Barham railway station

Barham was a station on the Elham Valley Railway. It opened in 1887 and closed to passengers in 1940 and freight in 1947.

Barham
Remains of Barham station, 16 April 1963
Location	Barham, Kent England
Coordinates	51°12′11″N 1°09′13″E
Grid reference	TR 204 496
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Pre-grouping	South Eastern Railway South Eastern and Chatham Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
4 July 1887	Opened
1 December 1940	Closed to passengers
1 October 1947	Closed to freight

History

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 Barham 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]

Barham Signal Box, as preserved at the East Kent Railway.

Passenger services between Canterbury West and Lyminge were withdrawn on 1 December 1940 and the line was placed under military control.[1] On 31 October 1941, a fireman was killed on the footplate near Barham during an air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]

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Bishopsbourne		Southern Railway Elham Valley Railway		Elham

References

Citations

1. Mitchell & Smith 1995, Historical Background.
2. Mitchell & Smith 1995, Barham.
3. Mitchell & Smith 1995, Passenger Services.
4. Mitchell & Smith 1995, Illustration 104.
5. Mitchell & Smith 1995, Illustration 111.
6. Mitchell & Smith 1995, Historical background.
7. "About East Kent Railway". East Kent Railway Trust. Retrieved 29 February 2020.

Sources

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1995). Branch Lines Around Canterbury. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1 873793 58 8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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