Mid-Kent Railway

The Mid Kent & North Kent Junction Railway (usually referred to as the Mid Kent Railway ) was an early railway in Kent England. (Note the name is given both with and without the hyphen in different sources.)

Origins[]

The Mid Kent Railway was formed on 23 July 1855 to construct a 4.75-mile line between the South Eastern Railway (SER) at Lewisham and the Farnborough Extension of the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway (WEL&CPR) at Beckenham.^[1] The intention then was to extend this line to Croydon at a later date.^[2] The line opened 1 January 1857 and was operated by the SER under a ten-year agreement.

Mid Kent (Bromley & St Mary Cray) Railway[]

This project was drawn up in 1856 to construct a four-mile line between Shortlands and St Mary Cray. This line was of strategic importance in providing a link between the East Kent Railway and the WEL&CPR, thereby providing a potential alternative route between London and Dover to the roundabout route used by the South Eastern Railway and so enabling the creation of the London Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR) in 1859. This line was leased to the LC&DR in 1862.^[3]

Addiscombe Line[]

Although the company later abandoned its intention of building a line to Croydon, an extension to Addiscombe Road through Elmers End was completed in 1862 which was also leased to the SER on completion.

Dissolution[]

The remaining interests of the company were taken over by the SER in August 1866.^[4]

Legacy[]

The Lewisham – Elmers End and the Shortlands – St Mary Cray sections now form parts of the Hayes line and the Chatham Main Line, respectively.

References[]