Medway valley line; Paddock Wood to Maidstone
19th February 2008
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Took a trip up the Medway Valley line for line coverage and station bashing purposes (and a good excuse to get out into the sunshine). Here are a selection of images from the southern half of the route.
The Medway Vallery line runs from Paddock Wood in the south to Strood. The southern end covered in this collection is mostly rural in nature with the line closely following the Medway River.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 Westward view over a misty Paddock Wood station. This station was named Maidstone Road when opened by the SER in 1842, being changed to Paddock Wood in 1844 when the branch to Maidstone West opened.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 recently refurbished class 508 waits at Paddock Wood. Medway Valley line services normally use the bay platform 3, adjacent to the former goods yard.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
508211 at Paddock Wood. These units were built by BREL at York between 1979 - 1980.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 Interior shot of South Eastern Trains 508211 after refurbishment by Wabtec in 2008.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 Platform canopy at Paddock Wood.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
East Farleigh station on the Medway Valley line, used by over 18,000 passengers per year is about 50metres from the River Medway, which is crossed by a Mediaeval bridge. The village is served by one train per hour in each direction off peak.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 508211 heads north from East Farleigh on the Medway valley line.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 Station 'bus shelters' were originally provided in the late eighties and nineties on the Medway Valley line and have recently been refurbished by SET and lighting also upgraded.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
View south down the River Medway at East Farleigh. From here, a footpath runs along the river to Yalding in the south and Maidtone to the north; the river and railway are in close proximity at several locations.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 Manually operated gated crossing a East Farleigh - such crossings feature at many of the stations along the Medway Valley line.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 466206 approaches East Farleigh with a service to Paddock Wood. Most trains on the branch are now formed of these two car units, replacing the older three car 508 units.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
The fine frade 2 listed SER building at Wateringbury station on the Medway Valley line, serving a village of less than 3000
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 View north from the platform at Wateringbury. Signalling was upgraded from Semaphores in 2005; the old signals being donated to a local school.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 retired Dennis Dart NDZ 3170, ex London and more recently Bristol, was parked up at Wateringbury station, February 2008
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
Common with many of the Medway Valley stations, Wateringbury features a manually operated gated crossing. This view, taken from the bridge over the river looks over the crossing towards the Railway public house.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 Wateringbury station viewed from the crossing.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
 The old goods shed at Wateringbury survives.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
Networker 466026 at Maidstone West. 43 of these two car units were built at the Metro-Cammell Washwood Heath plant between 1993-1994.
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2008-02-19 00:00:00
© 1998-2009 Dennis Lance - All copyrights rest with the Author
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