Medway Valley line; Maidstone to Strood
19th February 2008
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Continuing the journey up the Medway valley, heading north of Maidstone. Unfortunately, the morning sunshine disappeared but an enjoyable afternoon nevertheless; certainly worth a return visit.
North of Maidstone, the Medway Valley line is not as rural in nature as the southern section - New Hythe station being dominated by the Aylesford Newsprint paper mill
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 New Hythe station was opened by the Souther Railway as a timber halt in 1929. The current station, which is now unstaffed, was opened in 1936, three years before electrication.
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 The paper mill dominates the scene at New Hythe atation. Services are mostly formed of 2 car Networker units, 466010 being seen here on a southbound service.
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Aylesford paper mill viewed from New Hythe station. The paper mill was constructed in 1920 and was rail connected from the outset. The connection remains in place, entry being controlled by colour light signal which replaced semaphores in 2005.
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 Class 466 Networker units at Snodland. Evidence of significant track renewal can be seen in early 2008.
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 466021 departs Snodland towards Maidstone West.
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Snodland crossing; semaphore signals were replaced by colour lights in 2005
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 Many of the Medway Valley stations, including Snodland, feature level crossings operated by manual gates.
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 Level crossing at Snodland framing All Saints church; the church was orignally built in Norman times using remains from an adjacent Roman Villa although the building was substantially reconstructed over the following centuries.
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The final station visited on the Medway Valley line was Cuxton. This shot is of the disused station entrance which leads around the back of the station building onto the northbound platform.
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 Cuxton is within site of 'high speed 1', the renamed Channel Tunnel Rail link and is enjoys a half hourly service to Strood and Maidstone.
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 Cuxton station building is situated on the Strood platform, built in 1858 to a unique mock-tudor design.
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Cuxton station, looking towards Strood; the bus stop style shelter having recently undergone refurbishment.
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 Crossing gate detail at Cuxton - the barriers are manually worked by the crossing keeper, a common feature of Medway Valley line stations.
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 The SER designed clapboard signal box at Cuxton survives. Built in 1892, this controlled semaphore signals until October 2005 when replaced by colour lights controlled from a switch panel.
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The disused mock-tudor station building at Cuxton. Surprisingly, this area is readily accessible from the platform.
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© 1998-2009 Dennis Lance - All copyrights rest with the Author
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