Called the "St. Pancras of the Weald"[4] by the Wealden Line Campaign, it was a statement of intent to local inhabitants by the LBSCR which was establishing the limits of its territory.

Inside the building was a gas-lit booking hall with four ticket windows and a panelled ceiling supported by arches springing from stone columns.

The station was self-contained on one site which incorporated a substantial goods yard, motive power depot and carriage sidings.

[9] Following bomb damage on 20 November 1940 during the Second World War, the slate roof of the engine shed was replaced with corrugated asbestos.

The spur came about as a consequence of the intense rivalry between the two railway companies which in 1864 had led to both simultaneously depositing bills before Parliament for competing routes across the south-east.

[15] In 1903 Buffalo Bill caused a storm when the special train carrying his famous show arrived at Tunbridge Wells West for a performance.

Crowds of onlookers watched as the horses and coach involved in the show's "Deadwood Stage ambush event" dashed out of the circus marquee to head directly to the station where covered wagons were waiting to take them to their next venue.

[18] With the introduction of the 1955 summer timetables, the services between London and Tunbridge Wells were entirely revised and the number of stopping passenger trains increased.

[20] The line to Tunbridge Wells West remained open, although in its latter years passenger services were mainly confined to a shuttle service between Tonbridge (via the single line connection to Tunbridge Wells Central - now plain Tunbridge Wells) and Eridge with a few through trains to Uckfield; however there was a depot at the station which housed rolling stock for services on the Uckfield and East Grinstead - London (via East Croydon) lines, and there were plenty of empty stock moves early and late in the day.

Following a total lack of investment for decades (since Beeching spending on anything other than essential repairs was non-existent[21]), by the early 1980s the track and signalling needed to be replaced.

[15] At the time of closure Tunbridge Wells West station had gas lighting, which was in operation in the ticket office and under the canopy.

Passenger services using heritage trains now run on the Spa Valley Railway (SVR) between Tunbridge Wells West to Eridge, via High Rocks and Groombridge.

After an 11-year struggle - during which Tunbridge Wells Borough Council gave planning permission for the construction of a Sainsbury's supermarket complex on the site of the derelict goods yard[22] - in 1996 the Society acquired the trackbed of the former line as far as Birchden Junction.

Alongside the former LB&SCR loco shed a new platform was built, from where services began running to Cold Bath Bridge (about 0.75-mile away) in December 1996.

An agreed corridor was left alongside Linden Park Road to enable any reinstated line to run through the site and a formal agreement was concluded between Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and Lord Sainsbury whereby the company agreed that, if required, they will remove at their own cost any buildings obstructing the path of the railway.

[26] Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has acknowledged the "considerable benefits" that the line's reopening would bring to the local community and economy, whilst at the same time admitting that this will not happen in the "near future".