35-558: The East Kent Railway (EKR) was an early railway operating between Strood and Faversham in Kent , England, during 1858 and 1859. In the latter year it changed its name to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway to reflect its ambitions to build a rival line from London to Dover via Chatham and Canterbury . The line as far as Canterbury was opened in 1860 and the extension to Dover Priory on 22 July 1861. The route to London Victoria station via
70-497: A housing development. The track ran along Standard Quay (a building beside the creek). In 1967, the track on Standard Quay was lifted, although a tiny section survives and Iron Wharf still has a few railway goods vans, now used by the boating fraternity. The brick built signal box dated from 1959 when electrification was completed. In 2009 preparatory works were completed before services to London St Pancras via Ebbsfleet International commenced on 13 December 2009. This forms part of
105-637: A new line to link to the proposed Mid-Kent Line of the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway . 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 , consulting engineer to
140-498: A terminus of the Medway Valley Line . It is 31 miles 11 chains (50.1 km) down the line from London Charing Cross . Train services are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink . The South Eastern Railway (SER) had reached Strood in 1845 as the terminus of the line from Gravesend. In 1856, this line was linked to the existing Maidstone branch from Paddock Wood , which had opened in 1844. The new line left
175-449: A tunnel from that platform leading to the island. In 2014, a new bridge with lifts was built at the southern end of the station to replace the tunnel and provide wheelchair access to the island platform. As of summer 2015 both the bridge and tunnel are open. Platforms 2 and 1 mainly handle traffic to and from London respectively, with Maidstone West , Tonbridge and Paddock Wood services terminating at and returning from Platform 3. Until
210-759: Is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the town of Faversham , Kent . It is 51 miles 77 chains (83.6 km) down the line from London Victoria . The station and all trains that call are operated by Southeastern . The original 1858 station (built for the East Kent Railway ) was rebuilt in 1898 and is an example of London, Chatham & Dover Railway architecture. The buildings are Grade II listed , and have been well maintained by Network Rail in recent years. A brick engine shed (also Grade II listed ) has, however, fallen into ruinous condition at
245-512: The Mid-Kent line and the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway opened on 1 November 1861. 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) had chosen a roundabout southerly route to Dover of 88 miles (142 km), compared to 67 miles (108 km) as
280-612: The Sittingbourne and Sheerness Railway , which was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1856 and opened on 19 July 1860, and the Herne Bay and Faversham Railway , which was authorized in 1857 and opened in 1861, later being extended to Ramsgate . Strood railway station Strood railway station serves the town of Strood in Medway , England. It is on the North Kent Line and is also
315-571: The Victoria Station & Pimlico Railway , without using any of the SER's lines. These were accepted, and on 1 August 1859 the EKR changed its name to the London Chatham and Dover Railway , before these new lines were completed. 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
350-431: The West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway (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 seeking running powers over the SER to Dartford , and then to build
385-478: 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 where it would connect to the WELCPR at Shortlands (then named Bromley). This plan gave the EKR potential access to Battersea, and later to Victoria station via
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#1732851274359420-676: 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 was completed. The section from Strood over the Medway to Chatham was opened in March 1858. This included the Rochester railway bridge designed by Joseph Cubitt . The railway was built as a single track line (with provision for doubling) throughout its 18 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (30 km) length and but had taken five years to raise
455-578: The LCDR line; it had its own bridge over the Medway. On 1 January 1899 the SER and LCDR entered into a working union which traded as the South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SE&CR) and set about eliminating duplicated facilities. In 1911, a connecting line was put in between the SER and LCDR on the south-eastern side of the SER's Rochester Bridge; this allowed trains from Strood to reach the LCDR stations at Rochester and Chatham from October 1911. In 1927 (after
490-554: The Medway towns and Faversham leave the high-speed line at Ebbsfleet and continue via the North Kent line through Gravesend, Strood, Rochester. A limited peak hour service now also operates between St Pancras and Maidstone West via Ebbsfleet and Strood. At the same time there was the largest change to the timetable in the area in 40 years in order to accommodate the extra trains. This meant that rail services from Newington and Teynham were cut, in order to facilitate this new service. To use
525-717: The SER & LCDR had merged with other railways to form the Southern Railway ), another connecting line was put in between the former SER and LCDR routes on the north-eastern side of the SER's Rochester Bridge; this enabled the LCDR's bridge to be taken out of use. Southeastern introduced a full timetable of domestic high-speed services branded Southeastern Highspeed over High Speed 1 between London St Pancras and Ashford International on 13 December 2009, although public preview services had been running since 29 June 2009. High-speed trains use High Speed 1 calling at Stratford International and Ebbsfleet International. Trains from London to
560-506: 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
595-604: The UK's first domestic high speed service (beyond Gravesend ) with typical journey times of around 65 minutes. The Chatham Main Line was re-signalled east of Faversham during 2011, and the Faversham signal box was decommissioned in late December (still remaining in situ in August 2014). Signalling responsibilities were transferred to the power box at Gillingham . Faversham had a barrow crossing but
630-411: The construction of a new railway between the existing stations at Strood and Canterbury was introduced to Parliament in 1853. The scheme also included a branch from Faversham to Faversham Quay on a creek leading to The Swale and a link to the SER at Chilham , together with running powers over the SER's North Kent line to London Bridge . There are differing views as to the amount of opposition to
665-473: 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 to Margate and Deal 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 . Furthermore,
700-406: 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." The engineer for the new line was Thomas Russell Crampton 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
735-659: The early 1980s, an additional entrance to the station was located on Station Road. The entrance was a continuation of the station subway, the external building is still extant on Station Road, although all windows and doors have been bricked up. The building contained a small ticket office. Services at Strood are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink using Class 375 , 395 , 465 , 466 and 700 EMUs . The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: Additional services, including trains to and from London Charing Cross via Sidcup , and two daily return services between London St Pancras International and Maidstone West call at
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#1732851274359770-420: The finance and build. The branch line to Faversham Creek opened 12 April 1860; the main line as far as Canterbury on 9 July 1860, reaching Dover Town on 22 July 1861 and Dover Harbour on 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. The EKR service
805-464: The first portion as far as Bickley opening on 3 December 1860. The curve connecting the LCDR line with Strood station fell into disuse (apart from one goods train in each direction per day), but passenger services over this line were reintroduced in early 1877 at the insistence of the Mayor of Chatham. The Mayor's name was Toomer, and the line then became known as the "Toomer Loop". Although Strood station
840-460: The junction to the east of the station, mainly due to its inaccessibility. A further engine shed, formerly on the Faversham Creek spur has now been renovated and converted as offices. Sidings and other small buildings remain, some a legacy from pre-electrification days (1959) when Faversham Shed (73E) was of some importance. The spur line to Faversham Creek has now disappeared and incorporated into
875-528: The line from Gravesend between Strood Tunnel and the original Strood terminus ; a new Strood station was provided on the Maidstone line, and it opened with the line on 18 June 1856. The station became a junction with the opening of the first section of the East Kent Railway (EKR) between Strood and Chatham on 29 March 1858. The London, Chatham & Dover Railway (which the EKR had become in 1859) soon opened their own route from Rochester towards London,
910-513: The railway 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 Dartford , Lewisham and or Greenwich ; the London Brighton and South Coast Railway near Deptford ; the proposed Westminster Terminus Railway at Manor-Street; and
945-413: The same time, in return for the minor rerouting 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 EKR 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
980-552: 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 to suspend their Standing Orders and allow the Company to deposit amended plans." One reason for this special treatment
1015-551: The section to platforms 1 and 2 was removed in 2009 to enable a platform extension as part of a multimillion-pound signalling and platform upgrade. Replacement 'platform' lifts were installed in March 2012, but they were not in use until later in the year. Replacement lifts were installed in December 2018 in a joint project between Southeastern Railway and Network Rail. They are of a better design with automatic sliding doors, one-touch operation and incorporating cctv at all levels and inside
1050-432: The station during the peak hours. The station is also served by a small number of early morning, mid afternoon and late evening services that continue beyond Paddock Wood to and from Tonbridge . [REDACTED] Media related to Strood railway station at Wikimedia Commons Other alternative routes from London to Dartford via Sidcup and via Bexleyheath . Faversham railway station Faversham railway station
1085-508: The towns of Faversham , Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey 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
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1120-567: The train service over the High Speed 1 section of line generally requires payment of a surcharge. In December 2017, the station received a £2.59 million refurbishment which included new entrances, a larger booking hall and a new waiting room. The station has three platforms; Platform 1 is directly accessible from the station building. Platforms 2 and 3 are on an island platform . The entrance, ticket office and ticket barriers adjoin Platform 1, with
1155-453: Was originally five trains per day in each direction, with a journey time of 50 minutes. The railway purchased six 4-4-0 ST Sondes class Crampton locomotives from R and W Hawthorn . These soon proved to be unreliable and would shortly afterwards had to be rebuilt as conventional 2-4-0 Ts. In November 1855, soon after gaining authority for the Dover extension, but before it had opened any line,
1190-581: 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 in Woolwich , Chatham Dockyard and Dover. The new company did not however gain the running powers requested. Instead, the enabling 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
1225-527: Was the property of the SER, the Toomer Loop, together with the stations at Rochester and Chatham, was LCDR property. A second junction at Strood was bought into use on 20 July 1891, when the first section of the Rochester & Chatham Extension was opened, by which SER trains reached their own stations at Rochester and, from 1 March 1892, Chatham . This line was to the north-east of, and largely ran parallel to,
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