PHOTO GALLERY: SOUTHERN RAILWAY
New Hythe
OPENED: 1939 CLOSED: 2005
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Small signal boxes of the Southern Railway’s modernistic design of 1935 didn’t justify the curved ends seen at Dorking and Deal.
John Hinson, c1974
New Hythe is located on the section of line between Strood and Maidstone. Prior to 1939, only a gate-keeper’s cabin was provided here to supervise the level crossing. A halt had opened here in 1929, mainly to serve a large paper mill nearby, but this had been upgraded to a proper station in 1936. With electrification in 1939 and the associated increase in train service frequency, the location was upgraded to block post status to shorten the block sections, and this new box came into being.
N L Cadge, 25/3/83
The box was provided with a second-hand Stevens & Sons frame of 20 levers to control the area.
N L Cadge, 25/3/83
Evidence of the manufacturer is cast into the end of the lever frame.
The level crossing here was replaced by a bridge in May 1995, after which New Hythe signal box spent most of its time switched out and only opened when needed for access to the sidings that served a paper mill. The box closed on 7th November 2005.