Chilham railway station is a railway station in

Chilham Chilham is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It sits on the north bank of the Great Stour around to the southwest of Canterbury and northeast of Ashford. It is a mostly agricultural parish, with settlemen ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. It is on the

Ashford to Ramsgate line Ashford may refer to: Places Australia * Ashford, New South Wales * Ashford, South Australia * Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland * Ashford, County Wicklow * Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom *Ashford, Kent, a tow ...

between and . The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Southeastern.

History

The station was opened by the South Eastern Railway (SER) on 6 February 1846, as the first part of their line towards Thanet, which opened as far as on this date. There are level crossings near both ends of the station, since the SER were unsure about the levels of traffic on the line and decided to cross several roads at-grade instead of bridges. Trains that delayed cars at the crossings for more than five minutes would be fined. The station attracted attention from other railway companies. A proposal was put forward for a branch line from Chilham to , but rejected by the SER. In retrospect, this turned out to be a mistake as the East Kent Railway, later to become the

London, Chatham & Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England. It was created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through Lon ...

(LCDR), built their own line to Faversham, competing with the SER for London - Thanet traffic. In response, the SER proposed building a line from its station at to Chilham across the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

and the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...

, in order to cut demand for the LCDR. This plan was withdrawn after the SER realised such a scheme would probably involve also constructing a line from Canterbury to Dover. Goods services were withdrawn from the station on 15 August 1966.

Accidents and incidents

*On 20 October 1848, a fish and luggage train was derailed near Chilham when a bridge over the River Stour was washed away under it. All three crew were uninjured. *On 11 August 1858, an excursion train was derailed near Chilham. Three people were killed. * On 15 July 1970, an

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

was in collision with a

lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructio ...

on an occupation crossing between and Chilham due to an error by the crossing keeper. The driver of the lorry and the guard of the train were killed. *On 26 July 2015, electric multiple unit 375703 was in collision with a herd of

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

on the line between and Chilham. Two carriages were derailed. There were no injuries amongst the 70 passengers.

Services

All services at Chilham are operated by Southeastern using

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to

London Charing Cross Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross) is a London station group, central London railway terminus between the Strand, London, Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South ...

via * 1 tph to Additional services, including trains to and from London Cannon Street and London St Pancras International call at the station during the peak hours.

References

Citations Sources * * *

External links

Official report into 1858 accident
{{coord, 51.245, N, 0.976, E, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Railway stations in Kent DfT Category F2 stations Transport in the Borough of Ashford Former South Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846 Railway stations served by Southeastern 1846 establishments in England