(All 23.4.1985 Eynsford, Kent)
An April evening in 1985 in Eynsford, Kent. Just a suburban Southern station. I'd parked the lorry in Lullingstone and had hoped to find the built but never used platforms for Lullingstone station, but couldn't get near the site. So I walked to the station and got these shots.
Almost from day one I tried to capture more than just trains, using atmosphere shots. They could vary from shot 3, a picture of the approach road and shot 4, an against the sun shot of the viaduct. Top two shots are of course just record shots, already well dated re livery and type of train.
Eynsford railway station serves Eynsford in Kent. Train services are provided by Southeastern and Thameslink.
The ticket office, on the 'down' side, is situated in the substantial station building. This is manned only during part of the day; at other times a PERTISpassenger-operated ticket machine issues 'Permits to Travel' - which are exchanged on-train or at manned stations for travel tickets - and is located at the foot of the stairs leading from the car park to the Ashford-bound platform.
The platforms are connected by a concrete footbridge - a typical product of the Southern Railway concrete factory at Exmouth Junction. There is a small car park (charges apply) at the entrance to the station.
History
The Swanley to Sevenoaks Bat & Ball line was opened on 2 June 1862, by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, initially with just a single track. The station at Eynsford came into use the following month, with two platforms and a passing loop; the second track came in 1863.
The main station building is on the "down" side, two storeys high, with chimney stacks and arched window frames. On the "up" side is a shelter with an elaborate valance and sides for protection from the weather. The track was crossed at ground level until a lattice footbridge was built in about 1910. The signal cabin was positioned at the southern end of the "up" platform.
Eynsford's goods yard was positioned on the "down" side, to the south of the main building, and comprised a pair of sidings, one of which passed over a wagon turntable through the pitched-roof goods shed. The platforms were extended twice, first in 1894 and again in 1932 when they were lengthened at their southern ends, requiring the demolition of the signal box. This was replaced by a porch on the ground floor of the station building's platform side.
Electric services between Bickley and Sevenoaks were introduced on 6 January 1935, when the station lost its lattice footbridge to a prefabricated concrete replacement. Goods traffic ceased in May 1962 and the goods shed was demolished soon after.
Approximately 1 km to the north west lie the remains of Lullingstone, built but never opened, as the development it was intended to serve never materialised. All that remains are the platforms (still in situ) and the platform canopies, now gracing Canterbury East station. Between the two, the line is taken over the River Darent by an impressive nine-arch red-brick viaduct.
Services[
From 23 March 2009, most of the stopping train services to/from Blackfriars were re-extended (resuming a service pattern from the 1980s) across Central London via the 'Thameslink' route, serving City Thameslink, Farringdon, St Pancras International, Kentish Town and West Hampstead Thameslink.
The typical off-peak service from the station is
- 2tph to West Hampstead Thameslink via Catford
- 2tph to Sevenoaks
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