Elham Valley Railway

The Elham Valley Railway is a disused railway line that runs through the Elham Valley connecting Folkestone and Canterbury in East Kent. It was operational from 1887 to 1947.

The first concept of a line connecting Canterbury to Folkestone occurred in 1830 when a group of landowners and priests began to discuss the possibility of the line; however this was not a concerted effort and each group had their own interest. They started the Elham Valley Light Railway company and a single track line with stations at Elham, Barham, Canterbury West and Shorncliffe railway was authorised on 18 June 1861. However, despite initial success they failed to convince either of the big two railway companies in the south east to support them - South Eastern Railway (SER) and London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) and the matter was quietly dropped. However the scheme re-emerged when the LCDR planned to link Canterbury East to Folkestone through the Alkham Valley. This alarmed the SER and their chairman Sir Edward Watkin and for a period of time both railways argued that their scheme was superior. Eventually the SER came out on top. However, if it was built as a light railway, it could not be considered an integral part of the SER network, and so was built to the same standard as the main line.

The railway taken over by South Eastern Railway by an Act of Parliament of 28 July 1884. A double track line was built and work began in 1884 and the first stage, from Shorncliffe (now Folkestone West) to Barham opened on 4 July 1887. The stretch from Barham to Canterbury was more difficult as rich landowners objected to trains passing through their land. The most stubborn was Matthew Bell who refused to see trains pass by the back of his mansion, and reluctantly the SER agreed to build Bourne Park tunnel instead of two bridges. In Canterbury, the South Eastern Railway wanted a station close to Wincheap but planning permission was refused, so the South Eastern had to site its Canterbury South station much further south. Canterbury was reached in 1890 where it joined the Ashford - Ramsgate line at Harbledown Junction.

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