RAMSGATE BRANCH HISTORY

THE GARRETT FAMILY OF RAMSGATE

THE GARRETT FAMILY OWNED IN 1844 11 ACRES OF ELLINGTON FARM RAMSGATE . IN 1846 THE LAND WAS COMPULSORY PURCHASED BY THE LONDON AND SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY . THIS WAS FOR THE TERMINUS AT RAMSGATE . THIS PURCHASE WAS COMPLICATED BY THE FACT THAT JOHN GARRETT , HAD ALREADY SOLD SOME OF THIS LAND TO MESSRS WILDISH AND GRUNDY , WHO PLANNED TO BUILD VICTORIA CRESENT AND 3 HOUSES HAD BEEN BUILT ALREADY . JOHN GARRETT HAD RECIEVED £6242 IN 1846 FROM THE RAILWAY COMPANY IN COMPENSATION , AND MESSRS WILDISH AND GRUNDY TOOK THEIR GRIEVANCE TO COURT ON 4 TH FEBRUARY 1846 .IT JUST GOES TO SHOW THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A FIDDLE AT RAMSGATE !

RAMSGATE SANDS STATION AND LOCO c 1880

The Illustrated London News
Aug 7, 1858, Page 120
AN ACCIDENT, happily unattended with loss of life, happened on the South-Eastern
Railway, at the Ramsgate station, on Tuesday. An omission to apply the brakes while
a train, filled with passengers, was running on an inclined plane into the station led to
a terrible shock, and great numbers of the passengers sustained severe injuries in bruises
and lacerations of the head and face.

1891, Aug 31 (LC&DR) Ramsgate, brakes didn’t work on the approached to
the station, the footplate crew jumped clear, and the train, which
was made up of empty Great Northern Railway Excursion stock,
ran trough the station, through the buffer stop and on through the
wall into the street beyond.
One man in the street outside was killed.

MARGATE SANDS STATION c 1860 . WITH THANKS TO MARGATE MUSEUM .

MARGATE MUSEUM

RAMSGATE TO MARGATE TRAMWAY . WITH THANKS TO MARGATE MUSEAM .

The Illustrated London News
Oct 16, 1858, Page 357
THE NEW RAILWAY STATION AT MARGATE has just been opened to the public.
The whole of the work was designed and carried out by Charles T. Isborn, Esq.,
architect to the South-Eastern Railway Company. The building is neat in appearance,
with carriage-drive in front. The booking-office is 38 feet long, and 18 feet wide, with
parcel-office and stationmaster's room each side; there are also two large waitingrooms,
with ladies' rooms. The shed is 200 feet long, 52 feet wide, covered with a light
iron and glass roof, constructed by Messrs. Cochrane and Dudley, the builders of
Westminster-bridge. The platforms are above 300 feet long, 15 feet wide, with side
entrances for removing luggage.

LONDON CHATHAM & DOVER RAILWAY 1863-1898

SOUTH EASTERN & CHATHAM RAILWAY 1899-1922

SOUTHERN RAILWAY 1923-1947

BRITISH RAIL SOUTHERN REGION 1948-1981

LONDON & SOUTH EAST 1982-1986

NETWORK SOUTHEAST 1986-1995

CONNEX SOUTH EASTERN 1996-2003

SOUTH EAST TRAINS 2004-2006

LONDON AND SOUTH EAST RAILWAY 2006

RAMSGATE TOWN STATION EARLY 1900,s

THE PICTURE OF BELGIAN TROOPS AT MARGATE AND THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY POSTERS ARE SHOWN WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM YORK .

ACCIDENT AT WHITSTABLE 19 th JUNE 1912

NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM WEB SITE

LOCAL HISTORY BOOK SHOP

BBC WEB SITE WW2 PEOPLES WAR

WEBSITE FOR THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AT KEW

WEBSITE FOR RESEARCHING RAILWAY ANCESTORS

RAMSGATE RAILWAY TUNNEL TO SANDS STATION

click here to send me an e mail

Dear Colleague,



Thanks for your e-mail dated 8 December 2006. We have looked in old Loco Journals and found that Ramsgate Branch was opened on June 16th 1907. Here is the report from the August 1907 Loco Journal by the Organizing Secretary, H.Parfitt, on opening the branch,



“ After the opening of Bricklayers’ Arms Branch I left Peckham for Ramsgate and Margate, where there are more South-Eastern and Chatham sheds. A few days canvassing gave me some hope of a branch, so I called a meeting for Sunday June 9th, at the Victoria Temperance Hotel, Ramsgate. Messrs. Burberry, Stevenson and Robinson, of Slades Green, were present. Mr Burberry presided, only nine non- unionists attended, but eight of them paid entrance fees, and we decided to call another meeting on the following Sunday. Another whip round and a canvass of the men stationed at Margate brought more entrance fees and almost a fresh audience on June 16th, at the second meeting. Mr Bliss presided, and Slades Green was again well represented. Several Margate friends had come over to the meeting, and questions having been answered to their satisfaction they paid their entrance fees, and Ramsgate Branch was declared open. Mr. H.Williams, of Margate, was elected as branch chairman and Mr.F.Edwards of Ramsgate was elected as branch secretary. The Margate members expressed their intention of having a branch to themselves at Margate very shortly.”



I hope this is of interest to your members.



With best wishes



Jane Pimlott, IR Department



On behalf of K.Norman General Secretary

The London Chatham & Dover Railway Company opened their extension from Margate to a terminus at Ramsgate Harbour in 1863. The last section of the line ran in a 1124 yard tunnel from Dumpton Park to the terminus on the seafront, close to the harbour. In 1926, Southern Railway built a link from their line at Dumpton Park to the former South Eastern Railway station at Ramsgate Town, a mile inland. The link was built because of cramped conditions at the terminus and the steep gradient which caused some difficulty for steam locomotives. The Harbour Station and the tunnel were closed from 2nd July that year.

The circuitous SER line from London terminated at a station known as ''Margate SER''; this could only be accessed by trains after a reversing manoeuvre at Ramsgate SER (latterly with the suffix ''Town''). The station was a temporary arrangement, utilising basic timber structures until another stop bearing the same name replaced it in 1858. Margate SER was located on the sea front at the coastal resort and the line passed underneath today's main Thanet trunk route, and through the grounds of what was, until recently, the ''Dreamland Amusement Park''. The SER's total reign over the area would, in the great scheme of things, be short-lived as another independent concern gathered momentum: the ''Herne Bay & Faversham Railway''. Despite the SER's opposition to this concern (and understandably so), a line between Herne Bay and Faversham was completed on 13th July 1861, worked and leased by the LC&DR from the outset. A subsequent extension eastwards to Ramsgate via Margate was completed on 5th October 1863, terminating at ''Ramsgate C&D'', thus providing Thanet with a more direct route to the capital than the existing SER line. The Herne Bay & Faversham Railway - which had become the ''Kent Coast Railway Company'' in 1861 - was subsequently absorbed by the LC&DR in 1871 and the lines to Thanet became more important for the LC&DR than its earlier conceived route to Dover. This company opened yet another station in the resort - reflecting its endeavours to handle more traffic than the SER - named ''East Margate''. This station was located on the present-day line, to the east of today's station, and was further inland than its counterparts, as the line curved southwards for Broadstairs and Ramsgate. Previously, there was yet another station, this time a terminus, which was adjacent to Margate SER. Built under the auspices of the Herne Bay & Faversham Railway, it marked the end of the initial part of the extension from Herne Bay. However, Margate C&D - a small through station with two platforms - was opened in time, thus the terminus was never used.



The formation of the SE&CR on 1st January 1899 resulted in Margate SER becoming ''Margate Sands'' and Margate C&D becoming ''Margate West'', whilst East Margate was reversed to ''Margate East''. The original Margate West station comprised three platforms on the distinctive curve rounding Thanet; two of these were through affairs, whilst one was a terminating westward-facing bay, on the ''up'' side. These were linked by a subway from the outset. The main building here was situated on the ''down'' side and was constructed to the same style as that at Herne Bay (it being built by the ''Margate Railway'', which was simply the Herne Bay & Faversham Company, having been renamed in 1859), complete with a copious canopy for the approach entrance. Facilities provided here from the outset were without doubt comprehensive: on the ''down'' side, at forty-five degrees to the main station building, were three sidings, plus a dock line, in addition to a double-track goods shed and lastly, a three-track dead-end engine shed, this feeding off a turntable. These lines spurred off before the London-end of the ''down'' platform. Interestingly, no water tank was incorporated into, or built immediately adjacent to the engine shed, this instead being located at the eastern end of the ''down'' platform. Just before the start of World War I, the SE&CR expanded the layout at the station: this included the provision of four through platform faces, two of which formed an island, and the installation of a westward-facing bay line. The ''up'' side buildings were abolished, but the island and southern most platforms were treated to intricate and graceful canopies, certainly worthy of the important seaside resort - the SE&CR had also installed identical examples after dismantling the overall roofs at Ashford. Little change came to Thanet's complex array of lines during SE&CR days - it would not be until the Southern Railway era that economising would occur.

1926 The direct Margate-Ramsgate railway line closed when the towns became part of the Southern Railway. The last train to run from Margate Sands to Ramsgate Town was on 2nd July 1926.

BBC-WW2 PEOPLES WAR-CHILD OF THE WAR

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People in story: Norman Jack Smith
Location of story: Ramsgate
Background to story: Civilian
Article ID: A3223955
Contributed on: 04 November 2004
This story has been submitted to the People’s War site by Peter Tester for Kent Libraries and Archives and Canterbury City Council Museums on behalf of Norman Jack Smith and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I was born on 14th April 1936 at 9 Lorina Road in Ramsgate in Kent, which is close to the Whitehall Road viaduct, and pretty close to Manston RAF Station. There was also a coal-hopper on the embankment close to the viaduct. My Father was a “passed driver” on the Southern Railway.

My first memories must relate to 1938 or 1939, since they concern “Stop me and buy one” Ice Cream bicycles and a marvellous (civilian!) firework display. I do not remember the outbreak of war, but I have vivid memories of the Dunkirk evacuation, which coincided with the evacuation of schoolchildren from Ramsgate. My Mother refused to leave my Father, who was in a reserved occupation, and I was too young to be separated from her. My sister – then 10 – was sent to Lichfield in Staffordshire. She actually departed from Ramsgate Station at a time when it was crowded with troops returning from Dunkirk, many wrapped in blankets. Loudspeaker vans were touring the town, asking for blankets and bread. I remember that, during this period, my Father was working 16 hour days ferrying troops from Kent to London. He subsequently told me he remembered many armed French troops being bussed from London Victoria to London Waterloo, where they were put onto trains to Weymouth and returned to France. My Brother – then nearly 17 – also worked on the Southern Railway and subsequently told me that the tracks from the coast to London were littered with abandoned rifles and tin helmets, etc, which the demoralised soldiers had thrown from the train windows. My Mother also took me to Ramsgate Harbour, where I remember masses of white-painted small craft. She also pointed to the coast of France and said “The Germans are there”.

I have some other recollections of the period immediately after Dunkirk, the most dramatic of which took place in a relative’s kitchen. The grown-ups were talking about the French surrender and somebody said “Now it’s just us and the Germans, and that is how it should be.” I do not know if it was at this time but I do recall people “taking the mickey” out of Churchill after his famous speeches. The subject of invasion was, of course, discussed in the family, where the attitude appeared to be that the Royal Navy would never allow them to do it. In the short period between Dunkirk and the beginning of the Battle of Britain Thanet was turned into a fortress, with obstructions on the beaches, movement restrictions and simulated gun-emplacements based on Telegraph polls, though we did get a Bofors gun by the railway, presumably to protect the viaduct. Ramsgate became a ghost town, and special papers were need to enter and leave the area.

Meantime my brother had been transferred by the railway to Gillingham where he tried on more than one occasion to join the Royal Navy but was prevented by the Direction of Labour Act. Like my father he had to settle for the Home Guard. My sister had been billeted with a childless couple who did not like children and was desperately unhappy in Staffordshire. Soon she was threatening to run away, giving great problems to my parents. Eventually my mother and I took a long railway journey to collect her. I remember a blacked-out train and masses of uniformed sailors at Chatham and Gillingham. She did not stay at home long, because my parents decided that with the Battle of Britain now in its early stages, London was safer than Ramsgate, and she was passed on to family friends in Peckham. As soon as the Blitz started my father went to fetch her home.

My memories of the Battle of Britain are fragmentary. I recall watching dog-fights, planes falling from the sky in flames and sometimes parachutes, though I have no idea whether they were “ours” or “theirs”. Our house was not well located between Manston and the Railway, and at some point my parents took advantage of the abundance of empty properties and moved to Margate Road, close to St Mark’s Church. At both locations we had an Andersen air-raid shelter in the garden. My recollections of using it mainly relate to Lorina Road. For example, I recall that we only slept in it one night, after which my father decided it was so unpleasant that we would take the risk of dying in our own beds.

By now we had become very familiar with the sound of the Merlin engine, which was a help in distinguishing between friend and foe. Unfortunately this did not always work and, on one occasion, I was with my sister on some waste ground when she heard the approach of low-flying aircraft. She grabbed my hand and we ran towards home. On route I was badly cut on barbed wire and the planes turned out to be Spitfires. This turned out to be my only “war-wound”! One great event that summer was Ramsgate’s biggest air-raid. It took place in August 1940 and popular folk-lore said the town received 500 bombs in 4 minutes. Apparently a formation of German and Italian bombers were turned back from an attempt to reach London and jettisoned their bombs on the last available target. I do not recall the bombs falling, but I do recall seeing the bomb-damaged houses, with furniture still visible in rooms where the outer wall had vanished. I also recall that it was 2 weeks before my mother would go into the town centre for shopping. Actually the town centre was probably safer because of the famous Ramsgate Tunnels, into which I was often taken after the sirens sounded. After that particular raid, my mother made a stew, which I refused to eat, and I recall her breaking down in tears.

I particularly remember in Summer 1940 that my parents took me to see a German Aircraft which had been brought down somewhere to the North of Ramsgate. It was probably an ME109, being quite small, and I was most impressed with its beautiful light-blue fusillage, on which were painted black crosses with white edging.

I remember my first experience of shelling. I was out playing with other children, when without any siren or other warning, there was a huge explosion within earshot, followed by a cloud of smoke. The ARP warden told my mother that it was a stray shell from a Naval engagement in the Channel, which subsequently ceased to be plausible. My most striking memory of shelling would have been in 1942 or 1943. My mother, sister and I were alone in the house at night, when a shell hit the Ramsgate Gasworks, with spectacular results. We watched whilst fire engines from other towns sped past us along the Margate Road, to lend assistance to our boys. Our next-door neighbour was a full-time Fireman, whose wife became pregnant for the first time at the age of 43. She was kind enough to share her maternity ration of Orange juice with me. My Father, too, got extra rations of bacon and cheese. As well as being a keen gardener, he also sometimes got things in the country. On one occasion he came home with a duck, probably from around Ashford. Again I was the “awkward squad” and refused to eat it! I positively enjoyed the corned beef which was issued when the meat ration was unavailable.

Turning to 1941 (some of the events in the previous paragraph may also relate to this year), I find it difficult to attach events to even approximate dates. I do, however, have a memory of hearing a BBC news bulletin report of the German invasion of Russia. I also recall that, by now, Ramsgate was full of servicemen, including Free French and Free Polish sailors manning the MTBs, MGBs, and Air-Sea Rescue launches based in the Harbour. These made desirable targets for the Luftwafe, who often attacked at night, giving us the most spectacular displays as the tracer shells and searchlights lit up the sky.

The servicemen needed entertainment and sometimes the civilians got invited. I recall being taken by my mother (I don’t remember if any other member of the family was there) to a show at the Westcliff Hall, where one of the acts was a very attractive young lady singer in a pink dress. My mother was scandalised because she said it was obvious the girl had no underwear on! My father was working all hours, often getting up at 3 in the morning, and, as I subsequently learned, like my brother, having his trains attacked by German aircraft.

1942 is easier to relate dates to events. For instance, I remember the great raid on Canterbury in June 1942. We stood on the back steps of our house and watched the city burn on the horizon. The next morning my father and brother cycled to Canterbury to see what they could do, but were turned back. 1942 also saw the reopening of the schools in Ramsgate. I started at the Dame Janet Infants School at the age of six and a bit. On route to school it was not uncommon to find pieces of shrapnel or expended shell cases. It was probably in 1942 that we received a letter form my cousin Nita in Sydney, which was heavily censored. We subsequently learned that we weren’t supposed to know about the Japanese submarine incident in Sydney Harbour.

1943 is fairly easy to get a handle on. Ramsgate was returning to some kind of normality, though there were still occasional bombs and shells. People were returning, including elderly members of our own family, among them my 87 year-old Great grandmother. The house where she was living was clearly visible from our Dining Room. One summer morning I was reading the Beano or the Dandy at breakfaat, when there was then whine of a Stuka divebomber. It was not after the viaduct on this occasion, but seems to have deliberately dropped its bomb on a housing estate. The plane was very low, and I clearly saw its markings. I think 3 houses in Coleman Crescent were destroyed, and there were several deaths. My father and brother were both in bed after night work, and as soon as they were dressed they rushed to the scenteto help dig out the living and the dead.

My GreatGran’s house was not subjected to the direct hit, but she was in bed upstairs and had the ceiling fall in on her. Not surprisingly, she died three days later, and is listed a s a casualty of the war. WE had already lost 2 other family members to bombing. My mother’s 2 young half sisters, aged 16 and 17, were killed when there was a direct hit on a street shelter in Lewisham. Their mothe r suffered a broken back as she had been shielding a grandchild. I remember standing on the corner while her funeral cortege passed by. Not long before she had given me sixpence. Also in 1943 I suffered a complication from Whooping Cough which required surgical treatment. I had the operation in the basement Operating Theatre in Ramsgate General Hospital. I enjoyed my stay in Hospital, because of the abundance of toys! Toys were very scarce and, unfortunately, I managed to quickly destroy a magnificent model airplane made for me by a relative. When I got home from hospital I upset my sister by making derogatory remarks about her new hair-style. I943 was probably also the year in which a young cousin of my mother was drowned on an RAF training exercise.

The big event of 1943 for my family was the move from Ramsgate in October of that year. Both my father and brother were transferred to Reading and were at least partially engaged in moving American-built war material from Southampton Docks. Unfortunately Reading, unlike Ramsgate, was hugely overcrowded with evacuees. The only place they could initially find to sleep was on the floor at another driver’s house. Not only was this unsatisfactory in itself, but it also was not tolerable because my sister, mother and I were in a more dangerous place. He refused to accept this and demanded that the authorities found suitable accommodation for the whole family. He had no success initially, and therefore advised them that he was quitting his job to go home to look after his family. He was threatened with prison if he did this, but, as he pointed out, if he was imprisoned, there would be one less driver which was hardly helpful to the war effort. A house was soon found. Another battle with the authorities followed, since my father would not agree to my going to a rather rough village school, a bus-trip away, when there was an alternative within walking distance. He was not impressed with the County boundary line between the two schools. Again, the powers-that-be were defeated.

1944 means to me the nightly drone of bombers on route to Germany, and also saw a visit with my mother and sister to a black-market clothes-dealer, and an unfortunate conversation. We had a neighbour called Mr Sackett, to whom my mother was, on I=one occasion, complaining about this endless war. She chose to remark that we were only in it because of the Jews, only to be informed by Mr Sackett that he was Jewish.

As far as 1945 was concerned, I recall the newspapers and newsreels covering the final campaigns in Europe and the liberation of cities like Antwerp and Concentration Camps like Belsen. I remember VE night, with firework displays and drunkenness. Indeed my father had an argument with a drunken sailor, who was throwing beer glasses all over the place. Then came the reports and pictures of the dropping of the A-bombs. Suddenly, it was all over. Not quite, though, as I remember things like an emaciated son of family friends returning from a Japanese prison camp, and another young person who also had a rough time. She was a German girl who married a young soldier from our area, and was constantly dressed in black. This was probably to reflect all the relatives she had lost, but local busybodies said she was mourning Hitler.

On the subject of food, I recall not only corned beef, but also slabs of frozen fish, dried eggs, soya bean sausages, collecting rose-hips for syrup and tinned bacon and sausages from the USA. The food problem was largely resolved by the move to Reading, since we had an acre of garden, making us self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables, as well as providing meat in the form of chicken and rabbit as well as eggs. On the entertainment front I used to listen to ITMA and Children’s Hour, which sometimes carried patriotic messages. The songs which stick in my memory are The White Cliffs of Dover, There’ll Always be an England, and, when the Americans arrived (there were plenty in Reading, but none in Ramsgate), Deep in the Heart of Texas and Johnny’s got a Zero.

A frequent topic of conversation in the family was the Dover Castle Tunnels, which were much less secret than the authorities supposed! My father and his contemporaries, on the occasion of some victory or defeat, often referred to “The Last War”. I also recall many funerals with coffins covered with the Union Flag.

'WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar'

U.1 CLASS LOCO . TOP AT VICTORIA BOTTOM AT FAVERSHAM

SOUTHERN RAILWAY STEAM ENGINES AT RAMSGATE

SOUTHERN NAMED TRAINS

BBC EYEWITNESS . LEWISHAM CRASH 1957

RAIL TRAGEDY IS MARKED AT LAST

A MEMORIAL TO LIVES LOST IN A MAJOR RAIL DISASTER IS NOW IN PLACE - THANKS TO CAMPAIGN BY THE NEWS SHOPPER WEEKLY NEWSPAPER .
DESPITE THE 45 TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TRAGEDY HAVING COME AND GONE THERE WAS STILL NOLASTING MEMORIAL TO THE 90 VICTIMS AND 145 SURVIVORS OF A TRAGIC NIGHT IN DECEMBER 1957 .
BUT AFTER THE NEWS SHOPPER CALLED FOR A LASTING MEMORIAL , A PLAQUE WAS UNVIELED AT LEWISHAM STATION , IN LONDON .
MORE THAN 120 PEOPLE ATTENDED THE MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE LEWISHAM TRAIN DISASTER .
THE DISASTER HAPPENED IN THICK FOG WHEN A TRAIN WENT THROUGH A RED SIGNAL AND RAN INTO THE BACK OF ANOTHER TRAIN BETWEEN ST. JOHNS STATION AND LEWISHAM STATION . THE IMPACT ITSELF WAS DEVASTATING BUT THEN CARRIAGES KNOCKED OUT BRIDGE SUPPORTS AND TONS OF METAL AND CONCRETE ENTOMBED PASSENGERS IN THR WRECKAGE BELOW .
MP BRIDGET PRENTIVE SAID " I AM VERY PLEASED THE NEWS SHOPPER HAS TAKEN THIS ON AS IT IS AN IMPORTANT WAY OF REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE WHO DIED IN THIS TRAGIC CRASH .
IT IS A VERY FITTING WAS OF COMMEMORATING THEM AND THE SACRIFICES THEY MADE "
NEWS SHOPPER EDITOR ANDREW PARKES SAID "I WAS SUPRISED THAT NOTHING WAS ALREADY IN PLACE TO COMMEMORATE THE VICTIMS , 45 YEARS IS A LONG TIME TO WAIT "
"I THINK THIS IS A PERFECT EXCAMPLE OF WHAT A COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SHOULD BE GETTING INVOLVED IN . NOW THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE PASSING THROUGH THIS STATION WILL SEE A LASTING MEMORIAL TO THE VICTIMS"
A RELIGIOUS SERVICE WAS FOLLOWED BY THE DEDICATION OF THE PLAQUE TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED .
IT WAS UNVEILLED BY FORMER TRAIN DRIVER DON CORKE , WHOSE TRAIN SCREETCHED TO A HALT JUST YARDS FROM THE CARNAGE AFTER THE CRASH .
HE SAID " IT WAS NOT COMMEMORATED AT THE TIME BUT IF IT HAPPENED IN THIS DAY AND AGE IT PROBABLY WOULD BE "
"WE WERE ON THE EDGE OF THE BRIDGE , ANOTHER FEW YARDS AND A LOT OF PEOPLE ON MY TRAIN WOULD HAVE DIED"
"I WONT HEAR OF BEING CALLED A HERO , I WAS A TRAIN DRIVER AND I JUST DID MY JOB"
"I KNOW A LOT OF LIVES WERE SAVED BY ME BUT I WAS JUST IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME ."
AS WELL AS EDITOR ANDREW PARKES AND MRS PRENTIVE , MP JOAN RUDDOCK , LEWISHAM MAYOR STEVE BULLOCK , THE BOROUGH , S POLICE SUPERINTENDANT ARCHIE TORRANCE AND BOROUGH FIRE CHIEF DAVE SMITH WERE AT THE CEREMONY .
MRS RUDDOCK SAID AFTERWARDS " ONE LADY WALKED UP TO DON CORKE AND SAID THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE."
THAT WAS THE FIRST CHANCE SHE HAD TO SAY THAT 45 YEARS ON .THAT IS SYMBOLIC OF WHAT NEWS SHOPPER IS TRYING TO DO HERE .
WHEN A TRAGEDY IS IN LIVING MEMORY IT SHOULD BE COMMEMORATED , AND I AM GLAD TO BE HERE .

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE LOCAL PAPER

KENT COAST INTRODUCTION OF ELECTRIFIED SERVICES 1958

The Kent Coast electrification saw its first through (8am) Victoria - Ramsgate electric train (& return) on June 2nd with E5004 hauling nine coaches, E5003 brought up the 3.10pm from Victoria whilst E5004 handled the 8pm to Dover Marine and return. June 3rd saw EMU's 7138/41/42 haul the first Cannon St - Ramsgate service. Full electric service commenced on June 15th, sounding the death knell for steam in this area, the freights being in the hands of the Type 2's and the straight electrics. From this time the Civil Engineer permitted the use of double heading of the Type 2's, with D5007/10 noted on June 20th hauling the 3.42 pm relief Victoria - Folkestone Harbour, whilst the next day they handled the 5.25am Dover - Victoria and 9.24am return relief. Likewise on July 3rd D5001/09 were noted on an educational excursion routed via the East Putney line bound for the SE Division. Similar educational excursions were run during July to Southampton & Portsmouth, via Eastleigh, again using pairs of Type 2's. The summer Margate - Birkenhead had been in the hands of the Type 2's from June 15th, working as far as Redhill, noted on the first four days were D5001/02/05/04. On the heavier Saturday working double heading was frequent. The users of Bromley South station encountered double jeopardy at this time, having to deal with the revised timetable and a complete renumbering of the station platforms!

ACCIDENT BETWEEN PADDOCK WOOD AND MARDEN

ACCIDENT AT SHALMSFORD CROSSING 1970

RAMSGATE YARD AND STATION 1971

ACCIDENT AT NEW CROSS 1977