Rails Across the Harbour Folkestone and its Branch Line

By John Hendy

PACKED with carefully-selected images, this book charts the history of the steeply-graded mile-long Folkestone Harbour branch, from its origins in the South Eastern Railway’s plans to develop the port, through over a century and a half of changes, as far as its closure and retention of the station and viaduct as part of the area’s recent transformation.

Unsurprisingly, there is much to tell about a link which played a pivotal part in cross-Channel travel before it became possible to do the entire journey to France by rail, but I felt the story would have flowed better had it been structured differently.

The role of the station’s refreshment room in feeding wartime troops on their way to the battlefields, and the decision to permanently close the railway’s swing bridge to maritime traffic are two of a few subjects I would have loved to have read more about, but which get only passing references.

That said, author John Hendy’s efforts to make good use of assistance from other knowledgeable sources and utilise archive images (a number of which come from his own collection and that of Folkestone historian Alan Taylor) are evident throughout the book.

He and all involved deserve much praise for their parts in trying to ensure this short but once very significant route does not fade completely from the memories of those of us who once used it, and thus bringing its story to the attention of a wider audience. GP