East Kent Railway - Origins

Origins

Although it was a relatively prosperous and well-populated area, the north of the county of Kent was poorly served by railways during the 1840s. the South Eastern Railway (SER) had chosen a roundabout southerly route to Dover of 88 miles (142 km), compared to 67 miles (108 km) 'as the crow flies', and had built branches to the main towns in the north of the county from this line. As a result it was 102 miles (164 km) by the main SER route from London to Margate and Deal although only 75 miles (121 km) by road. The cathedral city of Rochester and the important dockyards of Chatham had no rail link nearer than Strood, on the opposite side of the River Medway. Furthermore the towns of Faversham, Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey had no railway communication at all. As the SER was then unwilling to undertake new capital projects a large meeting was held at Rochester on 29 January 1850 to discuss the need for a railway connecting Strood to Dover. The idea of a new independent railway was adopted, but lack of financial support meant that it would be three years before any concrete scheme could be proposed.

A plan for the construction of a new railway between the existing stations at Strood and Canterbury was introduced to Parliament in 1853. The scheme also included a branch from Faversham to Faversham Quay on a creek leading to The Swale and a link to the SER at Chilham, together with running powers over the SER North Kent line to London Bridge. There are differing views as to the amount of opposition to the scheme put up by the SER. According to Bradley, the SER ‘exerted great pressure to get the East Kent’s Bill thrown out of Parliament on the grounds of non-compliance with Standing Orders, but a petition by over 9,000 inhabitants of the district persuaded the House of Commons, persuaded them to suspend their Standing Orders and allow the Company to deposit amended plans. One reason for this special treatment was that the line was then 'deemed of great national importance for the defences of the kingdom,’ as it aided the rapid movement of troops and military equipment between the Royal Arsenal, Chatham Dockyard and Dover. The new company did not however gain the running powers requested. Instead, the Act included a facilitations clause which required the SER to handle the EKR traffic ‘as expeditiously as its own between Strood and London Bridge.’ At the same time, in return for the minor re-routing of the proposed line at Strood, the EKR received a major concession from the SER in the form of an undertaking to Parliament that they would not oppose any future plan to extend the line to Dover. Permission to build this extension was granted in 1855, before construction work on the initial line had begun.. The SER did not put up more opposition as many of the directors felt that the line would never be built due to lack of finance, others ‘waited in the background for the onset of bankruptcy, hoping to absorb the new line at a substantial discount.