Away from the main lines, there were the rural branches to places such as Westerham and Hawkhurst, lines that grew in importance during the hop-picking season. Kent also had two light railways, the Kent & East Sussex and the East Kent, which retained their independence up to the formation of British Railways in 1948. Although much of the Kentish economy was based on Agriculture, there was also the Kent coalfield, the Royal Navy at Chatham, paper mills north of Sittingbourne and much else to attract traffic to the railways. Whilst the majority of London commuter services were, by the 1950s provided by EMUs, it was not until the end of the decade that the Kent Coast electrification scheme saw the main lines electrified and the demise of steam on boat trains such as the legendary 'Golden Arrow'. The bulk of freight traffic remained steam-hauled into the 1960s. The book covers the entire county, locations featured include Margate, Ramsgate, Dover, Folkestone, Dungeness, Ashford, Tenterden, Hawkhurst, Canterbury, Faversham, Maidstone, Rochester, Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Westerham, Sheerness and Orpington.

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