Barham railway station

The station opened on 4 July 1887 with the opening of the Elham Valley Railway from Cheriton Junction, on the South Eastern Main Line as far as Barham.^[1] An 18-lever signal box was provided. A public siding was located at Wingmore, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Barham.^[2] Initially, there were six passenger trains per day. By 1906 there were nine trains a day, with five on Sunday. This had reduced to six trains a day by 1922.^[3] The double track between Lyminge and Harbledown Junction was reduced to single track from 25 October 1931 and the signal boxes between those points were abolished.^[4] Services had been reduced to five trains a day by 1937.^[3]

Passenger services between Canterbury West and Lyminge were withdrawn on 1 December 1940 and the line was placed under military control.^[1] On 31 October 1941, a fireman was killed on the footplate near Barham during an air raid.^[5] The station remained open to freight during the war. Military control was relinquished on 19 February 1945. The Elham Valley Railway closed on 1 October 1947.^[6] The station building at Barham was demolished in November 1963.^[5] Barham Signal Box is preserved at Shepherdswell, on the East Kent Railway.^[7]

Citations

Sources

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1995). Branch Lines Around Canterbury. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1-873793-58-8.

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