The Hythe & Sandgate Railway
- The Hythe & Sandgate Railway
- Incorporating The Hythe & Sandgate Tramway
- The Hythe & Sandgate Railway
- Even though it was one of the shortest lines ever constructed by the South Eastern Railway, the Hythe & Sandgate Branch held wondrous aspirations. Devised as a new route to the continent, for thirty years the SER planned and fought for its extension through to Folkestone harbour. Its tireless proponent, Sir Edward Watkin, used every ploy and contrivance to woo the wealthy and powerful landowners who stood in its way. As a result, this is not only the story of a 3 mile branch line, but the struggle for supremacy that lasted for more than half a century.
- With all hope of an extension finally dashed, the cold dawn of economic reality forced the line to account for itself. delibately run down by the erstwhile Southern Railway Company, it succumbed to the policies of road before rail, eventually being truncated and singled. Surprisingly, it managed to survive for another twenty years during which time it ignominiously fell dderelict and dilapidated. Belonging to an age which rightly sawthe railway as the supreme mode of transport, the little branch expired in 1951 when it ceremoniously went out with a bang, defiantly determined to end just as it had begun.
- this is the untold story of the Sandgate Branch, which dreamed of such grandeur as perhaps no other railway in the south has ever done.
- The Hythe & Sandgate Tramway
- The Hythe & Sandgate Tramway might be described as the progeny of the Sandgate Branch for it would probably never have materialised without the presence of the SER. Managed by the railway company, it strove to survive against those same forces which prevented its extension and electrification. Thus thwarted, it fell easy victim to the motorised charabanc and omnibus. It may have ended up as an anachronistic oddity, but it won a firm place in the hearts of holidaymakers and locals. The writing was already on the wall when it re-opened at the end of the Great War, but it did manage to enjoy a brief Indian Summer before closure in 1922.
- Here is the fascinating story of this delightful tramway which gave immeasurable fun and pleasure for thirty years.
- 168 pages, 1987, Hardback, 11" x 8¾"
- Wild Swan Publications
- ISBN-10 0906867533
- ISBN-13 9780906867532
- Available NEW from Stock Now Price: £21.95
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