Dymchurch railway station

Dymchurch
Station on heritage railway
Dymchurch railway station looking from the footbridge towards St Marys Bay
General information
Location	Dymchurch, Folkestone & Hythe England
Grid reference	TR098293
Managed by	RHDR
Platforms	2
Key dates
16 July 1927	Opened
1940	closed
1946	reopened

Dymchurch railway station is on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent, England. It is five miles (eight km) south of Hythe, and surrounded by flat countryside.

The station opened on 16 July 1927 as Dymchurch (Marshlands), to distinguish it from a nearby station called Burmarsh for East Dymchurch and later as Dymchurch Bay.

The station has two platforms connected by a footbridge. On the 'up' platform there is a shelter and a station master's house. On the 'down' platform is a station building incorporating a booking office and staff room, a shop selling souvenirs and refreshments, and a women's toilet. The men's toilets are in the supporting pillars of the footbridge, although only that on the 'down' platform is in use.

The station is a tourist destination, largely for the sandy beaches nearby, the holiday arcades and an amusement park. It has three staff during the summer (one only, out of season). It is a block station for train control purposes.

History

Originally larger, the 1920s station had three platforms (two through platforms and a bay platform), a signal box, a turntable, and a mainline crossover to allow shuttle trains from New Romney. These never happened, and the turntable was removed in the 1930s. A second crossover was installed before the war and shuttles worked between Dymchurch and Hythe via Burmarsh Road. The signalbox was removed in the 1960s, and the remaining four switches bolted in the normal position, primitive colour-light signals being worked by domestic light switches from the booking office for normal block operations. They were not interlocked with the points, or each other!

Today just one siding remains, plus one mainline crossover. This is the only place where a train can pass between the up and down lines in the eight miles between Hythe and New Romney - it is also the only location where a works train can be parked off the main line. The three points required (two crossover, one siding) have been operated from a ground frame since the station was resignalled with the installation of level crossing lights in 1976.

Signals

There are four signals on the Dymchurch control panel - an up home, an up starter, a down home, and a down starter. All of these are three-aspect colour-light signals. All four signals are linked to the lights at the level crossings on either side of the station. The signals are controlled from a panel in the booking office. This control panel also incorporates an Annetts Key which is interlocked with the running signals and allows access to the ground frame controlling a siding at the St Mary's Bay end of the station beside the Up line.

• 
  Dymchurch railway station looking towards Burmarsh Road
• 
  Dymchurch railway station looking towards St Marys Bay
• 
  Dymchurch railway station main station building looking towards Burmarsh Road
• 
  Dymchurch railway station
• 
  Dymchurch railway station looking towards the ticket office
• 
  Dymchurch railway station ticket office
• 
  A train pulled by the locomotive Samson about to leave Dymchurch station
• 
  Train for Hythe in 1962

Preceding station	Heritage railways			Following station
Burmarsh Road		RHDR		St Mary's Bay
	Historical railways
Burmarsh Road Line and station open		RHDR		Golden Sands Halt Line open, station closed