Trackbed Walkers: Disused , Abandoned Lydd Town Station (formerly Lydd Station)

Disused , Abandoned Lydd Town Station (formerly Lydd Station)

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Opened on 7 December 1881 as Lydd Station, on 4 July 1937 the station was renamed Lydd

Town to prevent confusion with a newly opened station at Lydd-on-Sea.

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One of my favourite abandoned stations
Lydd Town Station (formerly Lydd Station) (Closed) and Lydd Town Crossing

Opened on 7 December 1881 as Lydd Station, on 4 July 1937 the station was renamed Lydd Town to prevent confusion with a newly opened station at Lydd-on-Sea

Lydd Town Station was a substantial facility, with a large goods yard and much passenger and freight traffic generated by nearby army camps.

A branch ran south from the goods yard into the army camps, which were served by Lydd Military Railway.

A passing loop was provided at the station, but this has subsequently been lifted. The station was closed to passenger traffic on 6 March 1967 and to freight on 4 October 1971. Part of the site is now used as a recycling facility.

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The passing loop was reinstated to allow locomotives to change ends and shunt the train.

The Lydd Railway Company's 11-mile branch to Dungeness opened to freight services in December 1881. Initially passenger trains terminated at Lydd. The line's promoters hoped that creating a rail link between London and Dungeness would lead to the development of a port from which cross-channel steamers could operate. But this grand plan failed to materialise and the branch was left to stagnate. It did though carry some shingle traffic as well as flints for the Potteries where they were used to glaze china. Many army trains travelled to Lydd where a private military railway system had a connection onto the main line.

The branch actually runs south east from Appledore. The convention adopted in these collections is that Appledore is north, Dungeness is south, the New Romney side of the branch is east, and the Lydd side of the branch