Ramsgate railway station

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 miles 21 chains (127.6 km) down the line from 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.

Ramsgate
Location	Ramsgate, District of Thanet England
Grid reference	TR371657
Managed by	Southeastern
Platforms	4
Other information
Station code	RAM
Classification	DfT category D
History
Opened	2 July 1926
Passengers
2015/16	1.203 million
Interchange	79,750
2016/17	1.264 million
Interchange	77,517
2017/18	1.334 million
Interchange	87,468
2018/19	1.380 million
Interchange	86,077
2019/20	1.330 million
Interchange	77,482
Listed Building – Grade II
Feature	Ramsgate Station
Designated	4 February 1988 (amended 11 July 2000)
Reference no.	1086060[1]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Architecture

Ramsgate railway station is a 1920s brick-built station thought to have been designed by James Robb Scott and 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.[2]

Services and facilities

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

• 1 train per hour (high-speed) to London St Pancras via Canterbury West and Ashford International[3]
• 1 tph (high-speed) to London St Pancras via Margate, Faversham, Chatham and Gravesend[3]
• 1 tph (high-speed) to London St Pancras via Deal, Dover Priory and Ashford International[3]
• 1 tph (high-speed) to Margate[3]
• 1 tph to London Victoria via Margate, Faversham and Chatham[4]
• 1 tph to London Charing Cross via Canterbury West, Ashford International and Tonbridge[3]

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

History

Ramsgate and Margate
Margate Sands Margate West Chatham Main Line to London Victoria Line closed north and south of Margate Sands Goods in 1926. Margate Sands Goods Margate East Tivoli Broadstairs To Ashford and Dover Dumpton Park St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay 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 (Tivoli had closed c.1873 and St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay had closed in 1916). The dotted line represent the new surface lines and stations. Ramsgate and Dumpton Park both opened in 1926. Margate Sands Goods closed in 1972. The diagram shows the position as of 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 LC&DR (later Margate West), East Margate (later Margate East), Broadstairs, and via a 1630 yd tunnel terminated at Ramsgate LC&DR (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.[5]

The depot (51.3421°N 1.4018°E) was modernised in 2007 for the Integrated Kent Franchise,[6] and opened in late 2008.[7]

References

1. Historic England. "Ramsgate Railway Station (1086060)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
2. "Ramsgate Station (British Rail), Ramsgate", www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk
3. Table 207 National Rail timetable, December 2015
4. Table 212 National Rail timetable, December 2015
5. Roger Griffiths and Paul Smith, The directory of British engine sheds: 1, Oxford, OPC, 1999. p. 65.
6. "Fitzpatrick Contractors Ltd - News from Fitzpatrick: new depots, new division", www.railwaystrategies.co.uk, 11 March 2008
7. "New Ramsgate depot opens" (PDF), Railway Herald (154): 6, 3 November 2008, ISSN 1751-8091

External links

• 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