[Source: Nick Catford]
Folkestone East Station Gallery 1: 1890 - April 1947 east_old6.jpg) Folkestone Junction station looking east from the up platform towards Dover c1890. The staggered platforms favoured by the South Eastern Railway are seen; a footbridge was added at a later date to replace the boarded crossing between the platform ends. The west portal of Martello Tunnel can be seen in the far distance. The goods shed seen on the left has been recently built and replaced an earlier, smaller shed on the same site. Much more extensive goods facilities were later provided behind the up platform but the early yard and the shed seen here remained in use.
Photo from John Mann collection  
1873 1:2,500 OS map shows the original layout of the station and goods yard. The staggered platforms and buildings are shown; at this time there was no footbridge, with passengers using a boarded crossing between the two platform ends. The goods yard is on the down side opposite the up platform. It comprises two sidings running parallel with the main line; one passes through a small goods shed while the other loops round it. From one of these sidings, two further sidings run diagonally across the yard towards the ‘Railway Bell’ hotel. The yard crane is sited between the sidings; in 1994 this had a capacity of 4 tons. There is a blacksmith on the left side of the yard. To the east of the goods yard there is a turnplate with with four short sidings fanning out. From the turnplate a line runs across the main line at right angles to another turnplate on the up side with two short sidings running into a carriage shed. The early railways often took a single siding into a goods yard, where a small turntable or turnplate then fed a series of sidings radiating out from it, often crossing other lines at right angles. It was common to see sidings crossing a main line by using turnplates. Goods yards were generally re-laid with points from the later nineteenth century, and generally sidings running across main lines were phased out. To the east of the carriage shed, there is an extensive range of coke ovens for producing locomotive fuel. The junction with the harbour branch is seen top right. A signal box is sited between the junction and the main line. To the left of the signal box there are two single-road engine sheds back-to-back.
Click here for a larger map. 
1898 1:2,500 OS map shows many changes. The original goods yard is still in use but the goods shed has been replaced with a larger building. To the east of the shed the turnplate and the sidings fanning out from it are still in place, including the one crossing the main line, but the carriage shed on the south side has gone. The original signal box at the junction with the Harbour branch has been replaced with a new box at the east end of the down platform. A weighbridge beneath the track and an adjacent weigh office are shown at the site of the old signal box. Between the main line and the Harbour line the redundant coke ovens have been demolished and replaced with a coal depot and exchange sidings for the Harbour line. A new siding serving a cattle dock and pens has been provided south of the station with the entrance for livestock in Folly Road. A large rail-served canning manufactory has been built to the east of the junction with the harbour line. Click here for a larger map
1907 1:2,500 OS map shows further changes. The turnplate and the sidings fanning out from it in the down yard are still there but no longer run across the main line. A new three-road engine shed has been built on the down side behind the down platform; the turntable alongside was not added until 1918. The two earlier back-to-back engine sheds have been demolished. On the south side of the main line, a remnant of the line that once ran into the carriage shed at right angles to the main line is still there. An extensive new goods yard and sidings have been built on the south side of the line with a long though goods shed just north of the cattle dock with one siding passing through it and another looping round it. New sidings have been laid to the east of the junction with the Harbour line built on the site of the Tivoli Gardens. The canning manufactory is now a Corporation depot and still rail-served. The large building with a weighbridge at one corner is a refuse destructor. Click here for a larger map
 1965 1:2,500 OS map shows further changes. The station is now closed and is no longer named. The down side goods yard has been closed and all the sidings have been lifted; only the goods shed remains. The signal box at the east end of the down platform has been demolished and replaced with a much larger panel box behind the down platform. The down platform has been demolished but a short section has been retained just to the east of the new box for the use of railway staff. The down side station building has been demolished. The up platform and building are still shown although the prefabricated extension at the east end of the platform has been demolished. To the south of the main line, the sidings and goods yard remain largely unchanged. The sidings on the east side of the Harbour line have been lifted. Click here for a larger map.
east_old4.jpg)
A westbound train is seen passing the two back-to-back engine sheds on the approach to the up platform at Folkestone Junction c1890s. The sheds were closed and quickly demolished when a new three-road shed was opened to the rear of the signal box. The west portal of the Martello Tunnel is seen in the distance.
Copyright photo from John Mann and Roger Griffiths collections east_old3.jpg)
Folkestone Junction station looking east from the east end of the up platform c1905. Staggered platforms were favoured by the South Eastern Railway and the boarded crossing used by passengers is seen between the two platforms. The Board of Trade stated that this practice was dangerous although they still sanctioned the opening of the station. Around the turn of the twentieth century a covered footbridge was built between the two platforms.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection east_old5.jpg)
Folkestone Junction station looking east from the up platform c1930s as a local train stops to pick up passengers. The down goods yard was still in use at this time but the rail opening at the back of the goods shed appears to have been bricked up and the office seen in the 1890 picture at the rear of the building has gone.
Photo from John Mann collection east_old16.jpg) A trio of R class locomotives are lined up outside the Folkestone Junction shed c1936 ready for duty on the steeply graded Folkestone Harbour line.
Photo from Roger Griffiths collection east_old10.jpg)
An express service hauled by Schools class 'Hurstpierpoint' is seen approaching Folkestone Junction station in April 1947. No.918 was built at Eastleigh works, entering service in June 1933. It was withdrawn from 70A, Nine Elms shed, during October 1961 to be scrapped a month later. All 40 of the class were named after public schools, and such was the power of the locos that BR gave them a 5P classification, the only 4-4-0 locos to receive this. Luckily, three examples have been preserved: Stowe, Repton and Cheltenham.
Copyright photo by HC Casserley
east_old11.jpg) An express service hauled by West Country class 'Honiton' is approaching the up platform at Folkestone Junction station in April 1947. This loco still has its Southern Railway number 21C134 but would be renumbered 34034 in 1948. Honiton was less than a year old having been built at Brighton works in July 1946. It lost its air smoothed casing when rebuilt at Eastleigh in August 1960. At this time it was allocated to Stewart's Line shed but was later transferred to Nine Elms shed to be withdrawn in September 1967 and cut up at Cashmores of Newport the following April. Martello Tower No.1 is seen in the background. This is the first of a long line of south coast towers stretching as far as Seaford in Sussex. Copyright photo by HC Casserley Click here for Folkestone East Station Gallery 2:
|
Notes: Once the temporary station at Folkestone opened on 28 June 1843 work to complete Sir William Cubitt's 19-arch Foord viaduct progressed rapidly with the permanent station at Folkestone expected to be open by the late autumn. This was, however, delayed fallowing a serious landslip on the massive embankment between the station and the viaduct. The viaduct was finally completed on 20 November 1843 with the first locomotive running over it the following day with a series of trials taking place three weeks later. 
Folkestone station had two staggered platforms with passengers crossing the line on a boarded crossing; these were favoured by the SER although the Board of Trade considered them dangerous for passengers. Footbridges were eventually provided. A range of single-storey buildings was provided on both platforms with the main station entrance on the up side at the end of what later became Station Approach. A small timber signal box was later provided at the east end of the down platform; this replaced an earlier box at the junction with the line to Folkestone Harbour. Two back-to-back single-road brick engine sheds were built on the up side opposite the east end of the down platform; they opened on 18 December 1843.
Extensive coke ovens were provided between the main line and the harbour branch. Early steam locomotives in the UK used coke as fuel, instead of coal, because of an early legal requirement that locomotives should 'consume their own smoke'. Coal produces smoke when burned whereas coke burns almost smoke-free. Coke is created by heating soft coal in an airtight oven. As it heats, the coal decomposes to give a hard, porous, greyish substance, and this coke contains almost 90% carbon. When it burns, coke produces intense, smokeless heat.
To the north of the station the SER built a branch line to the harbour, but this had no direct connection with the main line. Instead it trailed into exchange sidings close to the station requiring a reversal in order to reach the main line. This was a safety requirement as the steeply-graded harbour branch descended at 1 in 30 for three quarters of a mile. While the Folkestone Harbour branch would be restricted to goods traffic until 1849 the extension to Dover was quickly completed, and on 7 February 1844 Folkestone was no longer a terminus when the first public train left the station bound for Dover.
The SER was keen to win local support in an attempt to block the LD&DR. Although the Alkham Valley scheme was eventually dropped and the Elham Valley line was built, Folkestone did receive its central station. A site was quickly chosen on the west of Cheriton Road and construction began immediately and progressed rapidly. The planned name was Cheriton Road but when the station opened on 18 August 1884 it was called Cheriton Arch after the narrow brick arch that carried the railway over the road. In September 1886 the name was changed to Radnor Park at a time when a large area of adjacent land had been gifted to the town by Lord Radnor. The station became Folkestone Central on 1 June 1895.
The 1907 Ordnance Survey map (reproduced below) shows goods facilities on both sides of the line. The main goods yard which comprised a long through goods shed, cattle dock and pens and a coal depot was located to the south of the station between the main line and the harbour branch. The original goods yard was retained with further sidings, a second goods shed and a 4-ton capacity crane on the down side opposite the staggered up platform. The exchange sidings for the harbour branch were provided between the south side yard and the up line.
In 1960 both platforms were extended at opposite ends as part of Stage 2 of the Kent Coast Electrification which included both the main line and the harbour branch. For the first time the two platforms faced each other. Colour light signalling was also installed and a new signal box was provided at the rear of the down platform controlling movements between Ashford and Dover Archcliffe Junction. Folkestone shed closed on 12 June 1961 following electrification. In September 1962 Shorncliffe was renamed Folkestone West, whilst the junction station became Folkestone East. In the late 1950s British Rail (Southern Region) installed totem signage at Folkestone Junction, one version of the signs (reading Folkestone ‘Jct’) being proficiently painted over totems from Kenley (Surrey). New signs were installed when the station became Folkestone East, but the re-signing, the recent platform construction and the earlier platform extensions seemed an extravagance as the station closed on 6 September 1965. The down platform and buildings were quickly demolished, although a short section of platform was retained for railway staff at the signal box; this is still in use but the Folkestone East box is due to be abolished in 2018 with control of the area passing to the South Kent Regional Operations Centre at Ashford. The up platform building lingered until 1978 and the platform is extant. 
The engineer of the Dover line was William Cubitt who was also engineer of the London & Croydon Railway. The chosen route, which passed over the lines of three other companies, would start at London Bridge, from where it would use London & Greenwich metals as far as Southwark and then turn south towards Croydon. From a junction with the London & Croydon at Norwood the Dover line would then share the London & Brighton main line to Redhill where it would turn east towards Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone. Construction began in 1838 at several places simultaneously. The L&BR line to Redhill opened on 12 July 1841. The line between Redhill and Ashford was almost straight with few engineering difficulties. The SER line from Redhill to Tonbridge opened on 26 May 1842, when SER train services began. The line reached Ashford on 1 December 1842 and the outskirts of Folkestone by 28 June 1843.
The route between Folkestone and Dover took the line between the cliff and the sea and a number of major engineering difficulties had to be overcome. It was for this reason that the company bought Folkestone Harbour and turned it into their port of choice for cross-channel ferries. One of the major natural obstacles was the Round Down cliff; the SER's solution was to blow it up! Four tunnels were also required: these were Martello Tunnel (530 yd) at the western end, then Abbotscliffe Tunnel (1 mile 182yd), Shakespeare’s Cliff Tunnel (1392 yd) and finally Archcliffe Tunnel (50 yards - opened out in 1927) at the eastern end near Dover. The Martello tunnel was driven through Gault Clay and Greensand and was more difficult to construct than the other three. Martello and Abbotscliffe are both double-track tunnels. Because of the instability of the Chalk, Shakespeare’s Cliff Tunnel comprised two single-track bores of unusual design. They are very tall, the crown being 28ft above track level, and have Gothic cross-section. Both Shakespeare’s Cliff and Abbotscliffe tunnels are close to the cliff face, so were constructed using horizontal access shafts, as well as the more normal vertical ones. Rubble was taken through the horizontal shafts to be transferred to boats for disposal. Archcliffe Tunnel comprised two short, single bores, passing below Archcliffe Fort on the outskirts of Dover.
The line eventually reached Dover on 27 January 1844. Following the official opening on 6 February the passenger service between London and Dover Town began the following day. Six trains per day were provided in each direction. 
On 19 December 1915, a landslide resulted in the entire undercliff supporting the main line moving towards the sea causing approximately 1.9 million cubic yards of chalk to slip or fall completely; the incident blocked a mile of track between the Martello and Abbotscliffe tunnels. The movement occurred over the whole length of the Warren and several cliffs collapsed resulting in the chalk fluidising and burying the rail lines with up to 65ft of debris and creating a flow 230ft out to sea. The maximum displacement was about 165ft near the centre of the disturbance.
After consultation with the Board of Trade the SECR decided that the blockage could not be removed during the War. Thus, passengers who wished to travel from Folkestone to Dover were faced with a long, arduous journey as Dover was under military rule and they could not enter the town except by rail. Thus they had to leave Folkestone on the Elham Valley Line to Canterbury then head back to Dover on the old LCDR line. For the remainder of the War the Admiralty used the tunnels to store mines and shells for locally based warships. During the four-year closure, drainage adits were bored from beach level up through the complex in an attempt to halt further coastal erosion, but small landslips continued to occur periodically.
Home Page