page_title: Folkestone Harbour railway station
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Folkestone Harbour railway station / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: SR BoB Class 4-6-2 no 34067 Tangmere Taunton to Canterbury via Folkestone Harbour. Possibly the last Steam Train on this line before it is removed. This is a train with a real ‘wow’ factor that any steam enthusiast would not want to miss on a circular tour of over 200 miles hauled by Southern Railway Battle of Britain Pacific No 34067 Tangmere complete with the Golden Arrow regalia. The highlight of the day being the 1 in 30 climb up the soon to be closed branch from Folkestone Harbour. The Golden Arrow was a luxury train of the Southern Railway and later British Railways that linked London with Dover, where passengers took the ferry to Calais to join the Flèche d’Or of the Chemin de Fer du Nord and later SNCF that took them onto Paris.
context_page_description: Folkestone Harbour station was built to serve the port of Folkestone in Kent, one of four railway stations in the town. It was at the end of the short 1-in-30 Folkestone Harbour Branch Line which joined the South Eastern Main Line at Folkestone Junction. The branch and harbour station were provided for boat trains from London which connected with the ferry services to Calais and Boulogne.
  The branch and station closed to regular passenger train services in 2001 although they were used by the Venice-Simplon Orient Express and railtours until 2009. An occasional inspection train used the line until the it was officially closed on 31 May 2014.
context_section_description: Folkestone Harbour was in decline in the 1830s, as nearby Dover became an increasingly important cross-channel port. Ships had difficulty approaching because of drifting shingle blocking the entryway. The harbour was acquired by the South Eastern Railway (SER) in August 1843 for redevelopment, but the steep chalk downs around the town made it impractical to route a main railway line through it. Consequently, a branch line was proposed.
  Construction began in 1843, with the line intended mainly for freight. The route left the main line at Folkestone Junction and was double tracked, running at a gradient of 1 in 32. It reached the harbour on a 138-foot (42 m) viaduct designed by SER chief engineer William Cubitt. A swing bridge was added to the viaduct in 1847, which allowed trains to cross the harbour and reach the southern pier.
  For most of its life, the station's main traffic was passengers travelling on boat trains direct to London, albeit with a change of direction (reversal) at Folkestone East. The SER planned to extend the branch line from Sandling to Sandgate to reach the harbour directly, but were blocked by the Earl of Radnor who owned the land.
  The line was passed by the Board of Trade for passenger use in 1848. The station was opened on 1 January 1849, but was replaced by another on a different site in 1856. This second station went through periods of temporary closure: from 29 November 1915 until 1 March 1919; from 4 September 1939 until 1945; from 13 to 20 March 1960; and between 1 January and 11 April 1992.
  The station was frequently used during World War I, where soldiers would disembark for a ship to Flanders.
  A three-track wide goods shed was added to the station in 1881. It moved in 1899 and 1910, before closing in 1919. It continued to be used for rail purposes until it was demolished in the early 1960s.
  The swing bridge over the harbour was replaced in 1893. The current bridge was constructed by the Southern Railway in 1930, designed by the company's chief engineer George Ellson.
caption: Folkestone Harbour viaduct
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