Sandling railway station serves Sandling

Sandling

Sandling is a small hamlet north of Saltwood in Kent. It has a railway station connected to Saltwood village by a bus service. It is also the location of Sandling Park, a large estate and house, which stretches around the village of Saltwood and ends at Saltwood's other satellite hamlet, Pedlinge...

 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...

. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by Southeastern

Southeastern (train operating company)

London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...

. The station is also 7 km (4½ miles) west of Folkestone Central

Folkestone Central railway station

Folkestone Central railway station is one of three railway stations in Folkestone. It is the more central of the two main stations in the town. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by Southeastern.- History :...

 on the South Eastern Main Line. It is the closest station to the town 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....

.

The ticket office is manned only during part of the day; at other times a PERTIS

Permit to travel

In the ticketing system of the British rail network, a Permit to Travel provisionally allows passengers to travel on a train when they have not purchased a ticket in advance and the ticket office of the station they are travelling from is closed, without incurring a penalty fare.Since a large...

 'permit to travel' machine, located outside the station building on the 'up' side, suffices.

It is the closest station to Saltwood Castle

Saltwood Castle

Saltwood Castle is a castle in Saltwood village—which derives its name from the castle—1 mile north of Hythe, Kent, England.The castle is known as the site where the plot was hatched to assassinate Thomas Becket...

 (where Alan Clark

Alan Clark

Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark was a British Conservative MP and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade, and Defence, and became a privy counsellor in 1991...

 lived until his death) and it is frequently mentioned in the Alan Clark Diaries

Alan Clark Diaries

Alan Clark started keeping a regular diary in 1955 which lasted until August 1999, during his second spell as a Member of Parliament, when he was incapacitated due to the onset of the brain tumour which was to be the cause of his death a month later...

. In 1960, the station was allocated a camping coach

Camping coach

Camping coaches were offered by many railway companies in the United Kingdom as accommodation for holiday makers in rural or coastal areas.The coaches were old passenger vehicles no longer suitable for use in trains, which were converted to provide basic sleeping and living space at static locations...

 converted from a Pullman car

Pullman train (UK)

Pullman trains in Great Britain were mainline luxury railway services that operated with first-class coaches and a steward service, provided by the British Pullman Car Company.-Origins:...

, which was fitted with a full kitchen, two sleeping compartments and a room with two single beds.

Originally it opened as Sandling Junction and had four platforms. The up branch platform was closed when the line to Sandgate

Sandgate Branch

The Sandgate branch was a three mile long railway branch line that ran from Sandling railway station in Kent on the South Eastern Main Line to Hythe and Sandgate railway stations...

 was cut back to Hythe and the branch line singled in 1931. When line to Hythe was closed in 1951 the down branch platform was closed. Subsequently the station was renamed Sandling for Hythe. In 2010 the disused branch platform is still in situ.

Services

As of December 2010 the typical off peak services from this station are:

• 2tph (trains per hour) to London Charing Cross
  Charing Cross railway station
  Charing Cross railway station, also known as London Charing Cross, is a central London railway terminus in the City of Westminster, England. It is one of 18 stations managed by Network Rail, and trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...
  
  
• 1tph to Dover Priory
  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...
  
  
• 1tph to via Dover

External links