| Ramsgate | |||||||||||
| Symbol Location: | gb | ||||||||||
| Symbol: | rail | ||||||||||
| Borough: | Ramsgate, District of Thanet | ||||||||||
| Country: | England | ||||||||||
| Grid Name: | Grid reference | ||||||||||
| Manager: | Southeastern | ||||||||||
| Platforms: | 4 | ||||||||||
| Code: | RAM | ||||||||||
| Classification: | DfT category D | ||||||||||
| Opened: | 2 July 1926 | ||||||||||
| Footnotes: | Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road | ||||||||||
| Embedded: |
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Ramsgate railway station serves the town of Ramsgate in Thanet in Kent, England. The station lies on the Chatham Main Line, 79chain21chain down the line from, the Kent Coast Line, and the Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line. The station is managed by Southeastern, which (including Southeastern High Speed) operates all trains serving it.
Ramsgate railway station is a 1920s brick-built station thought to have been designed by James Robb Scott and Edwin Maxwell Fry, and built between 1924 and 1926. Margate station and the demolished Dumpton Park station are of a similar design. The building is Grade II listed.
All services at Ramsgate are operated by Southeastern using and EMUs.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
Additional services, including trains to and from London Cannon Street call at the station during the peak hours.
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, which, unlike the present-day station, was in the town centre. Later the same year the line opened across Thanet to Margate, to Margate SER (later Margate Sands). Trains from Canterbury to Margate had to reverse at Ramsgate Town; a chord was built bypassing the station, but not often used. St Lawrence station was opened in 1864 just before this chord, but closed in 1916.
The London Chatham & Dover Railway (LCDR) reached Margate from Herne Bay in 1863. This called at Margate LC&DR (later Margate West), East Margate (later Margate East), Broadstairs, and via a 1630 yd tunnel terminated at Ramsgate LC&DR (later Ramsgate Harbour), near the harbour and beach.
This arrangement was inherited by Southern Railway on grouping in 1923. In 1926 a new line was opened connecting the SER line from east of Ramsgate Town 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. This change made for operational convenience, but has the disadvantage that the town centre is no longer served.
See also: Ramsgate EMU Depot. The SER opened a motive power depot near Ramsgate Station in April 1846. This was closed by the Southern Railway in 1926 and replaced by a larger facility in 1930. This closed to steam locomotives in 1959 and was converted for use servicing electric multiple units introduced by the Southern Region following the British Railways Kent Coast Electrification.[1]
The depot (51.3421°N 1.4018°W) was modernised in 2007 and opened in late 2008.
The station is situated in the northern Ramsgate parish of St Lawrence, a 10-minute walk away from Ramsgate town centre. The "Loop" bus service operated by Stagecoach South East connects the station with Ramsgate town centre and nearby Thanet settlements, including those not served by rail such as Westwood.