1846 Train Arrives from Canterbury

Trains first arrived in Ramsgate in April 1846 courtesy of the South Eastern Railway (SER). The line terminated at the SER Station which later became known as the Town Station. This was situated at the junction of Margate Road and Station Approach Road. The site is currently occupied by a block of flats known as Chatham Court.

RAMSGATE TOWN STATION

Later that same year the SER line was extended to Margate. The route of this line can still be traced along Hurst Grove, Ashley Close, Highfield Road, past Jackey Bakers Sport Field, parallel with Margate Road, Nash Road and on to Margate SER (later known as the Sands Station). Trains from Canterbury bound for Margate had to reverse out of Ramsgate Town Station before continuing on to Margate. In 1864 a small station was opened on this SER line at St Lawrence, situated alongside Newington Bridge in Newington Road, but this station closed in 1916.

ST LAWRENCE STATION

In 1863 the Kent Coast Railway completed a line from Margate to Ramsgate via Broadstairs, which terminated at Ramsgate seafront. Initially known as Ramsgate & St Laurence-on-Sea it later became Ramsgate Harbour station. This section of line reached the sea front via a 1 in 75 gradient tunnel from just south of Broadstairs. At the station, engines were turned on a turntable for the return journey up the incline.

TRAIN ABOUT TO ENTER THE TUNNEL ON ITS RETURN TO BROADSTAIRS

HARBOUR STATION AND TURNTABLE

The various lines were rationalised in 1923 when taken over by Southern Railway. A new station was built for Ramsgate just east of the old St Lawrence Station and a new link line was constructed across a viaduct over Margate Road to join with the line from Broadstairs near where it entered the tunnel to Ramsgate Harbour. A new station was also built at Dumpton Park. The new line and stations opened in 1926 and Ramsgate Harbour station was closed at the same time. The line across Thanet from Ramsgate Town station was discontinued.

TRAIN HAS OVERRUN THE STATION AND REACHED THE PIER YARD

There were two notable incidents on the old lines, one at each of the old stations. On the 31st of August 1891 a train arriving at the Harbour station overrun the platform and crashed through a wall which enclosed the turntable. Details of this accident are scarce, but The Railways Archive records 1 fatality. Does anyone know more about this?

TURNTABLE AFTER WALL WAS DEMOLISHED IN 1891 ACCIDENT

TOWN STATION ACCIDENT 1913

On the 11th on March 1913 a train from Margate bound for Ashford overrun the Town Station. collided with a brake van and crashed through the station wall. Nine passengers were slightly injured and a girl walking past the station was bruised by falling masonry. Click HERE to read the full report of the accident.