Station Name: APPLEDORE
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Date opened: | 13.2.1851 |
Location: | On the south side of B2080 |
Company on opening: | South Eastern Railway |
Date closed to passengers: | Still open |
Date closed completely: | Still open |
Company on closing: | Still open |
Present state: | Still open |
County: | Kent |
OS Grid Ref: | TQ975298 |
Date of visit: | 3.1.2006 |
Notes: The Lydd branch opened 30 years after Appledore Station. No separate bay platform was provided. In later years most trains terminated at Ashford but trains terminating at Appledore were shunted into the goods yards where running round was possible. The moderately sized goods yard was on the up side of the station
and included a good shed with a coal shed adjoining backing
on to the platform and providing support for the platform canopy.
The station handled a lot of livestock and was provided with
cattle pens. There was also a short siding on the down side
mainly used for permanent way gang trolleys. Goods services
were withdrawn on 27.5.1963
The New Romney line opened on 19 June 1884 and some unusual workings were introduced with two branches being worked by one locomotive requiring some trains serving Dungeness to reverse back to Lydd Town before proceeding on to New Romney. This procedure was greatly simplified when push-pull trains were introduced. In 1895 the local company was absorbed into the South Eastern Railway. With the Dungeness port scheme abandoned, the SER obtained powers in 1900 to extend their line to Hythe but this was never built. Kitson steam railcars were introduced onto the line in 1906/7 and with the development of military ranges and a large army camp at Lydd, the line was well used until the end of WW1. Passenger numbers were now in decline although agricultural freight, including Romney Marsh sheep remained profitable. By the 1920's New Romney was served by 9 trains a day while Dungeness was relegated to 3. With the increase in pleasure traffic in the 1930's and new residential and proposed holiday camp development along the coast, the Southern Railway received powers under the 1935 Southern Railway Act to realign the New Romney branch with a new junction one mile to the southeast with two new halts at Lydd-on-Sea and Greatstone-on-Sea; the new line opened on 4 July 1937. At the same time the station at Lydd was renamed Lydd Town and passenger services to Dungeness was withdrawn, although the freight service was retained. The line remained open with a reduced service during WW2 although an obvious target for enemy aircraft. A heavily armoured train was allocated to Ashford - Hastings - New Romney group of lines with regular patrols being undertaken. Nationalisation in 1948 initially brought few changes but with competition from busses and the popularity of the motor car in the 1950's traffic continued to decline and economies were inevitable including the withdrawal of the Dungeness freight service in 1952 and the removal of the passing loop at Lydd-on-Sea.
Goods services to Lydd continued until 1971 and the line was still in use for the removal of ballast aggregates and waste from Dungeness B nuclear power station. All track beyond Romney Junction has been lifted. The only passenger movements since closure have been occasional troop trains and railtours, the most recent being the Lydd Ranger Railtour on 13th March 2005. Route map drawn by Alan Young Further reading: The
New Romney Branch Line by Peter Harding. Published by the
author in 1983 ISBN : 0952345889 Web sites: Railways in Kent, Southern E Group and KARE for pictures of nuclear waste trains To see the other stations on the New Romney and Dungeness branches click on the station name: Brookland Halt, Lydd Town, Lydd-on-Sea Halt, Greatstone-on-Sea Halt, New Romney & Littlestone-on-Sea & Dungeness |
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Last updated: Friday, 12-May-2017 19:42:12 CEST |
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