Addleford Green – Kent and East Sussex Railway’s Model Railway Exhibition 2025

Addleford Green by Jonathan Ramsden – A OO Layout at Kent and East Sussex Railway’s Model Railway Exhibition 30 August 2025

The Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Railway wound its way through 11 miles of the Kent countryside, from the main line station at Paddock Wood to its countryside terminus in Hawkhurst. It was opened in sections, the line from Paddock Wood to Goudhurst, then called Hope Mill, opened in October 1892, with the extension to Hawkhurst completed the following year. Passenger traffic was generally light and the line was busiest in late August to early October when hundreds of people would travel from London for seasonal work picking hops.

Several extensions were considered, with plans to link with Appledore and Tenterden, among others. Ultimately, none of these proposals went ahead. A decline in traditional hop-picking practices, and the rise of the motor vehicle brought about the fate of many rural branch lines at the time. On Saturday 10 June 1961, the line closed for good.

Some remnants of the line remain. Artefacts from the line can be seen in the Colonel Stephens Railway Museum at Tenterden Town Station.

Addleford Green is a layout that proposes a different story. Ostensibly set sometime between the 1940s and 1950s, it represents a world where the line was extended beyond Hawkhurst to the (fictional) Kent town of Addleford. In keeping with the spirit of the original line, this new station was built a mile and a half short of the main town, in an area on the outskirts known as Addleford Green.

Even after passenger traffic ceased, it would be the rail-borne milk traffic from the adjacent Addleford Creamery that enabled the line to continue operating into the 1980s.

Jonathan has his own successful YouTube channel: Fishplates and Scratchbuilds Please drop by and enjoy his lovely how to railway modelling videos. I would like to say a big thank you for his very kind words about this channel in his “FIRST Model Railway Exhibition!” video.

Fishplates and Scratchbuilds    / @fishplatesandscratchbuilds  

Kent and East Sussex Railway - https://kesr.org.uk

0:00 - Introduction – Addleford Green
0:25 - Ford Anglia
0:37 - Jay on Shed
0:57 - People & Rabbits
1:16 - Oast House
1:55 - Hop Pickers
2:12 - Station Platform
3:11 - Platform Porter
3:46 - Station Master's House
4:23 - Signal Box
4:47 - Green Car
5:06 - Water Column
5:24 - Engine Shed
5:53 - Blue Bedford Truck
6:34 - Crane
6:54 - Coal Staves
7:15 - Sheep Pen
7:46 - Addleford Creamery Building
8:26 - End Titles

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