Sheerness Dockyard railway station

Sheerness Dockyard railway station was the original terminus of the Sheerness line. It was built by the Sittingbourne & Sheerness Railway and opened in 1860. The station closed in 1914, but was reopened to freight in 1922. It finally closed in 1963 and the buildings were demolished in 1971.

Sheerness Dockyard Sheerness (1860-83)
Sheerness Dockyard station, 1960
Location	Sheerness-on-Sea England
Coordinates	51°26′17″N 0°44′58″E
Grid reference	TQ 912 746
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Sittingbourne & Sheerness Railway Company
Pre-grouping	London, Chatham and Dover Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
19 July 1860	Opened
1 June 1883	Renamed Sheerness Dockyard
8 November 1914	Closed
2 January 1922	Reopened to freight
6 May 1963	Closed

History

The station opened with the Sheerness line on 19 July 1860, which was built by the Sittingbourne & Sheerness Railway (S&SR) and taken over by the London Chatham & Dover Railway in 1876.[1] It was originally called simply Sheerness, and stood not only close to the Royal Navy Dockyard, but also to the foot of Sheerness pier and the town's quay. It occupied a cramped site, formerly part of the Ordnance Well House that supplied the garrison's water, between the Navy Dockyard's defensive moat and dockyard workers' housing. There were two platforms, later linked at the terminal end by a fan table, also known as a sector plate, thus allowing the release of locomotives.[2] Other facilities included a single-road engine shed, turntable and goods shed. The engine shed was later extended to a longer, two-road structure, and a larger 45 ft turntable replaced the original 42 ft one. An over-track signal box was also added by 1875. A narrow-gauge railway originally ran from the end of the pier to the station, most likely for baggage transfers and worked by manpower.

Although conveniently sited, in an area known as Blue Town, for access to the Royal Navy's Sheerness Dockyard, the station was some way from the civilian part of the town.[3] The station building was damaged by a gale which blew from 29 October to 1 November 1863.[4] Further damage was caused when HMS Bulwark exploded in the River Medway nearby in November 1914. Falling debris struck the station's overall roof, causing its collapse and replacement by simple timber platform canopies.

On 1 June 1883, a short, U-shaped branch was opened from the original terminus to a new station convenient for the resort part of the town, known as Mile Town. The new station took the name Sheerness-on-Sea and the original station was renamed Sheerness Dockyard.[5] Sheerness-On-Sea was, in fact, on the site originally proposed for its terminus by the S&SR.[6] It's likely that the Admiralty was instrumental in changing the first terminus's location to its own advantage, after first mooting a spur to its dockyard from the original alignment. All trains to Sheerness-On-Sea had to reverse at Sheerness Dockyard station, so it was probably about this time that the fan table was installed, and the latter station's platforms lengthened. This improvement in facilities was spurred by competition from the South Eastern Railway's branch line to Port Victoria, on the opposite bank of the River Medway, from which passengers could reach Sheerness by ferry: an overall shorter route.[7]

Sheerness Naval Dockyard had an internal standard gauge railway system from c.1870, but it was not until 1904 that it was connected to the railway at the station.[8] On 8 November 1914, the station was closed for the duration of the First World War. It was reopened as a goods-only station on 2 January 1922, when a direct connection for passenger services was provided to Sheerness-on-Sea from Queenborough.[5]

The Royal Navy left Sheerness in 1960 and the dockyard closed. Sheerness Dockyard station closed on 6 May 1963 although the 1904 dockyard siding remained in use as a private siding until 8 March 1965. It was not officially taken out of use until October 1968. The station buildings were demolished in 1971.[9] The site was used for sidings serving the adjacent Sheerness Steelworks and is now a storage area for cars imported via Sheerness docks (the former Royal Navy dockyard). The dockyard siding, its rails inset into granite setts, has survived, as has the pier-master's house and the pier approach road.

Services

Initially there were five passenger trains daily, rising to ten daily and eight on Sunday in June 1869. Services in February 1890 were nine daily and three on Sundays. By July 1907 there were nine trains daily and seven on Sundays, rising to thirteen daily and nine on Sundays in July 1914. [10]

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Terminus		London, Chatham and Dover Railway Sheerness line		Queenborough

Notes

1. The London Chatham & Dover Railway, Adrian Gray, Meresborough Books 1984
2. Mitchell & Smith 1993, Illustration 76.
3. Mitchell & Smith 1993, Historical background.
4. "The Gale". The Times (24707). London. 4 November 1863. col D, p. 10.
5. Mitchell & Smith 1993, Historical Background.
6. CKS-Q/R/Um/390 Plans and Sections of the Proposed Sittingbourne & Sheerness Railway 1855, Kent History and Library Centre.
7. The London Chatham & Dover Railway, Adrian Gray, 1984
8. Mitchell & Smith 1993, Map XVII.
9. Mitchell & Smith 1993, Illustration 80.
10. Mitchell & Smith 1993, Passenger Services.

References

• Hay, Peter (1984). Steaming Through Kent. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 0 906520 13 4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1993). Branch Lines Around Sheerness. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1 873 793 16 2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)