IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Farleigh Lane, MAIDSTONE, ME16 9LY

On Farleigh Lane, opposite Half Yoke Lane. White line on road is part of warning about level crossing coming up.

Queuing at the railway crossing. The Victory free house to the right.

Public house by the railway station

Opened in 1844 by the South Eastern Railway on the line from Paddock Wood to Strood. View north east towards Maidstone and Strood. The southbound platform is beyond the level crossing.

The Medway Valley Line was built in two stages by the South Eastern Railway. The first stage opened in 1844 was from Paddock Wood following the Medway Valley to Maidstone. In 1856 the line was extended up the Medway Valley to the North Kent Line at Strood (which had opened in 1847). East Farleigh station, seen here from the level crossing and looking towards the Paddock Wood and Tonbridge bound platform, is situated on the first part to open in 1844. Like many Kent stations it has staggered platforms. A signal box controls the busy level crossing and on Christmas Day it was occupied although clearly no passenger trains were running. A footbridge is provided which is useful for crossing the line when the level crossing is closed to road traffic but, of course, does not connect the two platforms. Confusingly the indicator board said 'Welcome to Snodland' which is on the other side of Maidstone West but of course there were no passengers today to be confused.

The station was opened by the South Eastern Railway in 1844. The station building, beyond the level crossing keeper's box to the right, is Grade II Listed. The English Heritage website describes it generally and the reasons for listing, and then the exterior thus:- "It is characteristic of stations of the South Eastern Railway, of which it is a particularly good example. This was the company style, but few of these stations now survive. Although it has lost its chimneys and original slate roof, the rest of the building is intact both internally and externally and it survives as a characterful and early station building, for which it has special architectural interest in a national context." "Timber framed, faced in 'Kentish clapboard'(horizontal timber weather-boarding) resting on a brick plinth, with a corrugated asbestos roof, previously slate. A single-storey, rectangular building parallel to the railway line. The north, platform side elevation has four two-over-two paned sash windows and two doors with wooden plain valanced canopies over, supported on decoratively pierced cast iron brackets. One provides access to the waiting room through half glazed double doors, the other to the ticket office. The building has a hipped roof, originally with two tall chimneys, now removed." The staggered platforms of the down and up lines are separated by the level crossing. The line was the first in the South Eastern system to be equipped with electric telegraph. Comparing this image with the one that Chris took in 2013 Image it is evident that the yellow line box junction markings on the level crossing are a very recent introduction. With motor traffic prone to back up to the level crossing from the very nearby, one-way at a time, East Farleigh bridge at peak times, the need to maintain the level crossing free of stationary vehicles is obvious.