Ramsgate railway station

Ramsgate
Location
Place	Ramsgate
Local authority	District of Thanet
Grid reference	TR371657
Operations
Station code	RAM
Managed by	Southeastern
Number of platforms	4
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.799 million
2005/06	0.859 million
2006/07	0.937 million
2007/08	1.014 million
2008/09	1.070 million
2009/10	1.000 million
2010/11	1.053 million
2011/12	1.108 million
2012/13	1.063 million
2013/14	1.080 million
2014/15	1.136 million
History
Key dates	Opened 2 July 1926
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Ramsgate from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Ramsgate railway station serves the town of Ramsgate in Thanet in Kent, England, and is at least 10 minutes' walk from the town centre. The station lies on the Chatham Main Line 79 ¹⁄₄ miles (127.5 km) east of London Victoria, the Kent Coast Line, and the Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line. The station is managed by Southeastern, which operates all trains serving it.

Architecture

Ramsgate railway station is a 1920s brick-built station thought to have been designed by Edwin Maxwell Fry, and built between 1924-6. Margate station and the demolished Dumpton Park station are of a similar design. The building is Grade II listed.^[1]

Services and facilities

Trains from Ramsgate run to London Charing Cross, London Victoria and London St Pancras.

• 1 tph (high-speed) to London St Pancras via Canterbury West and Ashford International^[2]
• 1 tph (high-speed) to London St Pancras via Margate, Faversham and the Medway Towns^[2]
• 1 tph (high-speed) to Margate^[2]
• 1 tph to London Victoria via Margate, Faversham and the Medway Towns^[3]
• 1 tph to Dover Priory vis Sandwich and Deal
• 1 tph (trains per hour) to London Charing Cross via Canterbury West, Ashford International and Tonbridge^[2]

The station's facilities include waiting rooms, toilets, cafe, a ticket office (2 windows) and a ticket machine.

History

Ramsgate and Margate
Legend
Margate Sands Margate West Chatham Main Line to London Victoria Margate East Tivoli Broadstairs To Ashford and Dover Dumpton Park St Lawrence Ramsgate Ramsgate Town Ramsgate Harbour
The arrangement inherited by the Southern Railway in 1923 with the lines and stations closed in 1926 shown in pink (St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay had closed in 1916). The dotted line represents the new surface line and stations. Ramsgate and Dumpton Park both opened in 1926.

Trains first reached Ramsgate in April 1846 when the South Eastern Railway (SER) opened a line from Canterbury. It terminated at Ramsgate SER, later to be called Ramsgate Town, which, unlike the present-day station, was in the town centre. Later the same year the line opened across Thanet to Margate, to Margate SER (later Margate Sands). Trains from Canterbury to Margate had to reverse at Ramsgate Town; a chord was built bypassing the station, but not often used. St Lawrence station was opened in 1864 just before this chord, but closed in 1916.

The London Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) reached Margate from Herne Bay in 1863. This called at Margate C&D (later Margate West), East Margate (later Margate East), Broadstairs, and via a 1630 yd tunnel terminated at Ramsgate C&D (later Ramsgate Harbour), near the harbour and beach.

This arrangement was inherited by Southern Railway on grouping in 1923. In 1926 a new line was opened connecting the SER line from east of Ramsgate Town to the LCDR line just south of Broadstairs. The current Ramsgate station and a new station at Dumpton Park were built on this new line. The Ramsgate Harbour station, line through the tunnel, and the Ramsgate Town station and old SER line across to Margate Sands were all closed in July 1926. This change made for operational convenience, but has the disadvantage that the town centre is no longer served.

Motive power depot

The SER opened a motive power depot near Ramsgate Station in April 1846. This was closed by the Southern Railway in 1926 and replaced by a larger facility in 1930. This closed to steam locomotives in 1959 and was converted for use servicing electric multiple units introduced by the Southern Region following the British Railways Kent Coast Electrification.^[4]

The Ramsgate depot (51°20′32″N 1°24′06″E / 51.3421°N 1.4018°E) was modernised in 2007 for the Integrated Kent Franchise,^[5] and opened in late 2008.^[6]

Ramsgate railway station and train depot from the Newington Road bridge  1945 OS map showing the location of the Dumpton Park and Ramsgate stations  Express from Victoria via Chatham in 1958

References

1. "Ramsgate Station (British Rail), Ramsgate", www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk
2. Table 207 National Rail timetable, December 2015
3. Table 212 National Rail timetable, December 2015
4. Roger Griffiths and Paul Smith, The directory of British engine sheds: 1, Oxford, OPC, 1999. p. 65.
5. "Fitzpatrick Contractors Ltd - News from Fitzpatrick: new depots, new division", www.railwaystrategies.co.uk, 11 March 2008
6. "New Ramsgate depot opens" (PDF), Railway Herald (154), 3 November 2008: 6, ISSN 1751-8091

External links

• Train times and station information for Ramsgate railway station from National Rail
• Glasspool, David. Ramsgate – history of Ramsgate station and railway
• Glasspool, David. Ramsgate MPD – history of Ramsgate rolling stock depot
• Glasspool, David. Ramsgate Maintenance Depot – post 2007 depot description

Coordinates: 51°20′27″N 1°24′22″E / 51.3408°N 1.4060°E