extension to Chartwell via Westerham and Hosey Common, introduced in 1967, continued to operate until April 1977. The 706 dated from June 1946 and thus had a life of just 23 years as a regular all-day route and 31 years in its various amended forms. The Aylesbury end of the route was ultimately swallowed-up by the 708 from East Grinstead. A route similar to the 706 was the 707 which terminated at Oxted instead of Westerham. London Transport (country area) bus routes serving Westerham included the 464 (Holland - Hurst Green - Westerham) and 485 (Westerham - Edenbridge). These appear to have been operated as one through route, with the route number being changed at Westerham. This practice was, and still is, quite common across the country.
Photo from Jim Lake collection old65.jpg) A 1950s view of Westerham starting signal and signal box from the end of the platform. The platform ramp is visible at the bottom of the image. Some of the instruments can just be made out inside the small 13-lever Stevens 'box. The Southern style signal posts are often said to have been fabricated from old rails but, as can be deduced from other images in these pages, they used much smaller section steel. The signal seen above may have been gas lit (a once quite common practice) but no photographs have come to light which are detailed enough to confirm. The signal is 'off' and close examination of the section of the image behind the signal shows a train has just departed. There is no sign of the signalman, so perhaps he has nipped to the toilet around the other side of the box. The building to the right of the water tank is AE Barton Ltd's warehouse.
Photo
from John Mann collection
old9.jpg) A 1950s view of Westerham station from the buffers with the dock on the right and goods shed beyond. Note the ground shunt signal, centre foreground; ground signals were and are common across the network but semaphore types usually comprised a full disc. The type seen above, which was a Westinghouse design, comprised an almost semi-circular disc with a 'humped' edge across the bottom and was, at least when introduced, peculiar to the Southern Railway. Left of centre, the advertisement hoarding appears to be undergoing a refresh as the London Transport bus stop flag, to its left, looks on. The telegraph pole witnessed closure of the branch and continued to stand for many years afterwards. The small building in front of the goods shed probably started life as a grain store for AE Barton Ltd, but part of the name can just be made out on the side of the building it says 'B. Horton.....Cement and plaster....' Photo from John Mann collection old127.jpg) Sometime in the 1950s the by-then-usual Class H and Maunsell push-and-pull set waits at Westerham. The Maunsell set is probably No.610 and this set has been produced in 4mm scale by Hornby. Unfortunately if you want a Class H tank to run with it, at the time of writing, you have to
resort to kit-building. Photo from John Mann collection old140.jpg) In May 1955 Class H No.31548 is seen from an unusual position as it departs Westerham at the Dunton Green end of the train. In later BR years it was usual to have the locomotive at the Westerham end and positioned smokebox-first. No.31548 is not recorded as being a Tonbridge locomotive at this time so had probably been borrowed. The train is one of the former rail-motor push-and-pull sets and marshalled with the driving trailer facing Westerham (see image of set 717), hence the locomotive is at the Dunton Green end. The were variations within Class H as-built with No.31548 being one with higher water, but lower coal, capacity. In the image above, the locomotive is in BR lined black with the first version of the BR logo (the 'Lion & Wheel') which went by a number of derogatory names such as 'The Emaciated Ferret'. It was in fact the railway version of what was the British Transport Commission logo. There were two versions for railway use, allowing the lion to face forward on both sides. The story goes that BR registered only the left-facing version with the College of Arms, resulting in the need to revert to the same logo on both sides and thus the lion on one side faced to the rear. Photographic evidence suggests, however, that this was often ignored or at least not dealt with until locomotives visited the works. In any event, the 'Ferret & Dartboard' logo was to replace the original and within ten years of the above view the BR 'double arrow' logo was due to be introduced by which time, of course, the Westerham branch had closed. Photo by RC Riley old66.jpg) The date is 10 November 1957 and Inter-regional Ramblers' 'The 'Kentish Heights Special' railtour from Greenford has arrived at Westerham behind Class O1 No.31064. This special also called at Chevening and Brasted. Booked motive power had been, or had included, the ex-GWR City of Truro but this had failed the previous day. The O1 had certainly been spruced-up well; perhaps too well for short notice, so it was possibly booked to haul part of the tour anyway. The Wainwright O1s were quite charming locomotives with their typically nineteenth century outside-framed tenders. The class originated as rebuilds, 58 in total, from the 122-strong Stirling O Class which had a recognisable look of Stirling about them. No.31064 herself dated from 1896 and had the same boiler as the Class H tanks, this being the distinguishing feature of the rebuilds. The un-rebuilt members of Class O became extinct in 1932. No.31064 gave over 61 years’ service, being withdrawn in May 1958. Among the last survivors was No.31065 which became a familiar sight on the Tenterden - Headcorn section of the K&ESR among other locations. She survived until June 1961 and was the only member of the class to survive into preservation. In the right background, above, the branch push-and-pull train can be seen shunted onto the loop near the water tower and trying unsuccessfully to hide in a cloud of steam. Photo by Chris Gamme Click here for Westerham Station Gallery 5:
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