Demolition of a long-standing railway depot has kicked up a gear after contractors started pulling down the main workshop.

Workers have been preparing to flatten the former Chart Leacon works next to Matalan in Ashford since July.

But now bulldozers have moved in and chunks are being taken out of the main structure, which was erected in 1961.

When the Beaver Lane site closed in 2014 under the ownership of Bombardier, it ended the town’s only surviving link with its railway heritage.

Last July, councillors approved plans in principle for a new light maintenance train depot at the spot, submitted by Network Rail.

The rail operator applied for permission for demolition of the existing structures, as well as building a two-storey workers accommodation block and 36 parking spaces.

Southeastern trains displaced from the town’s Hitachi depot as a result of the £7 billion Thameslink programme are expected to be housed at the new stabling yard – in short, a place to park trains between uses.

But only the sidings are earmarked for development, with the rest of the site earmarked for demolition.

In the summer, KentOnline joined former workers on a tour of the site for one last look around.

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