Margate West

Before continuing, it is worth mentioning a second LC&DR Margate station, one which was built, but never opened. In conjunction with the 1863 works to provide a through station on the tightly curved route, the decision was taken to erect a terminus no more than 300 yards away. This was to lay immediately adjacent to, and run parallel with, the SER’s Margate station. The site was intended to serve only those local services from Ramsgate, and the terminus was fed by a single track which trailed off the Thanet route approximately 400 yards east of the LC&DR’s Margate station. The junction with this line was Broadstairs-facing, thus only trains travelling in the London direction were able to access the short branch. The single-track descended an embankment to reach a fully enclosed station, completely protecting both a train and would-be passengers from the elements. As mentioned earlier, the through route to Ramsgate was opened in October 1863, but the first train did not use the ‘’local’’ LC&DR Margate terminus until May of the following year, and even this was just as part of a trial. It was soon decided to just maintain the chief through station and the much smaller affair of ‘’Ramsgate Road’’ (later to be closed and replaced by ‘’East Margate’’ station on the same site). Consequently, Royal Assent to commence the running of scheduled services along the short spur and into the enclosed LC&DR terminus was not given; the track was lifted and the embankment became a feature of pleasure gardens. The station building itself was retained, but converted into a dance hall.

As mentioned earlier, the site originally earmarked for the terminus station of the extension from Herne Bay was re-designated for goods and locomotive facilities. The area resided immediately to the northwest of the platforms. In evidence was a triple-track dead-end south-westward-facing engine shed, built of the same red brick as that which constituted the main station building. Complete with a pyramid-shaped slated pitched roof, the building measured 108-feet long by 45-feet wide, and its London-facing elevation incorporated three chimneystacks and a trio of arched brick entrances. The latter had their own sets of double wooden doors, allowing each shed road to be closed off individually. The trio of tracks emanating from the shed converged at a 45-foot turntable; this in turn was fed by two lines, ultimately providing a direct link, via crossovers, to both ‘’up’’ and ‘down’’ running lines. The shed was kept company by a row of single-storey brick-built offices, complete with slated pitched-roof sections, sandwiched in-between the depot building and the turntable. Running almost parallel with the engine shed, and separated from it by a single-track dead-end siding, was the goods shed. This measured 45-feet across by about 168-feet in length, and was a wooden affair, featuring a pitched roof and timber-clad sides. The building was dead-end in nature and accommodated two generously spaced tracks. A further three goods sidings existed immediately south of the goods shed, and one of these passed underneath a canopy extending from the structure’s southern elevation. Finally, a ten-ton mechanical crane was installed in the yard, and a dock line and associated surface were in evidence behind the London end of the ‘’down’’ platform. Worthy of mention, but not yet touched upon, is also the existence of an ornate water tower. Interestingly, this was isolated from the steam shed and goods yard, having been erected behind the ‘’down’’ platform, east of the station structures. The water tank was supported upon an ornate brick base; the latter was constituted of the same brickwork as the station building, and featured window frames which were identical in design to those which ran along both elevations of the engine shed.

Initially, the layout was controlled by a signal box positioned at the eastern end of the ‘’down’’ platform. This arrangement was superseded circa 1880, when Saxby & Farmer installed a replacement cabin in-between the two turntable approach tracks, immediately adjacent to the engine shed’s coal stage, at the western end of the station site.

The formation of the SE&CR in 1899 signalled the beginning of alterations at the site. On 1st July of that year, Margate C&D became ‘’Margate West’’, and the nearby SER terminus was renamed ‘’Margate Sands’’. Significant enlargement of the layout at the West station commenced in 1912: this involved the complete rebuilding of the ‘’up’’ platform and bay line into a large island surface and the commissioning of a fourth through platform and replacement westward-facing bay to the immediate south of this. The station now boasted a total of five platform faces, all of which were linked by means of enlarging the original subway. The island and newly created southern-most platform surface were both equipped with splendid W-shaped canopies. Comprising wrought-iron framework, the canopies were to a standard SE&CR design, one which was also implemented at Ashford during the same period. The embankment to the east of the layout was widened to accommodate the converging quadruple-track from the platforms, and as part of the works, the SE&CR purchased a sizeable area of former allotment land, bordering the station layout to the south. On here, five lengthy westward-facing carriage sidings were laid, the longest extending for over 1040-feet. At this time, the SE&CR envisaged its own modernisation of the Thanet network, much along the same lines as that which was later carried out by the Southern Railway. Both ex-LC&DR and ex-SER routes were to be connected in the vicinity of Ramsgate, to permit easier operations and the closure of duplicate stations, and rolling stock berthing was to be concentrated at an enlarged Margate layout. The closure of Margate Sands seemed only natural, for it was no more than 200 yards from the West station, and lied at the end of a circuitous route from London, with no possibility of further expansion beyond. The operating measure of having to reverse scheduled services at Ramsgate, whether Margate or London-bound, compounded the case for closure. Even though an avoiding spur had been installed during 1863, completely bypassing the SER’s Ramsgate site, it was lightly used by passenger services, for the station formed an important intermediate stop. Most of the ex-LC&DR Thanet route would survive the rationalisation works quite unscathed; only Ramsgate Harbour station was at risk of cull, for it was situated upon a severely restricted site on the seafront. Indeed, as per the ex-SER terminus of Margate Sands, there was no way the station could be converted for through operation on an extended route.

Re-signalling of the extensively modified Margate West layout was formally completed with the commissioning of a new signal box on 1st July 1913. This replaced the Saxby & Farmer cabin positioned in-between the turntable approach tracks, and was itself located at the western extremity of the site, beyond the platforms and beside the incoming ‘’down’’ line. This was an imposing structure, three-storeys in height and comprising a solid brown-brick base. The cabin had been erected by the SE&CR itself, despite demonstrating noticeable design traits of earlier Saxby & Farmer products, and was part of the former’s then new standardised signal box range. Indeed, a cabin based on the same design came into use with Dover Marine station, during February 1915.
 

June 1978

 

Margate: how it used to be. A westward view from Hartsdown Road Bridge shows the complex track layout, before rationalisation, which includes the now long gone ''up'' carriage sidings. In the foreground of this Saturday photograph is the 08:10 London Victoria to Ramsgate, formed of two 4 CEP units. On the right, stabled in platform 5, is a twelve vehicle formation made up of six 2-HAP units. On the following Monday, this formation will constitute the 06:56 Margate to London Cannon Street. On the extreme right, emerging from behind the vegetation, can be seen the end of yet another 12-HAP formation, which will form the 05:32 Margate to London Cannon Street via Canterbury working on the Monday. In-between these two formations is yet more BR Blue stock, which will form the 06:02 Margate Cannon St - Via Canterbury. Note that by this time, the platform canopies had already been severely truncated and valances simplified. On the right is the double slip, the cause of many derailments. © John Horton

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