pull up simultaneously. The complete Ashford West station, including buildings and platforms, were converted into a works for cleaning cloths used in locomotive cleaning. Over a million were processed annually, with the reclaimed oil being re-used in the lubrication of points and point rodding. The platform canopies survived to the 1930s, while the station site was largely intact as of 1985, with the main station building still standing in 1994. The station buildings were demolished in 1999 for the construction of High Speed 1. In November 1904, the SECR agreed to a £47,000 rebuilding of the scheme in order to accommodate Maidstone traffic, which included removing a cattle dock so trains would not have to run on part of the South Eastern Main Line. The work was completed in 1907. Further resignalling work continued into the next year. Southern Railway The station became part of the Southern Railway (SR) during the grouping of 1923. It was renamed to Ashford (Kent) on 9 July to avoid confusion with Ashford (Middlesex) railway station. Ashford became the main works depot in the south east after the SR reduced the works at to repairs-only in 1928. Steam locomotive construction was discontinued in 1936, though repair work continued to take place. British Rail The station passed on to the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. It was rebuilt in the early 1960s as part of the "Kent Coast Electrification – Stage 2" stage of the British Railways Modernisation Plan to accommodate electrification of most lines entering the station. Electric services began to be used on the South Eastern Main Line on 12 June 1961, and on the Maidstone line on 9 October. The two bay platforms were demolished and replaced by two island platforms. This required the demolition and rebuilding of the Station Road / Beaver Road bridge immediately to the west. Ashford's four signal boxes were replaced by a single control centre on 29 April 1962. The main station buildings on either side of the line were replaced between 1963 and 1966 by a footbridge including a booking hall, newsagent and catering facilities. The new scheme was the design of the Southern Region Architect, Nigel Wikeley. Although most of the original station was demolished during this rebuild, two substantial platform canopies dating from the SECR era were retained, although the original wooden valences were covered by asbestos. At the same time,