Herne Bay railway station

Herne Bay
Location
Place	Herne Bay
Local authority	City of Canterbury
Grid reference	TR171674
Operations
Station code	HNB
Managed by	Southeastern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.700 million
2005/06	0.736 million
2006/07	0.762 million
2007/08	0.809 million
2008/09	0.828 million
2009/10	0.779 million
2010/11	0.779 million
2011/12	0.795 million
2012/13	0.773 million
2013/14	0.803 million
2014/15	0.838 million
History
Key dates	Opened 13 July 1861
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Herne Bay from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Herne Bay is a railway station on the Chatham Main Line in North Kent, England serving the town of Herne Bay. Train services are provided by Southeastern.

History

Constructed by the Herne Bay and Faversham Railway Company, the station originally opened in 1861 as "Herne Bay and Hampton-on-Sea" as the terminus of a line from Faversham; however, this station was a temporary one, located just west of where Greenhill Bridge is now situated. The line was extended to Ramsgate on 5 October 1863, roughly when the current station was brought into use. The line was worked by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway which acquired the Herne Bay Company in 1871.^[1] On the station platform in 1879-1880, a Hampton-on-Sea sign was added to the Herne Bay one in the expectation of the development of a new settlement next to what is now Hampton, but Hampton-on-Sea was drowned due to coastal erosion by 1921. It is not recorded how long the sign survived.^[2]

(See historic photo, right): The buildings on the Down platform are all that remain of the original station building, as the Up side was reconstructed by the Southern Railway in 1926 as part of its plan to modernise the Thanet Lines. Goods facilities at the station were limited, consisting of two sidings on the Down side, a goods shed and two loading docks. In 1902 coal sidings were added to the Up side, followed by a private siding to the local gasworks. Electrification took place on 15 June 1959 and the old semaphore signals were replaced by colour-lights under Southern Region. General goods traffic ceased on 16 October 1965, with coal deliveries continuing until 1968.^[3]

Herne Bay Railway Station was also featured briefly in the British Sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, in the episode "Have a break, take a Husband" which originally aired 8 March 1973.

• 
  Herne Bay as viewed from a train
• 
  KCF 31461 northbound from Herne Bay station, 2 May 1953

Accidents and incidents

• On 1 August 1895, a freight train collided with a passenger train at the station. One person was killed.^[4]

Services

• 1 tph to London St Pancras via Chatham and Ebbsfleet International (High Speed)
• 1 tph to London St Pancras via Ramsgate, Deal, Dover Priory, and Ashford International (High Speed)
• 1 tph to London Victoria via Chatham and Bromley South (Main Line)
• 1 tph to Ramsgate via Margate (Main Line)

References

1. Herne Bay on Kent Rail
2. Easdown, Martin (2008). Adventures in Oysterville: The failed oyster and seaside development of Hampton-on-Sea. Michael's Bookshop, Ramsgate. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
3. Pryer, G.A.; Bowring, G.J. (1980). An Historical Survey of Selected Southern Stations: Volume One. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Company. p. 75. ISBN 0-86093-016-5.
4. Kidner, R. W. (1977) [1963]. The South Eastern and Chatham Railway. Tarrant Hinton: The Oakwood Press. p. 90.

External links

• Train times and station information for Herne Bay railway station from National Rail

Coordinates: 51°21′52.18″N 1°7′4.14″E / 51.3644944°N 1.1178167°E