Alkham.mp4

Alkham
by Ian Hollis
4mm scale, EM gauge

description from Folkestone MRC Exhibition programme

During the last 40 years of the 19th centuary, there was an intense rivalry between the London, Chatham and Dover Railway and the South Eastern Railway. After the main routes were completed, the competition spread to the secondary lines such as the one from Folkestone to Canterbury and by 1884 bothn companies had a Bill before parliament.
With "Alkham" I imagined that the LCDR Bill was adopted for a branch leaving the Canterbury to Dover line at kearnsey, running up the Alkham vally, under the ridge of the North Downs and down to Folkestone. This was built to double track main line standard.
For the first 40 years, life on the line was gentle, and it even made a small profit for its investors. In the 1920's, however, the Kent coalfield arrived. A small coalmine would have been sunk at wolverton, a mile east of Alkham. This produced up to 5,000 tons (400 wagon-loads) a week, and it became the busiest perios of the lines history.
World Warr II brought big changes. The army commandered the line between Alkham and Folkestone and closed it to the public, so that they could hide an 18" rail-mounted gun in the tunnel under the downs as part of anti-invasion defences. A special curved spur was built at Havenfield to slew and aim the gun.
After the was, the line was returned to the SR but traffic never regained pre0war levels. By the mid 1950s, BR had taken the decision to close the Alkham to Folkestone section of the line, and single the remainder from Alkham to Dover. This was kept mainly to provide a link to Wolverton pit.
We have now arrived at the period of the model. The down line has been lifted apart from the run-round loop at the station. The down platform has been grassed over and the level crossing has gone. The coal trains now have to reverse in the exchange sidings to run down the valley to the Kearnsey triangle and the main line. The Kent Coast electrification looms even closer and if the branch is not electrified it will lose it passenger service, but for the time being things carry on much as they have done for the past 70 years.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Alkham
• EM
• gauge
• model
• railway
• folkestone
• mrc
• exhibition
• 2010

[SuperOldtrain]

Nice when it works !