Dymchurch railway station is 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 five miles (eight km) south of

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...

, and surrounded by flat countryside. The station opened on 16 July 1927 as Dymchurch (Marshlands), to distinguish it from a nearby station called Burmarsh for East Dymchurch and later as Dymchurch Bay. The station has two platforms connected by a footbridge. On the 'up' platform there is a shelter and a station master's house. On the 'down' platform is a station building incorporating a booking office and staff room, a shop selling souvenirs and refreshments, and a women's toilet. The men's toilets are in the supporting pillars of the footbridge, although only that on the 'down' platform is in use. The station is a tourist destination, largely for the sandy beaches nearby, the holiday arcades and an amusement park. It has three staff during the summer (one only, out of season). It is a block station for train control purposes.

History

Originally larger, the 1920s station had three platforms (two through platforms and a bay platform) with an overall roof, a signal box, 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 ...

, and a mainline crossover to allow shuttle trains from New Romney. These never happened, and the turntable was removed in the 1930s. A second crossover was installed before the war and shuttles worked between Dymchurch and

via Burmarsh Road. The signalbox was removed in the 1960s, and the remaining four switches bolted in the normal position, primitive colour-light signals being worked by domestic light switches from the booking office for normal block operations. They were not interlocked with the points, or each other. These signals were subsequently removed. Image:RH and DR - Dymchurch Station a.jpg, Dymchurch railway station looking towards Burmarsh Road Image:RH and DR - Dymchurch Station b.jpg, Dymchurch railway station looking towards St Marys Bay Image:RH and DR - Dymchurch Station d.jpg, Dymchurch railway station main station building looking towards Burmarsh Road Image:Romney Hythe and Dmychurch trains at Dymchurch.jpg, Dymchurch railway station Image:RH & DR Ticket Office Dymchurch Station.jpg, Dymchurch railway station looking towards the ticket office Image:RH & DR Ticket Office Dymchurch Station 2.jpg, Dymchurch railway station ticket office Image:RH & DR Samson at Dymchurch.jpg, A train pulled by the locomotive ''Samson'' about to leave Dymchurch station File:Dymchurch station geograph-3277377-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg, Train for Hythe in 1962 File:John Southland Approaches Dymchurch Station - geograph.org.uk - 1359762.jpg, ''John Southland'' approaches Dymchurch station {{Kent railway stations Heritage railway stations in Kent Transport in Folkestone and Hythe Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1927