Hythe station is the northern terminus of the
Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. The station has curved platforms with an
overall roof
A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...
, loco release road, former engine shed (now an independent engineering works),
signalbox with 16
lever frame, and a
turntable. In terms of passenger bookings Hythe is the busiest station on the railway.
Adjacent to the station the former station master's house is now a private residence. Situated between the station and the Royal Military Canal is ''The Light Railway Restaurant'' which was originally built by the railway company but sold before it was even completed. It was finally repurchased by the railway in February 2015.
The station is situated to the south of the town on the
A259 road to
Folkestone
Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...
, and follows the same alignment as the
Royal Military Canal.
The ancient
Cinque Port offers shopping facilities with restaurants, cafes, pubs, banks, supermarkets, antique shops, general shops, swimming baths, gardens, parks and a seafront.
[http://www.rhdr.org.uk/rhdr/stations/hythe.htm RH&DR on-line]
Platforms
Of the three platforms, only numbers 2 and 3 are normally used for arrivals and departures, number 1 being used mainly for stock storage as it has no loco release facility. Prior to the 1970s resignalling it was used for occasional departures, although today this happens very rarely and it is used largely for non-passenger trains.
As originally built the station had a fourth platform to the south with its own loco release road, and platform three had no release facility. It seems the original design (as with the Dymchurch bay platform) assumed trains would arrive and then shunt into a different departure platform to release the loco and turn. In the 1920s the layout was altered to make operation more efficient. Platform 4 disappeared in the resignalling, as platforms were extended and has now been incorporated into the car park.
File:Leaving Hythe station, RH&DR (CJ Allen, Steel Highway, 1928).jpg, Leaving Hythe station, RH&DR, 1928
File:Southern Maid at Hythe station 1.jpg, No. 3 ''Southern Maid'' at Hythe station
File:Steam train 1 (Small).JPG, No. 7 ''Typhoon'' arriving at Hythe
File:Steam train 2 (Small).JPG, No. 5 ''Hercules'' leaving Hythe
File:Steam train 3(Small).JPG, No. 14 ''Capt. Howey'' under the roof
File:Northern Chief on the Hythe Turntable - geograph.org.uk - 1359535.jpg, No. 2 ''Northern Chief'' on the Hythe turntable
File:Southern Maid at Hythe station 3.jpg, No. 3 ''Southern Maid'' on the turntable
Image:Hythe railway station2.png, Track layout
References
{{Kent railway stations
Heritage railway stations in Kent
Transport in Folkestone and Hythe
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1927