Rochester Common railway station

Rochester Common was a station on the Chatham Extension from Strood serving the town of Rochester.

Rochester Common
General information
Location	Rochester, Borough of Medway England
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	South Eastern Railway[1]
Pre-grouping	South Eastern and Chatham Railway
Key dates
20 Jul 1891	Opened as Rochester[1]
1 Jul 1899	Renamed Rochester Common
Dec 1901	Renamed Rochester Central
1 Oct 1911	Closed

The station was opened by the South Eastern Railway which merged with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway to form the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1899. After the merger the SE & CR deemed that the Chatham Extension was an unnecessary duplication of the line and stations that it inherited from the LC & DR, and therefore the Extension and its stations, including Rochester Central (as it was then named), was closed in 1911. The station was demolished soon after closure and the site of the station later became sidings for Rochester Freight Depot until c. 1990.^[when?]. Since closure the whole area has been redeveloped erasing any trace of the railway.

The track layout was remodelled so that only the South Eastern Railway's bridge over the River Medway was used, and that layout is still there in the present day Chatham Main Line route.

The London, Chatham and Dover Railway's bridge lay unused and then derelict until it was rebuilt in the 1960s to be the eastbound carriageway for a widened A2 road bridge which opened in 1970.

v t e Medway Towns
Legend
North Kent Line & HS1 to London Bridge & St Pancras Chatham Main Line to Victoria & Blackfriars Medway Valley Line to Maidstone West Halling Cuxton Strood Rochester Bridge | Strood (1st) Rochester Bridge Goods station Rochester Common Rochester (2015–) Rochester (1892–2015) Chatham Central River Medway Chatham Gillingham Rainham Chatham Main Line to Faversham, Dover & Ramsgate

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Strood Line closed, station open		South Eastern Railway Chatham Extension		Chatham Central Line and station closed

References

1. Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.

51°23′27″N 0°30′22″E