Dungeness railway station is a station on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway on

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 th ...

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 ...

History

The first part of line to Dungeness was opened on 24 May 1928, a year after the line reached New Romney. However, construction was complete only as far as The Pilot Inn, where a turning triangle was installed, so that locomotives could change direction when preparing to return to New Romney or Hythe. Construction work continued towards Dungeness, and the final section of the line (including this station) opened in early August 1928. Operations have continued at this station ever since except 1940-1947.

Description

It is one of only a very few stations in England to be situated on a

balloon loop A balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop ( North American Terminology) allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to shunt or stop. Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains and unit freight trains. Bal ...

, allowing trains to return with the engine pointing forwards without needing to uncouple and reverse the locomotive, or use a

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

. Facilities at this station included two booking offices (one currently redundant), a shop, an extensive cafeteria and restaurant, toilets, and a waiting shelter. There is a water tower for the benefit of steam locomotives. Until 2017 there was only one formal (concreted) platform, although in the summer trains sometimes arrived at and departed from the station's

run-round loop A headshunt (or escape track in the United States) is a short length of track provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines. Terminal headshunt A 'terminal headshunt' is a short le ...

even though no platform surface was provided. Since 2017 a second platform surface has been provided. The station was temporarily closed in October 2015 for extensive re-building with an expected completion date of Easter 2016. This plan was not fulfilled however as the contractor appointed to undertake the work went into receivership shortly after demolition of the existing buildings was complete. Work was re-commenced by a new contractor shortly before Christmas 2015 and by late January 2016 the foundations were largely complete. The station re-opened for Easter 2016 using RML2360, a Routemaster from the Arriva London heritage fleet, as a temporary booking office and souvenir shop. This vehicle had previously been rebuilt as an exhibition bus and was ideally suited for the purpose. The re-building work at Dungeness was finished in May 2016.

Photogallery

Image:BlackPrinceoil.JPG, A driver oiling his engine at Dungeness Image:HerculesDungeness.JPG, No.5 Hercules leaving Dungeness Image:DieselsDungeness.JPG, Diesels no.14 and PW2 on a service train at Dungeness Image:Prospect Cottage, Dungeness.jpg, A nearby cottage in Dungeness "village"

References

{{Coord, 50.9144, N, 0.9704, E, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Transport in Folkestone and Hythe Heritage railway stations in Kent Tourist attractions in Kent Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1928 Lydd