PropertyValue
rdf:type
rdfs:label
  • Medway Valley Line
rdfs:comment
  • The line was built in two stages by the South Eastern Railway (SER). The first stage opened on 25 September 1844 and was a branch off the SER's first main line that crossed Kent between the coast ports of Dover and Folkestone and the LBSCR's main line at Redhill. The junction was at Paddock Wood and followed the Medway Valley down to the county town of Maidstone that had been by-passed by the new main line. Twelve years later, on 18 June 1856 the extension of the line further down the Medway Valley was opened, to join the North Kent Line at Strood (which had opened in 1847). The extension was built by the railway contractor Edward Betts, who lived locally at Preston Hall and through whose estate the line partially passed. Betts arranged for his local station at Aylesford to be built in a m
owl:sameAs
dcterms:subject
dbkwik:uk-transport/property/wikiPageUsesTemplate
dbkwik:uktransport/property/wikiPageUsesTemplate
map state
  • collapsed
End
  • Paddock Wood
Open
  • 1856
Speed
  • 70.0
Status
  • Operational
Name
  • Medway Valley Line
Locale
Type
linelength
  • 21
Caption
  • Railways in Kent
System
Start
  • Strood
Operator
  • Southeastern
Owner
Stock
  • Class 395Class 375/3Class 375/6/7/8/9 (Occasional)Class 465 (Rare)Class 466 (Rare)
route number
  • 1
abstract
  • The line was built in two stages by the South Eastern Railway (SER). The first stage opened on 25 September 1844 and was a branch off the SER's first main line that crossed Kent between the coast ports of Dover and Folkestone and the LBSCR's main line at Redhill. The junction was at Paddock Wood and followed the Medway Valley down to the county town of Maidstone that had been by-passed by the new main line. Twelve years later, on 18 June 1856 the extension of the line further down the Medway Valley was opened, to join the North Kent Line at Strood (which had opened in 1847). The extension was built by the railway contractor Edward Betts, who lived locally at Preston Hall and through whose estate the line partially passed. Betts arranged for his local station at Aylesford to be built in a much grander style than the other country stations along the line. The SER merged with local rival London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) on 1 January 1899 to form the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR). Post World War One, the railways were "grouped" and the SECR became part of Southern Railway. For a brief period in the 1990s some services were extended to Gillingham (Kent) via Rochester and Chatham. This involved reversing trains and switching tracks at Strood. It was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail service on 28 September 2007.