Dymchurch Station, Kent - 'Northern Chief' RH&D Railway Plastichrome c.1960s

• • Postcard

     

  • Picture / Image:  Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway - Dymchurch Station, Kent - shows the locomotive 'Northern Chief' in station
  • Publisher:   Colourpicture Publishers (Plastichrome) photo by Noel Habgood
  • Postally used:  no
  • Stamp:  n/a
  • Postmark(s):  n/a
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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Dymchurch railway station is on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent, England. It is five miles (eight km) south of Hythe, and surrounded by flat countryside.

The station opened in July 1927 as Dymchurch (Marshlands), to distinguish it from a nearby station called Burmarsh for East Dymchurchand 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.

There are four signals on the Dymchurch control panel - an up home, an up starter, a down home, and a down starter. All are colour-light signals, but they are a mixture of two-aspect and three-aspect. All four signals are linked to the lights at the level crossings located one on each side of the station. The signals are controlled from a panel in the booking office.

Originally larger, the 1920s station had three platforms (two through platforms and a bay platform), a signal box, a turntable, 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 Hythe 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 switches from the booking office for normal block operations.

Today just one siding remains, plus one mainline crossover. This is the only place where a train can pass between the up and down lines in the eight miles between Hythe and New Romney - it is also the only location where a works train can be parked off the main line. The three points required (two crossover, one siding) have been operated from a ground frame since the station was resignalled with the installation of level crossing lights in 1976.

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.

The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway is a 15 in (381 mm) gauge light railway in Kent, England. The 13 1/2-mile (21.7 km) line runs from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St. Mary's Bay, New Romney and Romney Sands to Dungeness, close to Dungeness nuclear power station and Dungeness lighthouse.

Constructed during the 1920s and opened on 16 July 1927, the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway was the dream of millionaire racing drivers Captain J.E.P. Howey and Count Louis Zborowski. Zborowski had constructed a railway at Higham Park, his home at Bridge, Kent, and agreed to donate the rolling stock and infrastructure to the project. Zborowski however was killed in a motor racing accident at Monzabefore the Romney Marsh site was chosen, and Howey continued the project alone.

The locomotives were designed by engineer Henry Greenly who worked with Captain J E P Howey.[1] Greenly also served as the railway's first Chief Engineer.

Mountain Class 'Hercules' hauled the inaugural train from Hythe to New Romney with guests including the mayors of the two towns, and General Sir Ivor Maxse. Howey was not happy with just 8 miles (13 km) from New Romney to Hythe and he extended 5 1/2 miles (9 km) from New Romney to Dungeness. This section was originally double track, but is now single due to damage during World War II, when the line was taken over by the military. A miniature armoured train was used on the line.[2] After the war the line re-opened between Hythe and New Romney in 1946, with the singled New Romney to Dungeness section reopened in 1947 by Laurel and Hardy.

As well as being a tourist attraction, this railway is a public service between the small towns and villages between Hythe and Dungeness and is under contract to the local council to transport children to and from The Marsh Academy in New Romney. The railway is expanding its role as part of the public transport network; Warren Halt re-opened in 2009 to provide a transport link to the Romney Marsh Visitor Centre, and discussions are taking place with local councils for the expansion of Burmarsh Road and the provision of a new station at the gravel pits in West Hythe, both in connection with proposed extensive new housing construction, and the need to provide alternative transport to the A259 coast road.[3]

All ten original locomotives remain in service, covering thousands of miles each year. The fleet, already one of the largest of any 15-inch (380 mm) railway in Britain, was expanded in 1976 with German-built locomotive no.11 'Black Prince' (formerly 'Fleißiges Lieschen' = 'Busy Lizzie'). The RH&DR is still the only user of the 4-8-2 ""Mountain"" locomotive in the UK, with No. 6 'Samson' and No. 5 'Hercules' in regular service. Two diesels, No. 12 'John Southland'(- later renamed John Bernard Snell) and No. 14 (Nameless - later 'Captain Howey'), were constructed in the 1980s.

The line carries 100,000 passengers each year.

The railway celebrated its 80th birthday in 2007 with a week of celebrations including reconstructions of scenes on the railway over the previous eight decades.

From 1926 to 1978, the RH&DR held the title of the ""Smallest public railway in the world"" (in terms of track gauge). The title was lost to the 12 1/4 in (311 mm) gauge Réseau Guerlédan in France in 1978[4] and regained from 1979, when the Réseau Guerlédan closed, until 1982, when the 10 1/4 in (260 mm) gauge Wells and Walsingham Light Railway opened.

The railway was featured in an episode of the BBC series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.