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Dover, Kent has had numerous railway stations due to the legacy of competition between the South Eastern Railway (SER) and London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) and the subsequent rationalisation attempts by their successors: the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR), Southern Railway and British Rail Southern Region.
Opened on 22 July 1861 as Dover Town (Priory) by the LCDR, [1] Dover Priory railway station became a through station on 1 November the same year, upon completion of a tunnel through the Western Heights connecting it to LCDR's new Dover Harbour Station in the Western Docks area. The renaming in July 1863 as Dover Priory [1] led rival SER to adopt the name "Dover Town" for one of its Dover stations. [2] Dover Priory is the only station still open in Dover.
Besides Dover Priory, there have been five other stations in Dover, all of which are now closed.
The name Dover Harbour has been used for two separate stations. The first was opened by the LCDR on 1 November 1861; this was closed in June 1863 when it was replaced by a new station named Dover Town and Harbour. This was renamed Dover Harbour on 1 July 1899 and closed on 10 July 1927. [1] The LCDR constructed a tunnel through the Western Heights to allow continental traffic to access the Western Docks in 1861, and just south of the tunnel, on the current track to Folkestone, a station was built. Later an extension was also built onto Admiralty Pier. It was closed in 1927 by Southern as part of their rationalisation and modernisation of the Dover area. [3] Although the platforms have been demolished as in March 2017 the station buildings still survive as offices.
The SER's original station opened on 7 February 1844 as Dover, [1] and was situated on Shakespeare Beach just east of where the current line from Folkestone turns north towards Dover Priory. This was originally a terminus, but later the line continued onto Admiralty Pier. It was renamed Dover Town in December 1861, and was closed on 14 October 1914 [1] as part of rationalisation and modernisation of the Dover area by SECR. [4] After closure for passengers the track/platforms were in use for freight/engineers use until the 1990s. After the track was removed the area was used for car parking and as of March 2017 [update] some sections of platforms still survive.
In 1860 SER started running trains on to the pier, the LCDR following in 1864. This exposed halt was extended and replaced by Dover Marine in 1909. [5] The SER station at Dover Admiralty Pier opened on 30 August 1864 and closed in August 1914. [1]
This station was opened in 1902 and closed in 1909. [1]
Situated on Admiralty Pier for connection to ships, this was constructed on an expanded pier by SECR, finished in 1914, began to be used on 2 February 1915 but was not available for public use until 18 January 1919; in the meantime it had been renamed Dover Marine on 5 December 1918. It was a large terminus with four platforms covered by a full roof. Platforms were extended to take 12-car trains in February 1959. [6] It was renamed again to Dover Western Docks on 14 May 1979, and was closed by British Rail on 26 September 1994 [1] with the demise of boat trains and the opening of the Channel Tunnel. It is now a cruise liner terminal. [7]
Work on the new train ferry pier at the station suffered damage worth £300,000 during the Great storm of 1987. [8]
Regie voor Maritiem Transport used to run ferries until 1994 from here to Oostende railway station which connected into Belgian railway line 50A run by NMBS. There was a fast ferry service using the Jetfoil as well as conventional ferries.
The Southern Railway opened a large locomotive depot at the site in 1928. This was closed in 1961 and demolished. [9]
Wandsworth Road railway station (WWR) is a National Rail station between Battersea and Clapham in south London. It is served by London Overground services between Clapham Junction and Dalston Junction, with a limited service to Battersea Park. It is 1 mile 75 chains (3.1 km) from London Victoria.
Herne Hill railway station is in the London Borough of Lambeth, South London, England, on the boundary between London fare zones 2 and 3. Train services are provided by Thameslink to London Blackfriars, Farringdon, St Pancras International and St Albans on the Thameslink route and by Southeastern to London Victoria and Orpington on the Chatham Main Line. It is 3 miles 76 chains (6.4 km) down the line from Victoria.
The London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England. It was created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London, and northern and eastern Kent, to form a significant part of the Greater London commuter network. The company existed until 31 December 1922, when its assets were merged with those of other companies to form the Southern Railway as a result of the grouping determined by the Railways Act 1921.
The South Eastern Railway (SER) was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent. The SER absorbed or leased other railways, some older than itself, including the London and Greenwich Railway and the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway. Most of the company's routes were in Kent, eastern Sussex and the London suburbs, with a long cross-country route from Redhill in Surrey to Reading, Berkshire.
Dover Priory railway station is the southern terminus of the South Eastern Main Line in England, and is the main station serving the town of Dover, Kent, the other open station being Kearsney, on the outskirts. It is 77 miles 26 chains (124.4 km) down the line from London Victoria. The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern. This station is a 25 min walk away from the Ferry Port.
Ramsgate railway station serves the town of Ramsgate in Thanet in Kent, England. The station lies on the Chatham Main Line, 79 miles 21 chains (127.6 km) down the line from London Victoria, the Kent Coast Line, and the Ashford to Ramsgate line. The station is managed by Southeastern, which operates all trains serving it.
Margate railway station serves the town of Margate in Thanet, Kent, England. It is 73 miles 69 chains (118.9 km) down the line from London Victoria. The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern.
The Kent Coast Line is the railway line that runs from Minster East Jn to Buckland Jn connecting Ramsgate and Dover Priory in the English county of Kent.
The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are the Chatham Main Line which runs along the north Kent coast to Ramsgate or Dover via Chatham and High Speed 1 which runs through the centre of Kent to the coast at Folkestone where it joins the Channel Tunnel.
The Ashford–Ramsgate line is a railway that runs through Kent from Ashford to Ramsgate via Canterbury West. Its route mostly follows the course of the River Great Stour.
Folkestone Harbour station was one of four railway stations in Folkestone, Kent. It served Folkestone Harbour with connecting boat train services across the English Channel to Calais and Boulogne.
Birkenhead Town railway station is a disused railway station in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. It was located near the current entrance to the Queensway Tunnel on Grange Road.
The Port of Dover is a cross-channel ferry, cruise terminal, maritime cargo and marina facility situated in Dover, Kent, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just 34 kilometres (21 mi) away, and is one of the world's busiest maritime passenger ports, with 11.7 million passengers, 2.6 million lorries, 2.2 million cars and motorcycles and 80,000 coaches passing through it in 2017, and with an annual turnover of £58.5 million a year. This contrasts with the nearby Channel Tunnel, the only fixed link between the island of Great Britain and the European mainland, which now handles an estimated 20 million passengers and 1.6 million trucks per year.
Crystal Palace (High Level) was a railway station in South London. It was one of two stations built to serve the new site of the Great Exhibition building, the Crystal Palace, when it was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill after 1851. It was the terminus of the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway (CPSLJR), which was later absorbed by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR). The station closed permanently in 1954.
Transportation needs within the county of Kent in South East England has been served by both historical and current transport systems.
The Gravesend West Line was a short railway line in Kent that branched off the Swanley to Chatham line at Fawkham Junction and continued for a distance of 5 miles (8 km) to Gravesend where the railway company constructed a pier to connect trains with steamers. It was opened in 1886 and closed to passenger services in 1953, remaining open to freight until 1968 before reopening briefly between 1972 and 1976. Part of the railway's former alignment was incorporated into the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
Greenwich Park was a railway station opened in 1888 by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) in Greenwich, south-east London. The station was originally called Greenwich and the LCDR intended it to rival a nearby station also named Greenwich which was owned by the South Eastern Railway (SER) and which had opened over 50 years earlier. The LCDR's station was the terminus of a branch line from Nunhead.
Gravesend West was a railway station on the Gravesend West Line which served Gravesend in Kent. It opened in 1886 and was, for some time, a regular destination for boat trains from London which linked with steamers on the station's pier to ferry passengers to a variety of coastal towns and resorts. The station closed in 1953 to passengers and later to freight in 1968. The only reminder of Gravesend West which remains today is its pier, the rest having been taken over by redevelopment in the area.
St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay railway station was a railway station at Ramsgate, Kent, England that was opened by the South Eastern Railway in 1864 and closed in 1916.
The Holborn Viaduct–Herne Hill line is a railway line between Holborn Viaduct in the City of London and Herne Hill in the London Borough of Lambeth. After the closure of Holborn Viaduct station the line ends at the south portal of Snow Hill tunnel merging into Snow Hill lines. From there the Widened Lines to St Pancras and Kentish Town are reached. Today the section north of Blackfriars is part of the Thameslink core. Originally being a branch line of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) towards the City of London, the line is sometimes called LCDR City Branch.