Burmarsh Road railway station
Encyclopedia
Burmarsh Road railway station is a station on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway
Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway
The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway is a gauge light railway in Kent, England. The line runs from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St...

 in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is four miles south of Hythe
Hythe, Kent
Hythe , is a small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning Haven or Landing Place....

.

History

Officially opened on 16 July 1927, this station was then called Burmarsh for East Dymchurch and was equipped with two platforms, a booking office, a waiting room, and possibly a signal box (historical accounts vary on this last point). Later the station name was changed to Dymchurch Bay. Traffic levels fell sharply after the Second World War, and the station was eventually reduced in status to a halt
Halt
Halt can refer to:* Train station § Halt, a small train station, usually unstaffed, with few facilities and normally is a request stop* A sign, meaning attention* "Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired" in behavioral addiction recovery...

 and again renamed as Burmarsh Road Halt. It closed in 1948, re-opened in 1950, but finally closed again at the end of that same year, when the station buildings were demolished. However, it was again re-opened in 1977 as one of the stops on the school train service, transporting local children to Southlands Comprehensive School in New Romney
New Romney
New Romney is a small town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to be silted up. New Romney was once a sea port, with the harbour adjacent to the church, but is now more than a mile from the sea...

.

Today

Since that time Burmarsh Road station has found a new lease of life. Officially it was listed on the Railway's ticket-issuing computer systems as a station (not a halt
Halt
Halt can refer to:* Train station § Halt, a small train station, usually unstaffed, with few facilities and normally is a request stop* A sign, meaning attention* "Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired" in behavioral addiction recovery...

) until 2010, in which year it was officially re-designated (again) as "Burmarsh Road Halt". From 1977 to 2009 the only trains to call here were the school service trains, and private charter trains, although as the general public are permitted to travel on the school train service on certain off-season days of the year, it was still possible to board trains, and alight from them, at this station. From 2010 however certain normal service trains are once again timetabled to stop at Burmarsh Road, in conjunction with open days and special events at the nearby Haguelands Alpaca Farm, which is served by the station. Burmarsh Road appeared again on the railway's 2010 public timetable for the first time since 1950.

Facilities

Today there are no surviving station buildings, although in November 2007 Burmarsh Road saw its first fabric upgrade since re-opening in 1977, when the 'down' platform (which had become very uneven) was completely resurfaced. There are still two platforms, and the 'up' platform remains very much in need of similar resurfacing. There are electrical cabinets and control panels installed at the station, for operation of the lights and barriers of Burmarsh Road level crossing, together with closed circuit television cameras and recording equipment. The only other significant structure is a memorial to a train driver killed here in 2003 (see below).

Future Expansion

Following the 2007 facilities upgrade, with platform resurfacing, the railway's General Manager has now confirmed press speculation that Burmarsh Road station may see further expansion in coming years. If funding is secured for the building of a multiple-unit shuttle train, a regular passenger service may resume.

Fatal accident

Burmarsh Road station was the site of a fatal accident in August 2003, in which engine driver Kevin Crouch lost his life. A local woman whose car had failed to stop for flashing level crossing lights was later convicted on a charge of careless driving.
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