Dymchurch railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dymchurch | |||
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|---|---|---|---|
| Dymchurch railway station looking from the footbridge towards St Marys Bay | |||
| Location | |||
| Place | Dymchurch | ||
| Local authority | Shepway | ||
| Operations | |||
| Managed by | RHDR | ||
| Platforms in use | 2 | ||
| History | |||
| July 1927 | Opened | ||
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |||
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Dymchurch railway station is a station on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent, England. It is five miles (eight km) south of Hythe, and is surrounded by a very flat landscape.
The station opened in July 1927 and was then named Dymchurch (Marshlands) to distinguish it from the other nearby station then called Burmarsh for East Dymchurch and later known as Dymchurch Bay.
The station itself now has two platforms, connected by a footbridge. On the 'up' platform there is an extensive shelter and a Station Master's house. On the 'down' platform there is a large station building incorporating a booking office (and staff room), a shop (selling souvenirs and light refreshments), and a ladies toilet. The gentlemen's toilets are located 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 into the level crossing lights at the two level crossings which are located one on each side of the station. The signals are controlled from a panel in the booking office.
Originally much larger, the 1920s station had three platforms (two through platforms and a bay platform), a signal box, a turntable, and a mainline crossover so as to allow operation of shuttle trains from New Romney. These never happened, and the turntable was removed in the 1930s. A second crossover was installed sometime before the war, and after the war, shuttles worked exclusively between Dymchurch and Hythe via Burmarsh Road. The signalbox was removed in the 1960s, and the remaining four switches were simply 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 may pass between the up and down lines anywhere in the eight miles between Hythe and New Romney - it is also the only location where a works train may be parked off the mainline. The three points required (two crossover, one siding) have been operated from a ground frame since the station was resignalled at the time of the installation of level crossing lights in 1976.
The station is a major tourist destination (largely for the extensive sandy beaches located nearby, and the attractive small town with holiday arcades and an amusement park). It is a principal station and boasts three staff members during the summer season (one only, out of season). It is a 'block station' for train control purposes.
| Preceding station |  Heritage railways |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burmarsh Road | RHDR | St Mary's Bay | ||
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 Dymchurch railway station looking towards Burmarsh Road |
 Dymchurch railway station looking towards St Marys Bay |
 Dymchurch railway station main station building looking towards Burmarsh Road |
 Dymchurch railway station |
