Romney Sands Railway Station is a station on the

Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (RH&DR) is a gauge light railway in Kent, England, operating steam and internal combustion locomotives. The line runs from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St. Mary's Bay, New Romney and Romney ...

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is located on the bleakest part of the

Romney Marsh Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until the ...

, a shingle peninsula.

Station history

The station opened in May 1928 and was originally named "Maddieson's Camp" after the adjacent holiday camp which it served. The pre-war station consisted of nothing more than station name boards. After the Second World War the double track mainline was reduced to single track, and a single concrete platform was provided. There were no other changes until 1973. In 1973, the decision was made to install a passing loop to enable the operation of an hourly train service between

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...

and Dungeness; however, the site had insufficient space. The station was therefore re-located to the other side of the holiday camp entrance road. The passing loop was installed during the winter of 1973-1974, together with an island platform and a booking office (the first ever station building at this site). Although the holiday camp still operates, following a change of ownership it is no longer known as Maddieson's Camp. Consequently, the railway station was renamed Romney Sands around 1980.

War Department Branch Line

Between 1929 and 1951, Romney Sands was a

junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

, with a branch line curving away inland from south of the station. This line was constructed at the request of the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

and provided a train service to a secret military installation working on acoustic aircraft detection at Denge. Their work was highly successful, but almost immediately replaced by the superior invention known as

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

. The War Department operated their own locomotive, which was stabled at Hythe engine shed, and for which they had running rights for the full length of the railway. This is the only independently owned locomotive to have seen long-term service on the railway. After the war the War Department Branch Line saw a further six years of service (freight only) by the RHDR, which transported large quantities of uncrushed shingle by train to Hythe, where a ramp system was used to transfer the cargo to road haulage. This freight service ended in 1951, and the line was lifted at the end of that year.

Photo gallery

Image:100 3741 (Small).JPG, No.2 ''Northern Chief'' waiting to leave the station for Dungeness Image:100 3774 (Small).JPG, No. 9 ''Winston Churchill'' arriving from Romney

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romney Sands Railway Station Heritage railway stations in Kent Transport in Folkestone and Hythe Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1928 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1974 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1974 Lydd