Margate railway station
Margate  | |||||
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| General information | |||||
| Location | Margate, District of Thanet England | ||||
| Grid reference | TR347705 | ||||
| Managed by | Southeastern | ||||
| Platforms | 4 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | MAR[1] | ||||
| Classification | DfT category D | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 5 October 1863 | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2020/21 |  0.353 million | ||||
| Interchange | 1,157 | ||||
| 2021/22 |  0.884 million | ||||
| Interchange | 4,197 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 1.026 million | ||||
| Interchange | 8,333 | ||||
| 2023/24 | 1.157 million | ||||
| Interchange | 9,367 | ||||
| 2024/25 | 1.287 million | ||||
| Interchange | 9,245 | ||||
Listed Building – Grade II | |||||
| Feature | Margate Railway Station | ||||
| Designated | 25 August 1987 | ||||
| Reference no. | 1260321[2] | ||||
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Margate railway station serves the town of Margate in Thanet, Kent, England. It is 73 miles 69 chains (118.9 km) down the line from London Victoria, between Westgate-on-Sea and Broadstairs.[3] The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern. Trains from the station generally run to Victoria via Chatham or to London St Pancras via Ramsgate, Canterbury West and Ashford International.
History
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.[4] Later the same year, the line opened across Thanet to Margate, to Margate SER, (later Margate Sands). Trains from Canterbury for Margate had to reverse at Ramsgate Town; a chord was built bypassing the station in 1864, costing £13,707.[5] St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay railway station was opened in 1864 just before this chord but closed in 1916.[6]
The London Chatham & Dover Railway (LCDR) reached Margate from Herne Bay on 5 October 1863.[7] This called at Margate (the current station), East Margate, Broadstairs and terminated at Ramsgate (later Ramsgate Harbour), located near the harbour and beach.[8][9]
The station was opened as Margate, then renamed Margate & Cliftonville in 1880, Margate West from 1 June 1899, before reverting to Margate on 11 July 1926.[10]
Architecture
The station was rebuilt in 1926 by the Southern Railway's chief assistant architect, Edwin Maxwell Fry. The building is constructed in a monumental classical style from brown brick with a stone dressing and a hipped tiled roof. The booking hall was built in a similar manner, in a distinctive ellipse shape with pendant lighting. It was Grade II listed in 1987.[2]
Facilities
The station has a ticket office and ticket machines, toilets, departure information screens and a shop. There is a car park and cycle storage available.[11]
Passenger volume
| 2002–03 | 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | 2011–12 | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entries and exits | 563,456 | 584,569 | 595,453 | 660,439 | 671,790 | 653,152 | 600,128 | 605,626 | 648,308 | 619,974 | 627,180 | 678,986 | 829,222 | 892,924 | 1,007,956 | 1,113,676 | 1,139,966 | 353,114 | 884,110 | 1,025,940 |
| Interchanges | –[note 1] | 9,236 | 11,013 | 6,737 | 9,582 | 11,693 | 1,399 | 3,078 | 1,930 | 2,132 | 2,148 | 2,404 | 6,258 | 6,683 | 7,285 | 8,233 | 7,817 | 1,157 | 4,197 | 8,333 |
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[13]
- 1 tph to London St Pancras International via Chatham and Gravesend
- 1 tph to London St Pancras International via Ramsgate and Canterbury West
- 1 tph to London Victoria via Chatham
- 2 tph to Ramsgate
Additional services including trains to and from London Bridge and London Cannon Street call at the station in the peak hours.
| Preceding station | National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Westgate-on-Sea | Southeastern | Broadstairs |
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Birchington-on-Sea | Southeastern | |||
| Terminus | ||||
| Disused railways | ||||
| Westgate-on-Sea Line and station open |
London, Chatham and Dover Railway Chatham Main Line |
Margate East Line open, station closed | ||
Cultural references
The station was featured in Only Fools and Horses, in the 1989 episode The Jolly Boys' Outing. Del Boy and Rodney discover the station is closed due to a strike, after being stuck in Margate following their coach blowing up.[14]
Notes
- ^ No data available.
References
Ramsgate and Margate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The arrangement inherited by the Southern Railway in 1923 with the lines and stations closed in 1926 shown in pink (Tivoli had closed c.1867 and St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay had closed in 1916). The dotted line represent the new surface lines and stations. Ramsgate and Dumpton Park both opened in 1926. Margate Sands Goods closed in 1972. The diagram shows the position as of 1926.
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- ^ "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
- ^ a b Historic England. "Margate Station (1260321)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ Bridge, Mike, ed. (2017). TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain (3rd ed.). Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. p. 22. ISBN 978 1909431 26 3.
- ^ Gray 1990, p. 245.
- ^ Gray 1990, p. 246.
- ^ McCarthy & McCarthy 2007, p. 126.
- ^ McCarthy & McCarthy 2007, p. 125.
- ^ McCarthy & McCarthy 2007, p. 30.
- ^ "Margate". Kent Rail. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
- ^ Quick 2023, p. 308.
- ^ "Margate Station | Southeastern Railway". www.southeasternrailway.co.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2026.
- ^ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
- ^ Table 194, 207, 212 National Rail timetable, December 2021
- ^ "Film & TV". Network Southeast. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
Bibliography
- Gray, Adrian (1990). South Eastern Railway. Middleton Press. ISBN 978-0-906520-85-7.
- McCarthy, Colin; McCarthy, David (2007). Railways of Britain : Kent and Sussex. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3222-4.
- Quick, Michael (2023). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: A Chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). London: Railway and Canal Historical Society.
51°23′7.04″N 1°22′19.85″E / 51.3852889°N 1.3721806°E
External links
- Train times and station information for Margate railway station from National Rail