Southern Electric Group Kent Coast Electrification Scheme (Part 7)

Timetables—Phase 1

In considering the service timetables for the Kent Coast electrification scheme, it is convenient to deal with each phase of the scheme separately.

Considering the pre-electric services for those lines electrified in Phase 1, the public timetable for the period September 1958 to June 1959 shows that, at most hours of the day, there was an xx35 departure from Victoria to Ramsgate. These services had a variety of stopping patterns, and operated from 0835 to 1535 (with the exception of 1335), and then again during the evening from 1935 to 2135. The fastest service of the day was the 0835, which took 2 hours 21 minutes to reach its destination.

The only through services to Dover via Faversham at this time were at 0548 and 1824 (both from Cannon Street), and departures at 0835 and 1435 from Victoria. At other times an irregular service was run to Dover, depending on the time of the arrival of the Victoria train at Faversham, and a similar arrangement applied from Sittingbourne to Sheerness. In the evening peak the through services from Victoria to the Kent Coast ceased from 1535 to 1935, with the exception of a 1717 working to Sheerness. Fast services left Cannon Street for Ramsgate at 1644 and 1714, taking 2 hours 13 minutes and 2 hours dead respectively, with a slow train at 1631.

Following electrification, the service pattern was completely revised and in the down direction there was an xx40 departure from Victoria each hour from 0740 to 2240 (the only difference in the pattern being that the 1740 left at 1744). These fast trains split at Gillingham, with the front portion proceeding fast to Whitstable and reaching Ramsgate in 1 hour 54 minutes from London, whilst the rear portion, after stopping at Sittingbourne, Faversham, Canterbury East and then all stations (except Bekesbourne and Snowdown) reached Dover Priory in 1 hour 54 minutes.

In addition to this fast train, there was a slow train which left Victoria at xx15, which took 1 hour 30 minutes to reach its destination at Sheerness, and an xx40 slow train from Charing Cross, stopping at Woolwich, Dartford, Gravesend, Strood and then all stations to reach Ramsgate in 2 hours 25 minutes. A slow service, between Sheerness and Dover, acted as a feeder in both directions to the Charing Cross—Ramsgate slow trains. Leaving Sheerness at xx36, it arrived at Sittingbourne 8 minutes before the train from London, and then proceeded to Dover Priory, taking 1 hour 8 minutes from Sittingbourne and facilitating cross-platform interchange with the Charing Cross train at Faversham.

Peak hour services were such that the basic pattern of services was maintained, and to this was added departures from Cannon Street at 1644, 1714, 1744 and 1814 (all for Ramsgate), and at 1824 for Dover Priory.

A similar pattern applied to services in the up direction. Trains left at xx10 from both Dover and Ramsgate to combine at Gillingham and continue to Victoria, taking 1 hour 55 minutes. In addition, there were slow services at xx40 from Ramsgate to Charing Cross, and also at xx40 from Dover to Sheerness, with cross-platform interchange again being provided at Faversham. Finally, there was an up slow from Sheerness at xx02, taking 1 hour 36 minutes to reach Victoria. The effect of these service patterns was to provide approximately 30 min. service frequencies between Victoria and Gillingham, Whitstable and Ramsgate, Faversham and Dover and Sittingbourne and Sheerness in both directions.

Timetables—Phase 2

For the Phase Two services, it is appropriate to select the timetable commencing 15 September 1959 as typical of pre-electrification services and that dated 18^th June 1962 as the typical electric service.

The 1959 schedules are dominated by through services from Charing Cross to Ramsgate, leaving at 8 minutes past the hour to 1508, and then later at 1908 and 2108. The timings of these services varied, but the fastest service of the day to the Kent Coast was the 1610. During the evening business period from 1656 to 1821 all main line services operated out of Cannon Street. This station served as the London terminus for all trains arriving in the capital from Paddock Wood and beyond between 0839 and 0950, except the 0733 from Ashford, which reached Charing Cross at 0904. On the line from Maidstone East to Ashford, a service was provided from Victoria at 16 minutes past the hour, taking a minimum of 1 hour 51 minutes to reach Ashford. Certain of these trains continued through to Dover Priory and Ramsgate. This service continued through the rush hours.

The down off-peak service following electrification was based on the departure at xx00 from Charing Cross of a fast service taking 63 minutes to Ashford, where it split following a non-stop run from Waterloo. The front portion then proceeded via Dover to Ramsgate, taking 2 hours 14 minutes for the journey from Charing Cross. An earlier arrival at Ramsgate, 1 hour 45 minutes after leaving London, was possible by the rear portion, which made just one intermediate stop between Ashford and Ramsgate, at Canterbury WeSt A further service left Charing Cross at xx10 each hour, dividing at Tonbridge. The front portion ran fast from Paddock Wood to Ashford, then stopped at all stations via Dover Priory to reach Margate in 2 hours 50 minutes from Charing Cross. The rear portion formed the local service from Paddock Wood to Ashford, arriving there in 1 hour 28 minutes.

The Maidstone East services continued to be based on Victoria, there being a semi-fast departure at xx49 and a slow train at xx14. The fast train ran via Canterbury West to Ramsgate, forming the local service on the line beyond Ashford, whilst the slow stopped at all stations between Otford and Ashford. The service pattern in the off-peak over the newly-electrified lines was completed by a departure at xx08 from Paddock Wood to Maidstone West, this having a 4-minute connection out of the rear portion of the xx10 from Charing Cross.

The services were so devised to permit cross-platform interchange at Ashford between the xx49 fast from Victoria and the front portion of the xx10 semi-fast from Charing Cross, which overtook the Victoria service at Ashford. The full pattern of workings in the down direction in a typical hour, including the Hastings and New Romney diesels, was as follows:

Similar arrangements applied in the up direction.

The evening peak services to the newly electrified lines via Tonbridge were still heavily concentrated on Cannon Street, there being no main line electric departure from Charing Cross on weekday evenings between 1620 and 1828.

It must be remembered that Tonbridge’s other fast London service was the xx40 from Charing Cross to Hastings. Interestingly, the diesels were given the same 42 minute schedule to Tonbridge as the electric service (which made additional stops at Orpington and Hildenborough).