The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern.
The station has no buildings and just a few parking spaces,a bridge from the south side of the line to an island platform,with a small shelter at the bottom of the steps. Until 1965 the station served as the interchange between the main line and the nearby Tunnel Railway.
History
Layout of pre- and post-1926 lines and stations in RamsgateA 1945 Ordnance Survey of Ramsgate showing the location of the Dumpton Park and Ramsgate stations
Following the railway grouping of 1923,both the South Eastern Railway and the London,Chatham &Dover Railway became a part of the newly-formed Southern Railway,which looked at the duplication of lines and stations at Ramsgate and Margate. The company decided to link the two lines at Ramsgate to allow through running between them. That scheme had been proposed by the South Eastern &Chatham Railway before World War I,but work did not commence until 1925.[1] That resulted in the closure of the two terminus stations at Ramsgate Town and Ramsgate Harbour,and the construction of a line skirting the northern edge of the town to link the two existing lines. New stations on the north-eastern and north-western fringes of the town,at Dumpton Park and Ramsgate respectively,replaced the stations in the town centre and at the harbour.[2] Construction work on the new line involved over 700men moving 200,000 long tons (220,000 short tons;200,000t) of chalk,at a cost of approximately £500,000 (£30million in 2023).[3][4]
The new link opened on 2 July 1926,although Dumpton Park station was not fully open to the public until 19 July 1926. On 2 July 1926,both former Ramsgate stations were closed along with the line through the tunnel to Ramsgate Harbour. The tunnel was sealed and abandoned,and the former Ramsgate Harbour station was sold to Thanet Amusements,which converted the site into a zoo and funfair called Merrie England.[5] Although adequate for the town's residents,the new stations were a long way from the seafront attractions,which were at the foot of a steep hill. The day-trippers,on whom Ramsgate's tourist industry depended,were therefore increasingly attracted to Margate,where the station was next to the beach.[6]
By 1933,Merrie England,then owned by Ramsgate Olympia,had become extremely popular,and began to lobby the Southern Railway to reopen the line through the tunnel,with a new junction station between Dumpton Park and Broadstairs.[7] The Southern Railway rejected the proposal as too costly and impractical.[8][9] Ramsgate Olympia and the Southern Railway were keen to make the attractions near the harbour accessible from the railway main line,and to provide a service from the seafront to the greyhound stadium at Dumpton Park. The two companies eventually agreed on a scheme under which a new narrow-gauge line,dubbed the Tunnel Railway,would use the 780 yards (710m) of the tunnel nearest the beach,before branching off into a new 364-yard (333m) tunnel,which would emerge at a new station at Hereson Road,a 250-yard (230m) walk from Dumpton Park station.[7] To increase passenger numbers and encourage people to use the new rail line,Ramsgate Olympia planned the construction of a large-scale housing estate,charabanc parking facilities,and a 10,000-seat stadium at Dumpton Park.[6] The railway closed in 1965.
When Dumpton Park Station was first built there was a booking hall at street level,a smaller version of the one currently at Broadstairs station,and the bridge and steps were covered by overhead glass plus a lift to platform level. Glass covering continuing down the steps to The ticket office window and station building,which included waiting room,small office and the toilet block was a separate building just down but adjoined by a overhead glass covering with benches underneath.the platform The building has since been demolished and the covering removed,in the early to mid 1980s. Years ago there was a signal box at the end of the platform (northbound end).[citation needed]
↑ "Ramsgate's New Underground Railway". East Kent Times. Ramsgate. 5 August 1936.
↑ The new Dumpton Park station and Broadstairs station were less than a mile apart; a junction station between the two would have meant trains stopping three times within a mile, causing delays and tailbacks, while running trains from the harbour to Dumpton Park or Broadstairs would have caused severe line congestion.
Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about 80 miles (130 km) east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 of about 25,000. Situated between Margate and Ramsgate, Broadstairs is one of Thanet's seaside resorts, known as the "jewel in Thanet's crown". The town's coat of arms' Latin motto is Stella Maris. The name derives from a former flight of steps in the chalk cliff, which led from the sands up to the 11th-century shrine of St Mary on the cliff's summit.
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The Chatham Main Line is a railway line in England that links London Victoria and Dover Priory / Ramsgate, travelling via Medway.
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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.
Whitstable railway station is on the Ramsgate branch of the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the town of Whitstable, Kent. It is 59 miles 6 chains (95.1 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between Faversham and Chestfield & Swalecliffe.
Broadstairs railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the seaside town of Broadstairs, Kent. It is 77 miles 9 chains (124 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between Margate and Dumpton Park.
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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.
Ramsgate as a name has its earliest reference as 'Ramisgate' or 'Remmesgate' in 1275, from Anglo-Saxon 'Hraefn's geat, or 'Raven's cliff gap', later to be rendered 'Ramesgate' from 1357.
The Tunnel Railway was a 2 ft narrow-gauge underground railway in Ramsgate, Kent, England. Following the restructuring of railway lines in Ramsgate in 1926, the section of line between Broadstairs and Ramsgate Harbour including a tunnel to the seafront at Ramsgate was abandoned. The narrow-gauge Tunnel Railway was opened within the disused tunnel in 1936 to connect tourist attractions and shops near Ramsgate harbour with the new railway main line at Dumpton Park.
Ramsgate Harbour railway station was a railway station in Ramsgate, in the Thanet district of Kent, England. Opened in 1863 as part of the Kent Coast Railway company's extension of its line from Herne Bay, it was conveniently situated for the seaside resort's beach, but it closed in 1926 after a reorganisation of railway lines in the Thanet area.
Ramsgate Town railway station is a former railway station in Ramsgate, in the Thanet district of Kent, England. It was the seaside resort's first station, but was closed in 1926 when a new, more direct railway line bypassed it and the town's other station, Ramsgate Harbour.
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.
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