2, Wateringbury Goods Shed, Livestock Register 1947-61.
When I first started on the railway in 1983 for one summer I covered the railman ticket office positions at Maidstone Barracks, East Farleigh and Wateringbury on the Medway Valley line as relief for sickness and leave. At the time north of Maidstone the ticket offices had two shifts but south of Maidstone with just an hourly service there was a 12hr split shift. (4on-4off-4on). So East Farleigh and Wateringbury involved much time to kill seeing as I didn't live in either village so couldn't just go home like the resident blokes did, Spud Murphy and Ken Philpot.
The duty station master based at Maidstone West knowing I had dead time during the day suggested on one occasion he would be grateful if I could clear out all the out of date documents and accumulated rubbish at Wateringbury as the place was "like a museum" (his words not mine). The resident clerk/railman then was Ken Philpot and he was off long term sick and infact retired before resuming. I was tasked with clearing the shelves and cupboards of old documents dating back to the Southern Railway. Ken had worked there for donkeys years so nothing to him was out of date. There were label draws full of Southern Railway labels and a mountain of ticket office related documents back to the 1940's. I sort the assistance of a friend who was a junior railman at the time and between us we sorted through the musty pile of "rubbish". It was a gold mine of railway ephemera and we put a box together of vintage labels and other items and buried it in the floor under a loose floor board in the then booking office back room. (Wonder is its still there as the station was later converted to a private dwelling). The remainder of the older stuff we split between us as momento's of times past. My biggest regret and it still haunts me is the quantity of Railway Posters we ditched in the bin they would be worth a fortune now.
This photo depicts a page from the Wateringbury Goods Shed Livestock Register which covers a period from March 1947 to June 1961 when I suspect the facility for sending livestock stopped at Wateringbury. The goods shed still stands and is now a sawmill and wood merchants.
This entry is for 4 pigs going to Selby in Yorkshire in a crate.
2, Wateringbury Goods Shed, Livestock Register 1947-61.
When I first started on the railway in 1983 for one summer I covered the railman ticket office positions at Maidstone Barracks, East Farleigh and Wateringbury on the Medway Valley line as relief for sickness and leave. At the time north of Maidstone the ticket offices had two shifts but south of Maidstone with just an hourly service there was a 12hr split shift. (4on-4off-4on). So East Farleigh and Wateringbury involved much time to kill seeing as I didn't live in either village so couldn't just go home like the resident blokes did, Spud Murphy and Ken Philpot.
The duty station master based at Maidstone West knowing I had dead time during the day suggested on one occasion he would be grateful if I could clear out all the out of date documents and accumulated rubbish at Wateringbury as the place was "like a museum" (his words not mine). The resident clerk/railman then was Ken Philpot and he was off long term sick and infact retired before resuming. I was tasked with clearing the shelves and cupboards of old documents dating back to the Southern Railway. Ken had worked there for donkeys years so nothing to him was out of date. There were label draws full of Southern Railway labels and a mountain of ticket office related documents back to the 1940's. I sort the assistance of a friend who was a junior railman at the time and between us we sorted through the musty pile of "rubbish". It was a gold mine of railway ephemera and we put a box together of vintage labels and other items and buried it in the floor under a loose floor board in the then booking office back room. (Wonder is its still there as the station was later converted to a private dwelling). The remainder of the older stuff we split between us as momento's of times past. My biggest regret and it still haunts me is the quantity of Railway Posters we ditched in the bin they would be worth a fortune now.
This photo depicts a page from the Wateringbury Goods Shed Livestock Register which covers a period from March 1947 to June 1961 when I suspect the facility for sending livestock stopped at Wateringbury. The goods shed still stands and is now a sawmill and wood merchants.
This entry is for 4 pigs going to Selby in Yorkshire in a crate.