Margate railway station

Margate railway station serves the town of Margate in Thanet, Kent, England. It is 73 miles 69 chains (118.9 km) down the line from London Victoria. The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern.

Margate
General information
Location	Margate, District of Thanet England
Grid reference	TR347705
Managed by	Southeastern
Platforms	4
Other information
Station code	MAR
Classification	DfT category D
History
Opened	5 October 1863
Passengers
2019/20	1.140 million
Interchange	7,817
2020/21	0.353 million
Interchange	1,157
2021/22	0.884 million
Interchange	4,197
2022/23	1.026 million
Interchange	8,333
2023/24	1.157 million
Interchange	9,367
Listed Building – Grade II
Feature	Margate Railway Station
Designated	25 August 1987
Reference no.	1260321[1]
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Trains from the station generally run to Victoria via Chatham or to London St Pancras via Ramsgate, Canterbury West and Ashford International. Peak hour trains run to St Pancras via Chatham and Gravesend and to London Cannon Street.

History

BR Standard 2-6-2T at Margate in 1958

v t e Ramsgate and Margate
Legend
Margate Sands Margate West Chatham Main Line to London Victoria Line closed north and south of Margate Sands Goods in 1926. Margate Sands Goods Margate East Tivoli Broadstairs To Ashford and Dover Dumpton Park St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay Ramsgate Ramsgate Town Ramsgate Harbour
The arrangement inherited by the Southern Railway in 1923 with the lines and stations closed in 1926 shown in pink (Tivoli had closed c.1867 and St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay had closed in 1916). The dotted line represent the new surface lines and stations. Ramsgate and Dumpton Park both opened in 1926. Margate Sands Goods closed in 1972. The diagram shows the position as of 1926.

Trains first reached Ramsgate in April 1846 when the South Eastern Railway (SER) opened a line from Canterbury. It terminated at Ramsgate SER, later to be called Ramsgate Town.^[2] Later the same year the line opened across Thanet to Margate, to Margate SER, (later Margate Sands). Trains from Canterbury for Margate had to reverse at Ramsgate Town; a chord was built bypassing the station in 1864, costing £13,707.^[3] St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay railway station was opened in 1864 just before this chord but closed in 1916.^[4]

The London Chatham & Dover Railway (LCDR) reached Margate from Herne Bay on 5 October 1863.^[5] This called at Margate LC&DR (later Margate West), East Margate (later Margate East), Broadstairs and via a 1,630-yard (1,490 m) tunnel terminated at Ramsgate LC&DR (later Ramsgate Harbour), located near the harbour and beach.^[6][7]

This arrangement was inherited by Southern Railway on grouping in 1923. To simplify the arrangement in 1926 a new line was opened connecting the SER line from the site of St Lawrence to the LCDR line just south of Broadstairs. The current Ramsgate station and a new station at Dumpton Park were built on this new line. The Ramsgate Harbour station, line through the tunnel, and the Ramsgate Town station and old SER line across to Margate Sands were all closed in July 1926.^[8] Margate West station was renamed Margate in 1926. Margate East closed on 4 May 1953.^[4]

Until 1967 a service operated between Margate and Birkenhead Woodside via Ashford, Redhill, Reading, Oxford, Birmingham Snow Hill and Shrewsbury. The stock was provided on alternate days by successors to the Southern Railway and the Great Western Railway, being the Southern Region and the Western Region under British Rail. At Ashford a portion from Sandwich, Deal and Dover was attached/detached, likewise a Brighton portion at Redhill.^{[citation needed]}

Architecture

The station was rebuilt in 1926 by the SR's chief assistant architect, Edwin Maxwell Fry. The building is constructed in a monumental classical style from brown brick with a stone dressing and a hipped tiled roof. The booking hall was built in a similar manner, in a distinctive ellipse shape with pendant lighting. It was Grade II listed in 1987.^[1]

Cultural references

The station was featured in Only Fools and Horses, in the 1989 episode The Jolly Boys' Outing. Del Boy and Rodney discover the station is closed due to a strike, after being stuck in Margate following their coach blowing up.^[9]

Services

Platform view

All services at Margate are operated by Southeastern using Class 375 and 395 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[10]

• 1 tph to London St Pancras International via Chatham and Gravesend
• 1 tph to London St Pancras International via Ramsgate and Canterbury West
• 1 tph to London Victoria via Chatham
• 2 tph to Ramsgate

Additional services including trains to and from London Bridge and London Cannon Street call at the station in the peak hours.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Westgate-on-Sea		Southeastern Chatham Main Line - Ramsgate Branch		Broadstairs
Birchington-on-Sea		Southeastern High Speed 1
Terminus

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Westgate-on-Sea Line and station open		London, Chatham and Dover Railway Chatham Main Line		Margate East Line open, station closed

References

Citations

1. Historic England. "Margate Station (1260321)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
2. Gray 1990, p. 245.
3. Gray 1990, p. 246.
4. McCarthy & McCarthy 2007, p. 126.
5. McCarthy & McCarthy 2007, p. 125.
6. McCarthy & McCarthy 2007, p. 30.
7. "Margate". Kent Rail. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
8. McCarthy & McCarthy 2007, pp. 30, 32.
9. "Film & TV". Network Southeast. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
10. Table 194, 207, 212 National Rail timetable, December 2021

Sources

• Gray, Adrian (1990). South Eastern Railway. Middleton Press. ISBN 978-0-906520-85-7.
• McCarthy, Colin; McCarthy, David (2007). Railways of Britain : Kent and Sussex. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3222-4.

51°23′7.04″N 1°22′19.85″E

External links

• Train times and station information for Margate railway station from National Rail