Tenterden St. Michael's railway station

Tenterden St. Michael's

Station site looking south towards Tenterden Town. The platform was situated on the left.
Location
Place St. Michaels nr Tenterden
Area Ashford
Grid reference TQ883351
Operations
Original company Kent and East Sussex Railway
Post-grouping Kent and East Sussex Railway
Southern Region of British Railways
Platforms 1
History
23 November 1912[1] Opened
4 January 1954[2] Closed
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain
A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

Tenterden St. Michael's was a railway station on the Kent and East Sussex Railway which served the Tenterden suburb of St Michaels in Kent, England. The station was situated on the southern side of a level crossing to the south of St. Michael's tunnel, one of the line's main civil engineering features. Closed in 1954, nothing remains of St. Michael's today: a footpath and cycleway runs through the site.

History

Tenterden St. Michael's was opened in 1912 to serve the local community of St Michaels on the outskirts of Tenterden.[3] It was situated immediately south of the ungated level crossing over Grange Road.[4]

St. Michael's was little more than a halt station consisting of no more than a single platform made of sleepers and, for some time, a small corrugated iron hut which served as a ticket office.[5] So modest were the facilities that the wooden picket gate leading from the road for the use of passengers has been described as "more obvious than the halt itself".[6] By August 1938, the ticket office had closed and passengers were obliged to purchase their tickets on the train; the station had also become run-down and the track weed-strewn. It had fallen into a dangerous and decrepit state by 1953, the condition of the platform sleepers having seriously deteriorated.[7] Regular passenger services on the line were withdrawn after the last train on Saturday 2 January 1954.[8] The line was engineered and operated by Colonel H F Stephens. One of his 'bigger' feats was St Michaels Tunnel, located just north of the halt.[9]

St Michaels Tunnel
Preceding station Disused railways Following station
High Halden Road   British Rail
Southern Region
KESR		   Tenterden Town

Present day

There is no trace of Tenterden St. Michael's today; its site is now a footpath and cycleway.[10] To the north beyond the site of the level crossing over Grange Road, Orchard Road has been built along the right-of-way[11] and St. Michael's tunnel remains beneath Shoreham Lane at grid reference TQ883354.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Sparkford, ISBN 1-85260-508-1, p. 227.
  2. ↑ Clinker, C.R. (October 1978). Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830-1977. Bristol: Avon-AngliA Publications & Services. p. 134. ISBN 0-905466-19-5.
  3. ↑ Course, Edwin (1976). The Railways of Southern England: Independent and Light Railways. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 48. ISBN 0-7134-0490-6.
  4. ↑ Gough, Terry (1998). The Kent & East Sussex Railway. Kettering, Northants: Past & Present Publishing Ltd. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-85895-149-2.
  5. ↑ Garrett, Stephen (1999). The Kent & East Sussex Light Railway. Usk, Mon.: The Oakwood Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-85361-516-3.
  6. ↑ Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1988). Branch Line to Tenterden. Midhurst, West Sussex: Middleton Press. p. Plate 95. ISBN 978-0-906520-21-5.
  7. ↑ Scott-Morgan, John (2007). An Illustrated History of the Kent and East Sussex Railway. Hersham, Surrey: OPC Railprint. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-86093-608-4.
  8. ↑ Garrett, S., p. 47.
  9. ↑ "St Michaels Tunnel". Forgotten Relics. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  10. ↑ Gough, T., p. 28.
  11. ↑ White, H.P. (1987). Forgotten Railways: South-East England (Forgotten Railways Series). Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-946537-37-2.
  12. ↑ Oppitz, Leslie (2003). Lost Railways of Kent. Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-85306-803-4.

Coordinates: 51°05′05″N 0°41′16″E / 51.084741°N 0.687856°E / 51.084741; 0.687856

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