Cranbrook Station

Cranbrook Station was the third station on the Line after Paddock Wood Station and was approximately three and a half miles South East of Goudhurst Station. All the way from Goudhurst Station the Line had risen steadily so there were a lot of cuttings and embankments through an area that skirted the National  Pinetum. Consequently the station was at a higher elevation than any of the others.
The South Eastern Railway (SER) who built the Line in 1893 had hoped to run it all the way to near the center of Cranbrook, having apparently purchased the site of a hop field. They were unable to persuade a few large landowners to sell their land, however, and in desperation perhaps built the Station near the tiny village of Hartley but called it Cranbrook Station. In fact the town of Cranbrook was about two and a half miles away by road.

                                              Cranbrook Station Circa 1910

Looking North, the station had one 300 foot long platform on the downside, it had two goods sheds, each at opposite ends of a long siding (only the nearest one is apparent), then the booking hall, Station Masters house with its three dormer windows, signal box and various maintenance huts. The nearest one to us in the picture was probably for the storage of lamp oil, but sensibly perhaps it was later replaced with a corrugated iron structure. I believe that the houses in the background may have been built for the railway workers.

                                          Looking south, a view of the station from the track bed.

Unlike many of the stations, Cranbrook platform had a brick facing. A part of the goods yard can be glimpsed through the railings between the oil lamps. The station had a small goods loop which was long enough for a few wagons but why the line petered out after the loop I don't know!

                   Looking north again, the small goods loop is clearly visible on the left.

             A lovely old photograph of the platform looking south towards Hall Farm Bridge. 


As if to 'cock a snoop' at the people of Cranbrook the railway line actually veered away from Cranbrook towards Hawkhurst at the station itself!

On the extreme right of the photo a way marker shows the station stood forty-four and three quarter miles from Charing Cross in London.

            Locomotive 31553 heading south towards Hawkhurst, probably in the 1950's

                           Cranbrook Station 10th June 1961 (two days before closure).

                                       Another picture taken the same day.


This station was probably the worst sited of all the stations, it being so far from the town it was supposed to serve. It did however have a few things going for it, the Hawkhurst Line was described as one of the loveliest railways in Britain and many travelers preferred this station to all the others. In the earlier part of the Twentieth Century it was not uncommon for cyclists to come down from London by train and use the station as a base to cycle around Kent and Sussex. Also, it was still the nearest station to Cranbrook.
Surprisingly, in 1949 Cranbrook Station had 58 season ticket holders (more than Horsmonden or Goudhurst) and it would of course also have contributed more to the volume of goods traffic.

                                                      ----------------------------

I paid a visit for the first time today. The site is located down a country lane off of the A229 (the Maidstone to Hastings road.)

                                 Entrance to the lane leading to Cranbrook Station site.

     The old signal box and Station Masters House are still standing. (Likewise the old station       building has been re-vampted in green, for years it was very neglected - see the Wikipedia     page photo of 1985.)

This was the booking hall, there is a 1984 photograph of it in Wikipedia looking very neglected, since then it has been modified and rebuilt.

The old goods yard has become a lorry terminal for Calor Gas and Collison vehicles (they also litter the track bed beyond the old station buildings and up to what was Hall Farn Bridge) but the main goods shed is still intact.

                                    Old railway sleepers border a  parking area.

It is nearly sixty years since the railway closed and it still haunts me, its scars left a haunting reminder of it's recent presence in the village when I was a child. Thank you for caring too! I know this blog often has punctuation and spelling mistakes but people still look at it, I had 129 page views from Russia this week and it is gratifying to know that there are other people who feel similarly to me.