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Notes: Dungeness is the most southerly point in Kent and the
branch line terminated at the foot of the beach lighthouse.
The single platform was of clinker constructions faced with
old wooden sleepers along the edge face of the platform. There
was a weatherboarded building incorporating a ticket office,
waiting room, ladies room and toilets. Eventually a new ticket
office was provided in a small wooden hut alongside and the
waiting room enlarged..
The track layout consisted of a run-around loop for the engine
and two sidings, the 'Admiralty Siding' serving the Admiralty
signal station and a private siding serving ballast pits.
 |
With the opening of the new alignment along the coat to New
Romney in 1937, the passenger service was withdrawn from Dungeness
with Lydd-on-Sea providing a replacement for passengers albeit
1 1/2 miles away. The freight service was retained until 1953.
A short section of the branch was reinstated in the early 1960's
to serve Dungeness Power Station. |
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NEW ROMNEY
& DUNGENESS BRANCH LINES
The Ashford - Hastings line opened on 13th February 1851 but
was not profitable and gave little incentive for the South Eastern
Railway to build a branch line across Romney Marsh. Following
local pressure for a branch line serving Lydd and New Romney
and the possibility of a new cross channel port being developed
at Dungeness, a number of schemes were proposed. Although the
Dungeness port was never built, the Lydd Railway Company obtained
an Act on 8th April 1881 to build a line from the South Eastern
Railway at Appledore to Dungeness, with a second act of 19th
June 1882 authorising a further branch extending north along
the coast to New Romney
| The line opened to passengers between Appledore and Lydd on
7 December 1881, with freight services to Dungeness, until that
too opened to passengers on April 1883. The only intermediate
station was at Brookland. Although nominally independent, the
service was provided by the South Eastern Railway and many of
the Lydd Railway Company directors |
 |
wprominent in the SER.
The line had 12 level crossings in its 8 mile length.
The New Romney line opened on 19 June 1884 and some unusual
workings were introduced with two branches being worked by one
locomotive requiring some trains serving Dungeness to reverse
back to Lydd Town before proceeding on to New Romney. This procedure
was greatly simplified when push-pull trains were introduced.
 |
In 1895 the local company was absorbed into the South Eastern
Railway. With the Dungeness port scheme abandoned, the SER obtained
powers in 1900 to extend their line to Hythe but this was never
built.
Kitson steam railcars were introduced onto the line in 1906/7
and with the development of military ranges and a large army
camp at Lydd, the line was well used until the end of WW1. Passenger
numbers were now in decline although agricultural freight, including
Romney Marsh sheep remained profitable. By the 1920's New Romney
was served by 9 trains a day while Dungeness was relegated to
3.
With the increase in pleasure traffic in the 1930's and new
residential and proposed holiday camp development along the
coast, the Southern Railway |
received powers under the 1935 Southern
Railway Act to realign the New Romney branch with a new junction
one mile to the southeast with two new halts at Lydd-on-Sea
and Greatstone-on-Sea; the new line opened on 4 July 1937. At
the same time the station at Lydd was renamed Lydd Town and
passenger services to Dungeness was withdrawn, although the
freight service was retained.
 |
The line remained open with a reduced service during WW2 although
an obvious target for enemy aircraft. A heavily armoured train
was allocated to Ashford - Hastings - New Romney group of lines
with regular patrols being undertaken.
Nationalisation in 1948 initially brought few changes but with
competition from busses and the popularity of the motor car
in the 1950's traffic continued to decline and economies were
inevitable including the withdrawal of the Dungeness freight
service in 1952 and the removal of the passing loop at Lydd-on-Sea.
| In the early 1960's the line received a new use with the opening
of Dungeness Nuclear Power Station in 1965. The passenger service
was improved with steam being replaced by two-car diesel-electrics
providing 11 trains a day in 1962; with most running through
to Ashford. This new prosperity was not to last however and
both the Ashford - Hastings line and with it the |
 |
New Romney
branch were proposed for closure in the 1963 Beeching
Report.
The goods services to New Romney was withdrawn in 1964 but the
threat of closure was suspended until 1966 when the Minister
of Transport announced that the passenger service on the New
Romney branch would cease on 6th March 1967. The Ashford - Hastings
line was however reprieved although some sections were eventually
singled.
 |
Goods services to Lydd continued until 1971 and the line was
still in use for the removal of ballast aggregates and waste
from Dungeness B nuclear power station. All track beyond Romney
Junction has been lifted. The only passenger movements since
closure have been occasional troop trains and railtours, the
most recent being the Lydd
Ranger Railtour on 13th March 2005. |
Further reading: The
New Romney Branch Line by Peter Harding. Published by the
author in 1983 ISBN : 0952345889
Railways South East Volume 2 No 1 Winter 1989/90 ISSN 0953-0835
Branch Lines of the Southern Railway Volume 2 by George Reeve
& Chris Hawkins - Wild Swan 1983 ISBN 906867 14 2 - Tickets from Michael Stewart
Web sites: Railways
in Kent, Southern
E Group and KARE
for pictures of nuclear waste trains
To see the other
stations on the New Romney and Dungeness branches click on the
station name: Appledore,
Brookland Halt,
Lydd Town, Lydd-on-Sea
Halt, Greatstone-on-Sea
Halt & New
Romney & Littlestone-on-Sea
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