Medway Valley Line

Medway Valley line
Railways in Kent
Overview
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Kent South East England
Termini	Strood Paddock Wood
Stations	13
Operation
Opened	1856
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Southeastern
Rolling stock	Class 375 "Electrostar" Class 395 "Javelin" Class 465 "Networker" Class 466 "Networker"
Technical
Line length	21 miles 19 chains (34.18 km)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	Third rail, 750 V DC
Operating speed	70 mph (110 km/h)
Route number	01

The Medway Valley line is the name given to the railway line linking Strood and the Medway Towns with Maidstone West and onward to Paddock Wood, Tonbridge and London St Pancras International (peak only). The section from Maidstone West to Tonbridge passes through some of Kent's most picturesque countryside along the narrower sections of the River Medway.

The line was built in two stages by the South Eastern Railway (SER). The first stage opened on 24 September 1844 and was a branch off the SER's first main line that crossed Kent between the coast ports of Dover and Folkestone and the LBSCR's main line at Redhill. According to a contemporary report in The Times newspaper, the opening of the branch line was an attempt to convey hops and fruit traffic back to Maidstone, which was losing trade to various points along the Dover line. The junction was at Paddock Wood and followed the Medway Valley down to the county town of Maidstone that had been by-passed by the new main line. Twelve years later, on 18 June 1856 the extension of the line further down the Medway Valley was opened, to join the North Kent Line at Strood (which had opened in 1847). The extension was built by the railway contractor Edward Betts, who lived locally at Preston Hall and through whose estate the line partially passed. Betts arranged for his local station at Aylesford to be built in a much grander style than the other country stations along the line.