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Walking down the hill at Madeira Walk, the line painted here is of Ramsgate's own Meridian, several degrees east of Greenwich.
In 1863, Ramsgate Harbour station opened, and over time was a heavily used station. Only problem was that the town was served by two rival companies, and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway had their main station here. Access to the station was via a tunnel nearly a mile long and a downward gradient of 1:75, in addition to the steepness of the line and danger of runaway trains, space at the bottom was very limited, with only space for a small turntable, so only small tank locomotives could be used.
Under rationalisation on Thanet in 1926, this and the Margate Beach branch was closed, and the main line linking the two networks completed, Ramsgate Town station being moved to facilitate this.
An electric narrow gauge railway was constructed before the war, and run until 1965 when another accident resulted in closure.
Since 1965, the tunnel had been sealed, but urban explorers did break in and left graffiti everywhere.
Prior to the Second World War, a series of tunnels were constructed for use as air raid shelters, and it is these which the tours now operating are taken along.
The main railway tunnel still has soot on the roof over where the up line would have been, and in places you can see where the sleepers for the narrow gauge railway was lifted.
The shelter tunnels run for over a mile, and had many different entrances, though all are now blocked up, and some of the tunnels have collapsed.
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The Herne Bay & Faversham Railway company was founded in 1857. In 1859 it became the Margate & London Railway, and two years later took the name Kent Coast Railway, by which it was known for the rest of its independent existence. It built a line from Faversham to Whitstable Town in 1860, extended it to Herne Bay & Hampton-on-Sea in 1861 and opened the section from there to a station called Ramsgate on 5 October 1863.[2] This was much closer to the seafront at Ramsgate than its predecessor, Ramsgate Town, which was opened by the South Eastern Railway in 1846.[3]
In 1871, the Kent Coast Railway was bought by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway.[2] In June of that year, Ramsgate station took the name Ramsgate & St Lawrence-on-Sea, which it bore until 1 July 1899. For the rest of its existence it was known as Ramsgate Harbour.[4] The station was very popular and well-used, but was on a cramped site which was reached through a tunnel down a long 1-in-75 gradient. A train went out of control down this slope on 31 August 1891. One person was killed.[3][5] Plans were made to simplify the poorly connected railway network in the Thanet area; these were quickly adopted by the Southern Railway company, which took over the London, Chatham and Dover Railway's operations on 1 January 1923 as a result of the Grouping Act.[3] It built a new line, 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long, to connect the former Kent Coast Railway route from Faversham and the former South Eastern Railway route from Ashford,[2] which bypassed both Ramsgate Harbour and Ramsgate Town stations. Two new stations, Dumpton Park and Ramsgate, were built on this line to serve the town.[3] The line and the new stations opened on 2 July 1926, and the section of line between the new junction and Ramsgate Harbour station, and the station itself, closed on the same date.[2] The station site was bought by a company which converted it into a funfair. The station building was damaged by fire in 1998 and subsequently demolished. Part of the former route through the tunnel was opened as a narrow gauge tourist railway in 1936 which became the Tunnel Railway[3]. Services were suspended during World War 2. It reopened but it closed in 1965 following an accident at the beach station and the owners decided to close the railway. The railway was then dismantled. In 1939 part of the abandoned railway tunnel became an air raid shelter.[6] A network of tunnels was constructed leading from the disused railway tunnel leading under the town with various access steps to the surface. After the war finished these tunnels were abandoned. Following the award of a Heritage Lottery Grant sections of the abandoned railway tunnel and wartime air raid tunnels have been restored and were officially reopened on 27 May 2014.
DDCC - 366 Project - 012
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GB Railfreight 73109 reversing at Ramsgate with a Snow and ice treatment train on a round trip from Tonbridge West Yard with 73201 leading back.
Granville Theatre, Ramsgate. Constructed in a sunken garden in 1947 as a live theatre, films were added to the mix later. In 1988 it was split into two auditoria the rear stalls becoming a permanent cinema, while the front stalls and original stage became a dual purpose cinema and theatre with a new small balcony added. The there is a low fly-tower.
Ramsgate Kent, Granville Theatre, Victoria Parade
January 2016