Eythorne Clearance (1)
One of the railways long serving members John Griffiths together with new Thursday Gang member Peter Franklin have started the massive task 0f clearing the tangle of vegetation that has grown up alongside the running line leading into Eythorne Station. The clearance serves many purposes as obviously it grants clearer visibility for drivers , prevents overgrowth onto the running line and gives a far better view for passengers on one of the best stretches of the line.
The clearance has also uncovered the Guildford Colliery Branch Line which ran on a spur off the Eythorne bend to Coldred and which has remain hidden and overgrown for many many years having last been used by the army in the Second World War to position of the three railguns requisitioned to the EKR.Prior to this the line was abandoned way back in the 1920s when the colliery was abandoned due to constant flooding without coal ever having been brought to the surface and all track lifted in 1934.
John has done so much at Eythorne as have all of the Thursday Gang and they really are a credit to the present day East Kent Railway.Links to all of their other work will be posted up in due course and a huge well done to each and every one of them in not only maintaining the beautiful Eythorne Station site but by constantly coming up with ways to improve it.
March 2009
A series of pictures showing the massive inroads Peter and John have already made in a very short space of time
Top Left :- Looking towards Eythorne Court Crossing
Top Right :- The same direction but showing the vast depth of the clearance with Peter hard at work
Bottom :- View of the Eythorne bend leading up to the station showing just how near to the track the undergrowth had reached
Below Left : - View from the Eythorne Court Crossing towards Eythorne Station
Below Right :- First view of the Guildford Colliery Junction emerging into daylight behind Peter last seen 60 years ago
May 2009
John Griffiths has now added extra interest for passengers with the making and installing of a sign to mark the old Guildford Colliery Junction. It is worth noting that if you follow the footpath leading onto the trackbed of this branch you will see many sleepers still in situ
and two brick munitions huts used by the army during WW2 when a rail gun was stationed on this section of line to protect the straits of Dover
John cut down all these nettles shortly after taking the photo - not a job for the faint hearted !!
East Kent Railway
Registered Charity No. 1095790
Station Road, Shepherdswell, Dover, Kent, CT15 7PD
