Notes: From the mid 1800s the dock building boom in London sparked intense rivalry between the various companies who fought to provide bigger and deeper facilities to accommodate the increasing size of ships. The Royal Albert Dock, built by the London & St Katharine Dock Company, had opened in 1880 and stolen much business from the East & West India Dock Company’s quays at Poplar, whose owners elected to build new docks at Tilbury, where there was already a railway terminal belonging to the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway.

Unfortunately, problems with construction and conflicts with contractors saw the Dock Company almost bankrupted by the time the docks had been completed in 1886. Tilbury had both open and enclosed docks and built its own railway terminal alongside the docks’ tidal basin. This was sited at what became Berth 29. The terminal also provided a high quality hotel connected by a siding to the station; but initial business at both the docks and the hotel was poor, and the hotel closed within a year, standing empty for generations. The new docks would be linked to the railway, allowing passengers and goods to be transported speedily to and from the capital by train, thus taking hours off the normal shipping route. Trains arriving at the exchange sidings would be taken over by dock engines and hauled to the quayside, and vice versa.

After Tilbury Docks came under the ownership of the Port of London Authority in 1909 the terminal continued to serve boat trains. In conjunction with the LMS it was refurbished with first class accommodation as ‘Tilbury Marine’ for a new ferry service to the continent which ran from 13 May 1927. The railway company hired the booking hall and issued its own tickets to inland or overseas destinations.

On 16 May 1930, again in partnership with the LMS, the PLA opened a new floating landing stage adjacent to Tilbury Riverside station and this proved to be the death knell for Tilbury Marine which appears to have seen little use afterwards. The ferry service ceased operation on 1 May 1932 and, after suffering bomb damage in WWII, Tilbury Marine never reopened to passengers. The adjacent Tilbury Hotel was also completely destroyed in an air raid.