Staplehurst railway station
Encyclopedia
Staplehurst railway station serves Staplehurst
in Kent
, England
. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Southeastern
. Staplehurst is 67 kilometres (41.6 mi) south east of London Charing Cross
on the South Eastern Main Line.
Staplehurst railway station is located in the north of the Staplehurst urban area - which lies in the Maidstone Borough Council
administrative area. The ticket office, staffed for part of the day, is located in a modern building on London-bound platform 1. A passenger-operated self-service ticket machine is located by the platform 1 entrance.
Staplehurst
Staplehurst can mean:* Staplehurst in England* RAF Staplehurst, a World War II airfield in England* Staplehurst railway station* Staplehurst rail crash, a railway accident in 1865* Staplehurst, Nebraska, a small village in the United States...
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, are 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...
. Staplehurst is 67 kilometres (41.6 mi) south east of London Charing Cross
Charing Cross station
Charing Cross station may refer to:In London, England:*Charing Cross railway station*Charing Cross tube station **Embankment tube station was previously named Charing CrossIn Glasgow, Scotland:...
on the South Eastern Main Line.
Staplehurst railway station is located in the north of the Staplehurst urban area - which lies in the Maidstone Borough Council
Maidstone (borough)
Maidstone is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its administrative centre is Maidstone which is also the County town of Kent...
administrative area. The ticket office, staffed for part of the day, is located in a modern building on London-bound platform 1. A passenger-operated self-service ticket machine is located by the platform 1 entrance.
Services
As of May 2010 the typical off peak services from this station are:- 2tph (trains per hour) to London Charing CrossCharing Cross railway stationCharing 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 PrioryDover Priory railway stationDover 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...
and Canterbury WestCanterbury West railway stationCanterbury 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....
(dividing at ) - 1tph to via Dover and Canterbury, dividing at Ashford
Accessibility
There is step free access to both platforms following the construction of a new footbridge incorporating lifts in 2009.Rail Accidents
- The stretch of line near the station which crosses the River BeultRiver BeultThe River Beult is a tributary of the River Medway. It has several sources west of Ashford, including one at Woodchurch. It then flows through Headcorn. At Hunton, above Yalding it is joined by the major stream of the River Teise. Town bridge lies 10¼ miles from Allington, it is the longest...
was the site of a fatal train accidentStaplehurst rail crashThe Staplehurst rail crash was a railway accident at Staplehurst, Kent, England, which occurred on 9 June 1865 and in which ten passengers were killed and 40 injured...
on 9 June 1865. This accident is well-known in literary circles as Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
was on the stricken train and survived. He later wrote a short story, "The Signal-ManThe Signal-ManThe Signal-Man is a short story by Charles Dickens, first published as part of the "Mugby Junction" collection in the 1866 Christmas edition of All the Year Round....
", which was said to have been inspired by this accident, although it was actually based on the earlier Clayton Tunnel rail crashClayton Tunnel rail crashThe Clayton Tunnel rail crash, which took place on Sunday 25 August 1861, five miles from Brighton on the south coast of England, was the worst accident of the British railway system to that time...
of 1861. The accident left Dickens very anxious about rail travel.
- On 14 September 1996, an eastbound Railfreight Distribution service, train number 6O67, the 00:53 Wembley Yard to Dollands Moor YardDollands Moor Freight YardDollands Moor Freight Yard is a railway freight yard near Folkestone in Kent, and was purposely built in 1988 for the Channel Tunnel. It is to the west of the Eurotunnel Folkestone Terminal, and just to the south of the M20 Motorway.- External links :*...
, hauled by locomotivesDiesel locomotiveA diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
47 033 and 47 360British Rail Class 47The British Rail Class 47, is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush's Falcon Works, Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British...
, came to a stand under the Sweetlands Lane bridge east of Staplehurst. A French-owned wagon loaded with steel coil derailed nearly 3 miles (4.8 km) earlier, at Godden Cottages foot crossing; but as the derailed wagon was mid-train it remained upright and in formation, until striking a crossover at Staplehurst, causing the derailed bogie to disintegrate. The wagon mounted the station platform breaking the train brake pipe thus applying the brakes. The older brick section of the station platform deflected the wagon back onto the line, narrowly missing the A229 trunk road bridge, which otherwise would have been severely damaged.
- It took three days to re-open the railway after the accident. The damaged steel coil wagon was moved to a site west of the station on the London-bound side of the line to be unloaded.
- The cause of the accident was that the train was travelling at up to 75 miles per hour (120.7 km/h), which was in excess of the 60 miles per hour (96.6 km/h) limit of the wagon. Although it was not possible to weigh the derailed wagon, other wagons in the train were unevenly loaded, which meant that individual wheel loads exceeded permitted limits.