East Kent Railway
Encyclopedia
Strood railway station
Strood Railway Station serves the town of Strood in Medway. It is on the North Kent Line and is a terminus for the Medway Valley Line. Train services are operated by Southeastern.-History:...
and the town of Faversham
Faversham
Faversham is a market town and civil parish in the Swale borough of Kent, England. The parish of Faversham grew up around an ancient sea port on Faversham Creek and was the birthplace of the explosives industry in England.-History:...
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, during 1858 and 1859. In the latter year it changed its name to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway
London, Chatham and Dover Railway
The London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1859 until the 1923 grouping which united it with other companies to form the Southern Railway. Its lines ran through London and northern and eastern Kent to form a significant part of the Greater London...
to reflect its ambitions to build a rival line from London to Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
via Chatham and Canterbury. The line as far as Canterbury was opened in 1860 and the extension to Dover Priory railway station
Dover Priory railway station
Dover Priory railway station is the main station in Dover in Kent, with the other station being Kearsney situated on the outskirts of Dover. . All train services are provided by Southeastern...
22 July 1861. The route to Victoria station, London, via the Mid-Kent line and the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway
West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway
The West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway was an early railway company in south London between Crystal Palace station and Wandsworth, which was opened in 1856. The line was extended in 1858 to a station at Battersea Wharf which was misleadingly named Pimlico...
opened on 1 November 1861.
Origins
Although it was a relatively prosperous and well-populated area, the north of the county of Kent was poorly served by railways during the 1840s. the South Eastern Railway (SER)South Eastern Railway (UK)
The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
had chosen a roundabout southerly route to Dover of 88 miles (142 km), compared to 67 miles (108 km) 'as the crow flies', and had built branches to the main towns in the north of the county from this line. As a result it was 102 miles (164 km) by the main SER route from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Margate
Margate
-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
and Deal
Deal, Kent
Deal is a town in Kent England. It lies on the English Channel eight miles north-east of Dover and eight miles south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town...
although only 75 miles (121 km) by road. The cathedral city of Rochester and the important dockyards of Chatham had no rail link nearer than Strood, on the opposite side of the River Medway
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
. Furthermore the towns of Faversham
Faversham
Faversham is a market town and civil parish in the Swale borough of Kent, England. The parish of Faversham grew up around an ancient sea port on Faversham Creek and was the birthplace of the explosives industry in England.-History:...
, Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne is an industrial town about eight miles east of Gillingham in England, beside the Roman Watling Street off a creek in the Swale, a channel separating the Isle of Sheppey from mainland Kent...
and the Isle of Sheppey
Isle of Sheppey
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England in the Thames Estuary, some to the east of London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale...
had no railway communication at all. As the SER was then unwilling to undertake new capital projects a large meeting was held at Rochester on 29 January 1850 to discuss the need for a railway connecting Strood to Dover. The idea of a new independent railway was adopted, but lack of financial support meant that it would be three years before any concrete scheme could be proposed.
A plan for the construction of a new railway between the existing stations at Strood and Canterbury
Canterbury West railway station
Canterbury West railway station is one of two stations in Canterbury in Kent. It is north-northwest of the city centre. It is served by Southeastern....
was introduced to Parliament in 1853. The scheme also included a branch from Faversham
Faversham railway station
Faversham railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in north Kent, and serves the town of Faversham, 52 miles from London Victoria and 49 miles from London St. Pancras International. Train services are provided by Southeastern. Typical journey times for fastest services to Victoria is 70...
to Faversham Quay on a creek leading to The Swale
The Swale
The name The Swale refers to the strip of sea separating North Kent from the Isle of Sheppey.- History :The name "Swale" is Old English in origin, and is believed to mean "swirling, rushing river", or "rushing water"....
and a link to the SER at Chilham
Chilham
Chilham is a parish in the English county of Kent. Visited by tourists worldwide, it is known for its beauty. Chilham has been a location for a number of films and television dramas...
, together with running powers
Trackage rights
Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....
over the SER North Kent line
North Kent Line
The North Kent Line is a railway line which connects central and south east London with Dartford and Medway.-Construction:The North Kent Line was the means by which the South Eastern Railway were able to connect its system to London at London Bridge...
to . There are differing views as to the amount of opposition to the scheme put up by the SER. According to Bradley, the SER ‘exerted great pressure to get the East Kent’s Bill thrown out of Parliament on the grounds of non-compliance with Standing Orders, but a petition by over 9,000 inhabitants of the district persuaded the House of Commons, persuaded them to suspend their Standing Orders and allow the Company to deposit amended plans. One reason for this special treatment was that the line was then 'deemed of great national importance for the defences of the kingdom,’ as it aided the rapid movement of troops and military equipment between the Royal Arsenal
Royal Arsenal
The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, originally known as the Woolwich Warren, carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing and explosives research for the British armed forces. It was sited on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England.-Early history:The Warren...
, Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
and Dover. The new company did not however gain the running powers requested. Instead, the Act included a facilitations clause which required the SER to handle the EKR traffic ‘as expeditiously as its own between Strood and London Bridge.’ At the same time, in return for the minor re-routing of the proposed line at Strood, the EKR received a major concession from the SER in the form of an undertaking to Parliament that they would not oppose any future plan to extend the line to Dover. Permission to build this extension was granted in 1855, before construction work on the initial line had begun..
The SER did not put up more opposition as many of the directors felt that the line would never be built due to lack of finance, others ‘waited in the background for the onset of bankruptcy, hoping to absorb the new line at a substantial discount.
Construction of the line
The engineer for the new line was Thomas Russell CramptonThomas Russell Crampton
Thomas Russell Crampton, MICE, MIMechE was an English engineer born at Broadstairs, Kent, and trained on Brunel's Great Western Railway....
who was one of the directors of the new company. The building of the line took an inordinately long time because of the parlous financial state of the EKR throughout is existence. Contracts were not awarded until 1856 and Contractors were often left unpaid. Thus it was not until January 1858 that the line from Chatham to Faversham
Faversham railway station
Faversham railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in north Kent, and serves the town of Faversham, 52 miles from London Victoria and 49 miles from London St. Pancras International. Train services are provided by Southeastern. Typical journey times for fastest services to Victoria is 70...
was completed. The section from Strood, over the river Medway to Chatham was opened in March 1858. This included the Rochester railway bridge designed by Joseph Cubitt
Joseph Cubitt
Joseph Cubitt was an English civil engineer. Amongst other projects, he designed the Blackfriars Railway Bridge over the River Thames in London. He was appointed engineer to the Oswestry & Newtown Railway on 3 October 1856. -References:...
. The railway was built as a single track line (with provision for doubling) throughout its 18.5 miles (29.8 km) length and but had taken five years to raise the finance and build.
The branch line to Faversham Creek opened 12 April 1860; the main line as far as Canterbury 9th July 1860, reaching Dover town 22 July 1861 and Dover Harbour 1 November 1861. All of these lines were opened after the EKR had changed its name to the London Chatham and Dover Railway. In the event, the links to the SER at Canterbury and Chilham were never built.
Train service
The EKR service was originally five trains per day in each direction, with a journey time of 50 minutes. The railway purchased six 4-4-04-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-4-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels...
ST, LCDR Sondes class Crampton locomotive
Crampton locomotive
A Crampton locomotive is a type of steam locomotive designed by Thomas Russell Crampton and built by various firms from 1846. The main British builders were Tulk and Ley and Robert Stephenson and Company....
s from R and W Hawthorn
R and W Hawthorn
R and W Hawthorn Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer in Newcastle upon Tyne, England from 1817 until 1880.-Locomotive building:Robert Hawthorne first began business at Forth Bank Works in 1817, building marine and stationary steam engines. In 1820, his brother joined him and the firm became R and W...
. These soon proved to be unreliable and would shortly afterwards had to be rebuilt as conventional 2-4-0
2-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-4-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels....
Ts.
Westerly extension to the line
In November 1855, soon after gaining authority for the Dover extension, but before it had opened any line, the Company again gave notice of application to Parliament to extend their lines in to both London and Westminster. Their draft proposals involved the construction of fourteen stretches of line involving links with several existing or proposed railways. These included the SER at , and or ; the London Brighton and South Coast Railway near DeptfordDeptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
; the proposed Westminster Terminus Railway at Manor-Street; and the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway
West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway
The West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway was an early railway company in south London between Crystal Palace station and Wandsworth, which was opened in 1856. The line was extended in 1858 to a station at Battersea Wharf which was misleadingly named Pimlico...
(WEL&CPR) near St Mary Cray. This scatter-gun approach to building new lines into London by a company which was already deeply in debt and was finding it difficult to raise money to complete its existing lines was criticized in the press.
Nevertheless, in 1856 the EKR introduced a Parliamentary Bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
seeking running powers over the SER to , and then to build a new line to link to the proposed Mid Kent line of the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway
West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway
The West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway was an early railway company in south London between Crystal Palace station and Wandsworth, which was opened in 1856. The line was extended in 1858 to a station at Battersea Wharf which was misleadingly named Pimlico...
. Running powers over the latter railway would then give the EKR access to Battersea Wharf station of the WEL&CPR. The SER successfully fought off this attempt, arguing that their North Kent Line was already operating at full capacity. At one stage they even announced publicly ‘that they would handle no East Kent traffic.’
Proposals by Joseph Locke
Joseph Locke
Joseph Locke was a notable English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with railway projects...
, Consulting Engineer to the SER, for the amalgamation of that railway and the EKR were discussed by both sides in June 1858, although some of the SER directors were unhappy about taking on such a financially insecure company. Furthermore, under Locke’s proposals, the services of Thomas Crampton, the engineer, contractor and part financier of the Canterbury-Dover line, would be dispensed with. Crampton managed to persuade the EKR board to accept an alternative proposal, that he would finance the westerly extension towards London.
The EKR board therefore put forward a revised set of proposals to Parliament in 1858. These involved building their own line from Strood to St Mary Cray
St Mary Cray railway station
St Mary Cray railway station is in the London Borough of Bromley in south-east London, in Travelcard Zone 6. The station is operated by Southeastern, as are all trains serving it.The station is 14.7 miles from London Victoria...
where it would connect to the WELCPR at (then named Bromley). This plan gave the EKR potential access to Battersea, and later to Victoria station via the Victoria Station & Pimlico Railway. However, on 1 August 1859 the EKR changed its name to the London Chatham and Dover Railway, before these new lines were completed.
Other lines
Two further railway lines were proposed during the late 1850s with the object of connecting to the EKR, but had not been completed at the time of the change of name. These were: the Sittingbourne and Sheerness RailwaySheerness Line
The Sheerness Line connects Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent with Sittingbourne on the mainland, and with the Chatham Main Line for trains to London and elsewhere in Kent. It opened on 19 July 1860....
which was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1856 and opened 19 July 1860, and the Herne Bay
Herne Bay railway station
Herne Bay is a railway station on the Chatham Main Line in North Kent serving the town of Herne Bay. Train services are provided by Southeastern.- History :...
and Railway which was authorized in 1857 and opened in 1861.