Tunnel Railway
The Tunnel Railway was a 2 ft narrow-gauge underground railway in Ramsgate, Kent, England. It opened in 1936 to connect tourist attractions and shops near Ramsgate harbour with the new railway main line at Dumpton Park. Except for its two stations—one at each end of the tunnel—the line ran entirely underground. It was open for only three years before being converted to a major air-raid shelter during World War II. After the war’s end, it was not included in the 1948 nationalisation of British railways but remained in private hands. Passenger numbers fell during the 1960s, and the line became economically unviable. Following a train crash in 1965, the owners closed the line at the end of September
About Tunnel Railway in brief
The Tunnel Railway was a 2 ft narrow-gauge underground railway in Ramsgate, Kent, England. It opened in 1936 to connect tourist attractions and shops near Ramsgate harbour with the new railway main line at Dumpton Park. Except for its two stations—one at each end of the tunnel—the line ran entirely underground. The line was built in less than three months, and on its completion in 1936 was one of the shortest independent railway lines in the country. It was open for only three years before being converted to a major air-raid shelter during World War II. After the war’s end, it was not included in the 1948 nationalisation of British railways but remained in private hands. Passenger numbers fell during the 1960s, and the line became economically unviable. Following a train crash in 1965, the owners closed the line at the end of September that year. The tunnel still exists, but no trace remains of either of the two stations. The former Ramsgate Harbour station was sold to Thanet Amusements, who converted it into a zoo and funfair called Merrie England. The new link opened on 2 July 1926, from which date both former Rams Gate stations were closed along with the line through the tunnel to Rams Gate Harbour. The site of the former station is now the home of the Ramsgate Museum and Art Gallery, which is open to the public for guided tours of the museum and art galleries. The town’s first railway station, Ramsgate Town, was opened by the South Eastern Railway on 13 April 1846, on what was then the outskirts of the town, about a mile from the seafront.
Lines from the station ran north, before splitting west to Canterbury and on to London, and north to Margate. The London, Chatham and Dover Railway opened a second line to Ramsgate on 5 October 1863. This line ran from London via Herne Bay, Margate and Broadstairs before descending to sea level at Ramsgate through a 1,124-yard tunnel. By the 1920s the population of Ramsgate had almost doubled since the station had opened, making the freight facilities inadequate, with no room for expansion. By 1933 the town had become extremely popular, and Ramsgate Olympia began to lobby the Southern Railway to reopen the line. The Southern Railway rejected the proposal as too costly and impractical, but eventually agreed on a scheme to provide a service from the main line to the greyhound stadium at Dumpton Park on the town’s seafront to the town centre. This scheme was not completed until after the Second World War and the tunnel was sealed and abandoned. The current link between Ramsgate and Margate was opened on 5 July 1926. It involved over 700 men moving 200,000 long tons of chalk, at a cost of approximately £500,000. The new line opened on the north-eastern and north-western fringes of the city and replaced the existing stations in the town.
You want to know more about Tunnel Railway?
This page is based on the article Tunnel Railway published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
