Lydd Town station a forgotten relic

Lydd Town Station a forgotten relic

Lydd station today

The Lydd Railway Company (LRC) obtained authorisation to construct a standard gauge single track line from Appeldore to Dungeness with stops ay Lydd and Brookland . the line opened in December 1881

Dungeness station today 

Many Army trains traveled to Lydd , where a private military railway system had a connection onto the main line

This saw the ''Lydd Military Railway'' come into use, which connected the nearby Army Camp with the branch, via the goods yard. As this connection was southward-facing, as per the goods sidings, a reversal manoeuvre was required to proceed from the Army Camp, to Appledore. The Army Camp did provide an interesting traffic of regiment horses in box vans, these quite often being handled at Lydd station itself.

Following the opening of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in 1927, the extra holiday traffic generated persuaded the Southern Railway (who had taken over the line upon the railway grouping) to realign its branch to New Romney by moving it nearer to the sea and opening two new halts 



 Lydd-on-Sea and Greatstone-on-Sea - in 1937. The opening of Lydd-on-Sea Halt led to the renaming of Lydd station as "Lydd Town" to avoid any confusion. 

lydd on sea halt today

The station closed on 6 March 1967 in the face of dwindling passenger traffic and insignificant freight returns, yet the line remained open through Lydd Town as far as a siding near Dungeness for freight traffic to serve the BNFL nuclear power plant at Dungeness.


The future who knows !!
I think it will come down to the outcome of Lydd Airport myself

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The video below shows the history of Lydd Station

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 .

Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway 10TH April 2017 in Green Service

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Go on a train  - like Laurel and Hardy ?

so i did

The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway – the smallest public railway in the world 

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Opened  on July 16 1927, with locomotive Hercules hauling the inaugural train from Hythe to New Romney.

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When first opened to the public the line only covered, in double track, the eight miles between the two small towns.

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But owner Captain Jack Howey soon had his eye on extending the line and in 1928 double tracks carried the trains to Dungeness running close to Greatstone - a ride of 13.5 miles.

The railway operates one-third scale locomotives, both steam and diesel powered – and a fleet of passenger carriages which include mobile bars.

Trains run at around 25 mph, slowing down to negotiate the numerous level crossings and bridges which carry the track across the landscape.

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Locomotives are based on classic British and Canadian-Pacific Railroad designs – with the latter being constructed as it was felt the enclosed cabs would give drivers more protection against the rain and wind which occasionally sweeps across the Marsh.

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Their names include Dr Syn, the legendary smuggler of the area, and 

Winston Churchill.

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Lydd on Sea and Dungeness Station Disused and Abandoned

Although the trackbed from Romney Junction towards New Romney is easily traceable, nothing remains of Lydd-on-Sea Halt today except for a gated concrete approach road from Kerton Road .

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Promoted  by holiday camp development in the area, the Southern Railway decided in 1937 to realign its branch line to New Romney (which had been opened in 1884) closer to the sea and to open two intermediate stations - Lydd-on-Sea and Greatstone-on-Sea.

 The opening of Lydd-on-Sea on 4 July 1937 coincided with the closure of Dungeness station to passengers 

it was intended that Lydd-on-Sea, ½-mile from Dungeness, would serve both locations and its running in board read "Lydd-on-Sea (for Dungeness)"

To handle the expected flow of holiday traffic, the station was equipped with a long curved island platform with a passing loop on which was perched a small wooden shed.
The traffic never materialised and the station was downgraded to an unstaffed halt on 20 September 1954 when its passing loop was also lifted.
 As passenger traffic dwindled and freight became insignificant, the New Romney branch fell into decline and was listed for closure in the Beeching Report. In 1966 the Minister of Transport Barbara Castle announced her intention of closing the Appledore to New Romney Branch and passenger services ceased on 6 March 1967.
Today (2017)

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Dungeness (SER) railway station Disused and abandoned

                          Dungeness (SER) railway station Disused and abandoned

Dungeness was the terminus of the Lydd Railway Company's branch from Appledore which opened on 7 December 1881. Passenger services initially terminated at Lydd, although a goods service operated as far as Dungeness. 

Opened to passengers on the 1st April 1883, the single platform terminus at Dungeness lay at the end of a branch line from the South Eastern Railway's station at Appledore. 

Dungeness railway station, 1905 

Built by the Lydd Railway Company, the service was provided by the South Eastern Railway who eventually absorbed the smaller company in 1895. 

The eight mile branch had no less than 12 level crossings, with stations at Appledore, Brookland Halt, Lydd Town, (Lydd-on-Sea Halt and Greatstone-on-Sea Halt from 4 July 1937) and New Romney & Littlestone-on-Sea and Dungeness. 

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A large army camp and military ranges at Lydd kept the line busy until the end of WW1, but by the 1920's Dungeness was served by just three trains a day, while New Romney station enjoyed 9 trains a day. 

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A realignment of the line along the coast to New Romney in 1937, saw passenger services being withdrawn from Dungeness on the 4th July, 1937

The growing popularity of driving a car saw passenger numbers rapidly decline along the rest of the line in the 1950s, with the Dungeness freight service being withdrawn in 1952. 

Work on the Dungeness Nuclear Power Station in the early Sixties brought a new, albeit brief, lease of life to the line, with two-car diesel-electric trains providing 11 trains a day in 1962, most running through to Ashford. 

Proposed for closure in the infamous Beeching Report of 1963, passenger services managed to cling on to life until the 6th March 1967, with goods services to New Romney already being withdrawn three years earlier. 

Goods services to Lydd continued until 1971, with the line remaining in use for the removal of ballast aggregates and waste from Dungeness B nuclear power station. 

All track beyond Romney Junction has now been lifted with the remaining track only seeing very occasional troop trains and railtours. 

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