Tunbridge Wells West

Central Division

The facilities on offer here were extensive; this was a large site, occupied by numerous sidings and lines. Being a terminus (as far as the LB&SCR was concerned), an engine shed was included within the original plans from the outset, this being sub to the 14-track colossus at Brighton. It was situated to the south-east of the station building, separated from the latter by three tracks and, of course, the platform surface. The shed was quite intriguing in its arrangement: double-track in capacity, one eastward-facing line terminated within it, whilst the second (northern) track continued through the rear of the building, to serve a turntable. To the west of engine shed and turntable was a huge goods shed, constituted of the same brick as the station building. Two-storeys high and with a pitched roof, it was a through affair accommodating a single track. Being on the edge of the town, the LB&SCR had the room to accommodate such large structures, accompanied by a mass of sidings. The SER site cut through the centre of the town, space restrictions being severe to the extent of having to locate the goods yard half a mile north of the station, beyond Wells Tunnel. Returning to the LB&SCR site; to the south of the engine shed laid a trio of rolling stock sidings, complete with a single-track connection to an adjacent timber yard. A further two sidings terminated at the western end of the platform surface, whilst another, eastward-facing, was sandwiched in-between the main platform line and bay track. Saxby & Farmer signalled the layout, and two signal cabins were on site. The first sat just beyond the western end of the platform face, controlling the station and siding approaches. The second was provided at the eastern end of the layout, at the point where the single-track spur from the SER site joined the sidings complex.

In 1889, the railway company began developing plans for a general revision of the station site. It was decided to open a larger motive power depot to the west of the original platform surface, and demolish the existing shed to allow the creation of an island platform. The new shed was a dead-end layout, demonstrated two parallel pitched roofs, and comprised four westward-facing lines, these of which converged to create a direct single-track connection with the main running line. Each shed road could be closed off by an individual pair of wooden doors. A 46 foot turntable had been incorporated into the new layout, this being located to the immediate west of the shed’s approach tracks. Finally, at the rear of the shed, stood a water tank, structurally separate from the depot and suspended upon one-storey high iron struts. Of the island platform, this was situated directly opposite the original platform face, separated from it by two tracks. A subway linked the two platform surfaces and the canopy design of the original was perpetuated on the island. Also, there were now two bay lines in evidence: the original at the east, serving the shuttle service from the SER station, and one at the west, which terminated behind the through platform (the latter of which was extended considerably to accommodate the bay, in addition to receiving a lengthened canopy). The complex remained large, with nine westward-facing sidings being in evidence to the immediate south of the island, one of which served a coal depot. Finally, the LB&SCR re-signalled the layout: the signal box at the eastern end of the layout was replaced with another cabin, residing on exactly the same site. The site of the signal box at the western end of the platform was required by the second bay line, thus another cabin emerged on the opposite side of the tracks. The works had been completed by 1895.

Under the Southern Railway, there was a bout of re-signalling at the western end of the layout. The signal box here was demolished in 1928 and a new one erected in its place. The latter was virtually identical in design to the contemporary signal cabin still in use today at Aylesford, on the Medway Valley Line. At the eastern end of the layout, nine passenger services each week day were utilising the single-track connection with the ex-SER site. In the meantime, the SR had altered the station names: on the advent of the LB&SCR in the Spa town, the stations were known as ‘’Tunbridge Wells SER’’ and ‘’Tunbridge Wells LB&SCR’’. The suffixes were subsequently altered and from 9th July 1923, these proclaimed ‘’Central’’ and ‘’West’’ stations respectively. The company made modifications to the platforms’ gas lamp design, but it was in 1940 that a greater occurrence would transpire. On 20th November of that year, the engine shed was subject to German bombs, and a severely damaged roof was the resultant of the raid. The damage sustained was ‘’patched up’’ by the SR, but it would be the later nationalised organisation which would undertake a comprehensive repair. Indeed, this was not the last time the shed received damage: shortly before nationalisation, an engine crashed through the rear of the shed! By the end of the SR’s reign, the engine shed was officially home to thirty locomotives, all of which were tank engines.
 

We now fast forward to the final day of service - 6th July 1985. From left to right, ''Thumpers'' Nos.

1302 and 1306 are in attendance, the latter packed full of enthusiasts. By this time, the island platform

canopy had gone, and that extending from the station building had been severely truncated. The latter

had also seen the attractive ''spikes'' of its valance sawn off. David Glasspool Collection

The impressive station building is seen from the entrance road in March 1989, after closure, with most

of the lower windows boarded up. Both Central and West stations were certainly architecturally impressive,

worthy of the Spa town. Mike Glasspool

By March 1989, virtually all the track on the Tunbridge Wells West site had been lifted and stacked in

various piles, but all buildings and platforms remained intact. In the background can be seen the signal

gantry, still very much in one piece, to the left is the goods shed and, on the right, is the unmistakeable

shape of the LB&SCR station building. Fortunately, the station building gained listed status and was

destined for preservation, but the majority of the site was not so lucky. It is hard to believe that this

extensive site, which lasted into the 1990s, was subsequently bulldozed to accommodate a supermarket.

Mike Glasspool

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