WEST KENT JUNCTION. RAILWAY - 1853
This ambitious bill, properly named West Kent and Crystal Palace Junction Railway contained proposals for no less than nine sections of railway
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A Railway from Sydenham Station at Lewisham to Farnborough near Green
Street Green. A Railway from Farnborough near Green Street Green to Otford. A Railwey from the Sydenham and Farnborough Railway at Beckenham to Junction with the Brighton Railway at Western side of Sydenham Station A Railway from Lewisham to Beckenham A Railway from Lambeth to Eltham A Railway from Lee to the North Kent Railway at Lewisham A Railway from Beckenham Lane to Lewisham near Catsford (Catford) Bridge A Railway from Lewisham near Catsford Bridge to Junction with the North Kent Railway at Lewisham A Railway from Lewisham near Silver Street to Greenwich |
Only the first two of these involve Farnborough. The narrative describes a railway commencing by a junction with the London Brighton and South Coast Railway near Sydenham station and proceeding to a point adjacent to the turnpike road at Green Street Green, then continuing in the second section to terminate in 'a field within a short distance from and to the southward side of Twitton Farmhouse in the parish of Otford, and to the eastward of the road from Dunton Green to Otford, all in the said county of Kent'.
The two images below show the junction at Sydenham and the route through Bromley. Note that it would run right through the centre of the old town, necessitating a diversion of the main turnpike road.
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| From Bromley the line would parallel the main road,
continuing through Crofton, and to the east of the centre of
Farnborough Village to the point just before Green Street Green is reached where
Shire Lane then crossed Farnborough Hill. From Green Street Green the route would parallel the turnpike road and then tunnel through the downs to emerge in the valley below. |
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This act was not passed, indeed that may not even have been intended, as in the same year a further bill was submitted, this time using the name Sydenham Farnborough and Otford .
It contained proposals covering just the first two elements from the earlier one, and was clearly derived from it. However the route through Bromley had been changed to take it south of the town centre, crossing the turnpike road in fact at about the location of the station later built as Bromley South. This would have avoided the need for a road diversion. There was also a slight modification to the path taken through Farnborough Village.