The War Department halt was an informal railway 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 ...

. Over the 15 years that the station was open, its location is believed to have moved several times. Details are scarce as this was a secret military installation, but the end of the War Department branch line moved as building work moved onto new stages. When the installation closed in 1945 the railway company took over the line for freight shipment of ballast. Again, the end point of the line changed several times as the exact location of extraction of ballast changed, until closure of the branch in 1951. The locations of the halt are now under water owing to subsequent commercial extractions and flooding of the ballast pits.

Military origins

In 1929 a branch line was constructed curving away inland from south of Romney Sands station (then known as Maddieson's Camp). 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 ...

Operation

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. They operated daily staff trains between Hythe station and the end of the branch line. As this was always known as the War Department Line, its terminal stop was the War Department Halt.

Post-war use

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the War Office abandoned both the project and the line. The railway company took over the War Department locomotive (assigning it to the Permanent Way Department) and also the War Department Line, using it for freight-only services, transporting shingle to Hythe where it was transferred to road transport. As a freight-only service, the War Department halt may be said to have closed at the end of the war, as passengers no longer alighted at this location. However, freight-only traffic continued on the line until 1951. The final use of the branch was for the temporary storage of a train whose locomotive had failed in service nearby, thus allowing the continued use of the single-track mainline by other trains. This incident was in the Autumn of 1951, and the branch line's tracks were lifted a few weeks later as part of winter engineering works, 1951–52. {{coord, 50, 57, 21.37, N, 0, 57, 14.90, E, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Disused railway stations in Kent Heritage railway stations in Kent Transport in Folkestone and Hythe Lydd