Folkestone West
The town’s first
permanent station was that of Folkestone Junction, which came into use with the
completion of the Foord Viaduct on 18th December 1843 (acquiring the
‘’Junction’’ suffix in 1852, despite the harbour branch having been opened in
1849). The third station to come on the scene was that of Shorncliffe Camp,
positioned about a mile to the west of the viaduct and opening to traffic on 1st
November 1863. As the name suggests, its raison d’etre was to serve a nearby
military base, which had been established in 1794. By this time, the SER’s
policy of providing ‘’economical’’ station structures was in full swing and
thus, the passenger facilities provided here were fairly basic. Two platform
faces were situated either side of a double track, the ‘’up’’ side being host to
a single-storey clapboard structure, a feature which became very common on the
SER’s network. Interestingly, this was devoid of any form of canopy, just like
the virtually identical building at Yalding, therefore any passengers standing
on the platform surface were completed exposed to the elements. The ‘’down’’
side fared better in terms of weather protection, even if it did lack a station
structure: a triangular canopy, roughly the length of the counterpart clapboard
building, featured. This demonstrated a simple, but nevertheless pleasing
valance pattern, a more or less identical example of which can still be seen on
the canopies at Plumstead. Exactly one month after opening, the station received
a name alteration: ‘’Shorncliffe Camp’’ became ‘’Shorncliffe & Sandgate’’. This
was short-lived and the original name subsequently came back into use on 1st
October 1874.
There was no goods yard here as such, but refuge sidings were instead available.
That on the ‘’down’’ side was the largest, being three times the length of the
platform and effectively making the latter an island, having been arranged as a
loop. The siding on the ‘’up’’ side was westward-facing and terminated
immediately beside the station building. The modest goods provision was,
however, to be drastically improved upon with the planning of a whole new
station layout. An enlarged replacement complex opened on 1st February 1881,
some 150 yards to the east of the existing station. The whole nature of its
construction differed totally from the SER’s earlier attempt: two through
platform faces were now separated by four tracks, which allowed the non-stop
services - such as the boat traffic - to overtake slow trains. Each platform was
graced with an indistinguishable single-storey red brick building, demonstrating
the same design traits which featured in the examples at Ashford, such as
semi-circular window frames. The general construction of the Shorncliffe Camp
buildings was fairly straightforward - in fact, they could be considered as
glorified brick versions of the SER’s clapboard products, for they were designed
around the same rectangular base, were of similar height, and had
identically-shaped pitched roofs. Copious and elaborate canopies were used on
both platforms, to a design which later became standard on the quadrupled
section of line from Hither Green to Orpington. Both platforms were flanked on
the outer edges of their western ends by goods sidings. The main yard was
situated behind the ‘’up’’ platform, eventually comprising six sidings, whilst
two tracks were a feature of the ‘’down’’ side, one of which was a bay line and
the other served by a ‘’dock’’ platform face. The bay probably came into use
with the Elham Valley Line in 1887 (more of later). At the eastern end of the
‘’up’’ platform was an additional carriage ‘’dock’’ line, adding to an already
interesting array of tracks. The yard lacked a traditional goods shed building,
which would usually have a single-track intercepting it: instead, the original
clapboard structure of the first station was reused as the yard’s offices.
Another curious feature of the goods yard was a short-lived connection with a
branch line: this, some 1500 yards long, trailed off from the third ‘’up’’
siding in a south easterly direction. It linked the SER line with an Arts
Treasures Exhibition taking part in the town, allowing supplies to be taken
directly to the site. Opened in 1886 and approved for passenger operation in
June of that year, it closed swiftly afterwards, with the ending of the
exhibition.
Since opening, the enlarged station layout had been controlled by a SER-designed
timber signal box, positioned at the western end of the ‘’up’’ platform and
comprising fifty-four levers. This was supplemented by a four-lever ground frame
and two sets of individually controlled points. The cabin also had control over
the single-track connections with two external sites: a petrol store on the
‘’up’’ side and an electricity generating station on the ‘’down’’ side. A second
SER-designed signal box came into use just over a mile to the west of
Shorncliffe Camp, at Cheriton Junction on 4th July 1887, with the Elham Valley
Line. As a consequence of this branch opening (initially to as far as Barham),
the ‘’down’’ passing loop at Shorncliffe Camp was extended westwards to the
junction, providing an additional ‘’slow’’ line to create a triple-track
section.
The standard layout before the sidings were taken out of use and platforms altered as a result of the Kent Coast Electrification;
click to enlarge. Scale is approximate. Drawn by David Glasspool
On 21st June 2007, Electrostar No. 375915 arrived at platform 2 with a Charing Cross to
Dover Priory service. At the time, the Dover Priory to Charing Cross service could be seen
in the distance, at Folkestone Central. David Glasspool
Another eastward view on 21st June 2007, again from the ''up'' side, reveals the brickwork
of the structures to be in excellent condition: only the truncated corrugated metal canopies
let the buildings down. Until the late 1960s, the area in the foreground was host to goods
sidings, these of which dealt with coal up until April 1968. David Glasspool
This is the façade of the ''up'' side, as seen on 25th February 2006. This building came into use
in the same year as the example at Walmer, on the Dover & Deal Joint Line. Despite being
constituted from different coloured bricks, notice how both buildings are to the same basic
design pattern. Worthy of note is the still extant ornate canopy over the side entranceway: this
is the very same valance design as that still in use at St Johns. David Glasspool
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