War Department Halt railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| War Department Halt | |||
| Location | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Romney Marsh | ||
| Area | Shepway | ||
| Operations | |||
| Pre-grouping | War Office and RHDR | ||
| Platforms | 0 | ||
| History | |||
| 1929 | Opened | ||
| 1945 | Closed | ||
| Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom | |||
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Closed railway stations in Britain |
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The War Department halt was an informal railway station on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent, England.
In 1929 a branch line was constructed curving away inland from south of Romney Sands station. This line was constructed at the request of the War Office and provided a train service to a secret military installation working on acoustic aircraft detection. Their work was highly successful, but almost immediately replaced by the superior invention known as radar.
The War Department operated their own locomotive, which was stabled at Hythe engine shed, and for which they had running rights for the full length of the railway. This is the only independently owned locomotive to have seen long-term service on the railway. They operated daily staff trains between Hythe station and the end of the branch line. As this was always known as the War Department Line, its terminal stop was the War Department Halt.
After World War II the War Office abandoned both the project and the line. The railway company took over the War Department locomotive (assigning it to the Permanent Way Department) and also the War Department Line, using it for freight-only services, transporting shingle to Hythe where it was transferred to road transport. As a freight-only service, the War Department halt may be said to have closed at the end of the war, as passengers no longer alighted at this location.
| Disused Railways | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romney Sands | RHDR | Terminus | ||
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