I have just published another reprint of a local guide, it’s undated but appears to be about 1920 most interestingly to me are the street maps within for Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Margate, Westgate, Birchington and Minster.
As this is pre the unification of the railways you can see the ways the two competing companies managed to reach both of the main towns.
The first railway to get to Thanet was the Southeastern and Chatham Railway the first station to open was in Ramsgate in 1846 as you see from the map it was at the top of the High Street, the present station, at the other end of Station Approach Road replaced it in 1924. Sometime after that (forgotten the date) the line was extended on to Margate.
Then came the London Chatham and Dover Railway via Margate that terminated at Ramsgate Sands Station that opened in 1863 and closed in 1926.
Now of course the two lines are connected together in a loop.
Click on the links below to look at to the information mentioned in this post.
Ramsgate and Historical Thanet
The early 1920s maps
As this is pre the unification of the railways you can see the ways the two competing companies managed to reach both of the main towns.
The first railway to get to Thanet was the Southeastern and Chatham Railway the first station to open was in Ramsgate in 1846 as you see from the map it was at the top of the High Street, the present station, at the other end of Station Approach Road replaced it in 1924. Sometime after that (forgotten the date) the line was extended on to Margate.
Then came the London Chatham and Dover Railway via Margate that terminated at Ramsgate Sands Station that opened in 1863 and closed in 1926.
Now of course the two lines are connected together in a loop.
Click on the links below to look at to the information mentioned in this post.
Ramsgate and Historical Thanet
The early 1920s maps
You must have loads of self published books on your books... (I need a better metaphor there). How do you do it?
ReplyDeleteThanks for this - fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI had wondered when the Ramsgate Main sands Station close, so circa 1926.
It was the end of the 'Margate line', no connection to the other Ramsgate train station.
Ramsgate main sands station closed c1926 when they re-routed the line from the old town station to connect up with the line coming up from the sands near the current Dumpton station, forming the current 'loop' around the island. That made Ramsgate Sands and the tunnel branch redundant. At the same time they moved the old town station and built the current one.
ReplyDeleteThe tunnel line was then converted into narrow guage as a 'scenic ride' for Pleasurama, or Merrie England as it was then known. They built a new branch off the tunnel, which exited next to where the Murco garage now stands on Hereson Road. Handy for the dog track, presumably.
Bet you didn't know I was a train spotter in my spare time!
Sorry about the delay in replying to you I got a bit tied up with Goody in the last couple of days.
ReplyDeleteMatt the simple answer is MS Word jpgs and expensive printers.
Mrs TP always a pleasure and I have added a link to you on the sidebar having spent the last few mins enjoying your blog.
ECR thanks for doing the answers for me, never thought of you as bit of a train spotter, I had heard that one of the reasons given for closing the Sands Station was that the trains couldn’t manage the incline, at the time people in the town resented losing their station.
The main reason also for closing the Margate Sands Branch was that the Stationat Margate never Received Parliamentary assent to open, therefore the SER had to run Ghost Trains to and from Margate sands, freight traffic wasnt a problem but whats the point in having a passenger line when it cant carry fare paying passengers?? The LCDR and SER were at loggerheads at what and who provided the best service, the SER couldnt compete, escaling costs were rising further still and with a direct line now available to Ramsgate from faversham, it was pointless to compete any more. "nd July 1926 saw the new margate open and the old sands line close, pity really, imamgine a station at Westwood cross now!
ReplyDelete