Higham railway station is in the hamlet of Lower Higham in north

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. The village of Higham is about to the south. It is down the line from . Train services have been operated by

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

since May 2018. Before that time, the services were operated by

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

and its predecessors, although the station is still managed by Southeastern. The ticket office, on the 'up' side, is situated in the substantial station building. This is staffed only during part of the day; at other times a PERTIS passenger-operated ticket machine issues 'Permits to Travel' - which are exchanged on-train or at staffed stations for travel tickets - and is located at the entrance to the up platform, at the foot of the staircase. From Higham to Strood, the railway passes through a tunnel built for the Thames and Medway Canal, and the station building was converted from the home of the canal towing contractor. The waiting room was heated by the original open fire until as recently as the 1980s.

History

One of the more unusual pieces of freight handled by the station was a Swiss chalet, in 94 separate pieces, packed into 58 boxes. It arrived over Christmas 1864 as a gift for

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

at nearby Gad's Hill. According to the

Official Handbook of Stations The ''Official Handbook of Stations'' was a large book (, 494 pages) listing all the passenger and goods stations, as well as private sidings, on the railways of Great Britain and Ireland. It was published in 1956 by the British Transport Commiss ...

the following classes of traffic were being handled at this station in 1956: G, P, L, H, C and there was a 1-ton 2 cwt crane.

Services

Off-peak, all services at Higham are operated by

using EMUs. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 2 tph to via and * 2 tph to During the peak hours, there are additional services from Strood to London Charing Cross via and to London Cannon Street, operated by

References

External links

Higham (Kent) station on navigable 1946 O.S. map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higham Railway Station, Kent Gravesham Railway stations in Kent DfT Category E stations Former South Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1845 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1846 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1847 Railway stations served by Southeastern 1847 establishments in England Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway