Canterbury and Whitstable Railway - Remains Today (correct To 2011)

Remains Today (correct To 2011)

All traces of the Whitstable Harbour stations have been removed and the sites occupied by public toilets and a medical centre, respectively. The concrete base of the former goods shed that stood between the mid-1920s and 2009 is still visible, adjacent to the harbour with the former entrance gates still displaying the initials "SE&CR" (South Eastern & Chatham Railway). The bridges crossing Teynham Road and the mainline were removed in the 1950s, although their abutments are still in place. The famous bridge at Old Bridge Road (previously Church Road) was demolished in 1969. The track bed leading from the site of the bridge adjacent to Whitstable railway station to the site of South Street Halt was surfaced in 1983 as a designated footpath and cycle track. There is no trace of South Street Halt, although remains of the level crossing gates were visible until the early 1980s. A bridge remains near Bogshole Brook, which dates from the line's construction, although it was almost certainly reconstructed c.1846. A section of trackbed through Clowes Wood is also a footpath where the site of the winding house can be found. The site of Tyler Hill Halt is occupied by a bungalow with the driveway on the site of the trackbed. The blocked up tunnel mouths of Tyler Hill Tunnel are visible. A buried pedestrian tunnel is visible near St. Stephen's Pathway, probably built during the 1830s following a death on the line. The site of Canterbury North Lane station was a goods yard until around 1980 when it was closed. A plan was mooted in the 1980s to open a railway museum on the site, but it remained derelict until being sold for housing development and the extension of Station Road West in about 1998. The original weighbridge house and a level crossing gate into the former goods yard are preserved in the development. The Invicta has been preserved, having been extensively restored in 1979, and can be seen in the Museum of Canterbury. The locomotive is not in its original form, since various modifications were made around 1836 in an effort to improve its performance. One of the stationary steam engines also survives, having been in the possession of the University of Kent and is currently (2012) undergoing restoration. Its wheel is visible in Gas Street, Canterbury. Part of the Tyler Hill tunnel collapsed at the beginning of July 1974, causing severe subsidence to some buildings at the University of Kent at Canterbury that had been built on the hill above. The resulting voids were filled over the next year, using fly-ash from Richborough power station.