Minster
This was once an interesting and welcoming station, sat on the junction of the
lines to Thanet and Deal. Sadly, it has become another example which has seen
severe track degrading and structural demolition, but only of comparatively
recent times. The SER’s route to Thanet branched off the company’s Dover trunk
line at Ashford. Canterbury was reached from the latter by means of a
double-track on 6th February 1846; this line was then extended through to
Margate for services to commence on 1st December 1846 – Minster opened with the
Thanet section. The station here had one particular feature idiosyncratic of the
SER: the platforms were partially staggered. From the outset there were two
platform faces, the ‘’down’’ one being host to the station building, whilst a
timber waiting shelter was a feature of the ‘’up’’ side. The main building was
somewhat unusual within the confines of the SER network, for it did not appear
to conform to any distinctive pattern – certainly within the eastern territories
of Kent, it stood out as a sole example of its style and design. It was
constituted primarily of three parts: a central two-storey section - virtually
identical to the Station Master’s house still in existence at Beaulieu Road
on the South Western Division – and two single-storey pitched-roof sections,
these flanking the taller section, one either side. The platform canopy was
attached to this building and its cross-section was based on a right-angled
triangle, but even the valance here did not reflect the ornate SER pattern seen
at other stations (such still in evidence at Maidstone West). No form of goods
shed was in evidence at the site, but two freight sidings did trail off the
‘’down’’ line, beyond the junction, and terminated behind the platform. On the
opposite side of the main building was a single siding, also terminating behind
the platform, which came complete with a five ton crane. Finally, an additional
storage siding was laid on the ‘’up’’ side, immediately to the east of the
junction.
On 1st July 1847, Minster became a junction with the opening of the double-track
line to Deal. Traffic on this route was light to the extent of justifying a
singling programme in 1855, but ten years later this decision was then reversed
and the second track reinstated. Layout enlargement occurred in 1872 when those
trains bound for the Deal line received a dedicated bay line, thus converting
the ‘’up’’ platform into an island. For this, the timber waiting shelter was
abolished and replaced by an arched canopy with an ornate SER-designed valance,
but no footbridge arrived until 1894, this being of the now familiar lattice
design. The bay line was accompanied by a run-a-round loop, such the length of
this being that it partially followed the curve bending round to the Deal line.
The station’s first signal box was located to the east of the island platform
and probably came into use around the time of the Dover & Deal Joint Railway’s
opening, on 15th June 1881. As a consequence of the latter, an operational
practicality was installed at Minster, this being the building of a double-track
avoiding line to the east, creating a triangular junction. This eliminated the
need for Ramsgate to Dover trains to reverse at Minster.
There have been cutbacks and re-openings at the site since the days of the SER;
the singling and then redoubling of the Deal line has already been touched on.
The existing signal box saw closure in 1929, when the Southern Railway installed
a new cabin on the ‘’down’’ side, to the east of the junction, this coming into
use on 23rd June of that year. The signal box was to the company’s contemporary
design, hinting at the architecture of former signalling contractors Saxby &
Farmer – examples had also emerged at Aylesford, Sandwich and Ramsgate. The then
new cabin was commissioned concurrent with the re-opening of the Minster
avoiding line, which had been removed in about 1916 as a cost-cutting measure in
response to World War I. Despite these junction and signalling alterations, the
station retained its three platform faces and goods facilities. Indeed, traffic
at the latter did not finally cease until September 1963, this being after the
introduction of the accelerated electric timetable on 18th June 1962.
Electrification brought third rail to Minster, but it did not see the
procurement of colour aspect lights, and the track layout here still remained
fairly complex. The station did not wholly escape the typical demolitions of the
1970s, and the pleasing island platform canopy was unceremoniously obliterated
and replaced by a single bus shelter. The lattice footbridge was removed
concurrent with this and a more austere structure erected in its place,
conforming to British Rail’s ‘’Modern Image’’. At least the vintage main station
building remained intact on the ‘’down’’ side – for now.
Merely a decade passed before further, more serious rationalisation began to be
implemented. This affected both track work and signalling: the original
double-track spur from the station to the Deal line was singled during the
Summer of 1981. This was coupled with the removal of the bay line, the
decommissioning of the associated platform face, and the lifting of the sidings
which had appeared alongside the diverging track since the initial signalling
alterations of 1929. The impressive double-armed semaphore signal brackets were
replaced with three-aspect colour lights and the final resultant was a basic
layout comprising the double-track Ashford to Thanet line, and the single spur
of the Deal line. The main building, of considerable vintage and antiquity, was
not to escape the bulldozers and this finally came crashing to the ground in
November 1989 – a very sad end for a once attractive station.
An eastward view from 12th February 2005 reveals the layout's oldest building: the signal box
of 1929 origin. Branching sharply off to the right is the single-track spur to Deal - its counterpart,
which completes the triangle, can just be seen in the distance, to the upper right of the lamppost.
This is not the original divergence point of the Deal spur, the junction instead having been nearer
the crossover points alongside the signal box. The position was changed during the rationalisation
of the layout in 1981. Therefore, the overgrown areas on both sides of the spur were formerly track
beds. David Glasspool
Another eastward view from 12th February 2005 reveals the 1970s footbridge and the two bus
shelters, these of 1990 origin. The fenced off area beyond the footbridge, on the ''down'' platform,
is where the station building formerly resided. On the right is the former platform face of the bay
line. Until about 1970, the station name boards displayed ''Minster (Thanet), Junction for Sandwich,
Deal and Walmer''. David Glasspool
This westward view includes the level crossing, a crossover, but also a feature of some antiquity.
On the left, in faded red, is the only station remnant of SER origin - the platform railings. These
also appear on the left of the previous picture. David Glasspool
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