Railway station in Kent, England
Sandling railway station
is on the
South Eastern Main Line
in England, serving the village of
Sandling
and the town of
Hythe
, Kent. It is 65 miles 36 chains (105.3 km) down the line from
London Charing Cross
. The station and all trains that call are operated by
Southeastern
.
History
[
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]
The station was opened as Sandling Junction on 1 January 1888 by the
South Eastern Railway
(SER). The station was situated at the junction of the SER mainline (between
Ashford
and
Folkestone
and the
Sandgate branch line
that had opened in 1874 between
Westenhanger
and
Sandgate
.
[1]
[2]
There were four platforms with a footbridge over the mainline, two signal boxes and goods sidings either side of the branch line. The goods yard was able to accommodate most types of goods, including livestock.
[3]
[4]
The up branch platform was closed when the
line to Sandgate
was cut back to Hythe and the branch line singled in 1931.
[5]
The station was host to a
Southern Railway
camping coach
in 1939.
[6]
The branch line to Hythe was closed on 3 December 1951 and the down branch platform was closed.
[7]
At the same time the station was renamed
Sandling for Hythe
.
[1]
A camping coach was also positioned here by the
Southern Region
from 1954 to 1959, the coach was replaced in 1960 by two
Pullman
camping coaches until 1964 then from 1965 to 1967 there were three of them.
[8]
The coaches were fitted with a full kitchen, two sleeping compartments and a room with two single beds.
[9]
On 12 May 1980 the station was renamed as
Sandling
.
[1]
It is the closest station to
Saltwood Castle
(where
Alan Clark
lived until his death) and it is frequently mentioned in the
Alan Clark Diaries
.
In 2022 the disused branch platform is still in situ and a short section of the Hythe branch is available as a footpath.
Facilities
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]
The station has a ticket office which is staffed during weekday mornings only (06:20-13:00 Mon-Fri). At other times, the station is unstaffed and tickets must be purchased from the self-service
ticket machine
. The station has passenger
help points
located on each of the two platforms.
[10]
The station has a small cycle rack as well as a chargeable car park at the entrance, operated by Saba Parking.
[11]
The station has step-free access available to the platforms although the
Dover
-bound platform can only be reached from the station building via the footbridge, meaning step-free access is not possible if ticket facilities are required, as there is no ticket machine on the Dover platform.
Services
[
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]
All services at Sandling are operated by
Southeastern
using
Class 375
EMUs
.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
[12]
Additional services, including trains to and from
London Cannon Street
and
Ramsgate
via
Deal
, and to
London Victoria
call at the station during the peak hours.
Connections
[
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]
Stagecoach South East
routes 10 and 18 serve the station.
[13]
[14]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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Stations in italics are served on limited occasions, at peak hours or on Sundays only.
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