Queenborough railway station

Queenborough was opened on 19 July 1860^[3][4] by the Sittingbourne and Sheerness Railway (S&SR), a nominally independent company which had powers to construct a 7.125-mile (11.467-kilometre) branch line from Sittingbourne across the River Swale to a terminus near the entrance of Sheerness Dockyard.^[5] The line was worked from the outset by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway which absorbed the S&SR in 1876.^[5][6][7]

On 15 May 1876, Queenborough became a junction station with the opening of a short spur to Queenborough Pier to serve steam ship services.^[3][4] A second line was added on 1 August 1901 with the opening of the Sheppey Light Railway, an 8.75-mile (14.08-kilometre) light railway across the Isle of Sheppey to Leysdown.^[8][9] There was no direct connection with the Sheerness Line and trains for Leysdown departed from the outer face of a newly constructed island platform at Queenborough.^[10][11] An iron footbridge was erected at the southern end of the platforms to facilitate passengers changing between main line and branch services.^[12] Services on the Sheppey Light Railway ceased as of 4 December 1950.^[13]

Until the opening of Swale Halt in 1922, Queenborough was the only intermediate station on the Sheerness Line.^[14][15] The imposing two-storey station building has a strong Victorian character with its high-pitched gables and round-headed sash windows.^[14] The building is in a similar style to Lymington Town railway station which dates from the same period, a resemblance which may be explained by the fact that the construction of both the Lymington branch line and the S&SR was overseen by John Cass Birkinshaw who was replaced as engineer on the S&SR after the company's directors blamed him for the line's slow construction.^[16]

A wooden waiting shelter was provided on the Upside but not on the Downside.^[17] The station also had a sizeable goods shed and goods yard on the Up side adjacent to the main station building.^[18] Sidings on the Down side served Sheerness Steelworks and provided connections for MCD car traffic and shipbreaking activities.^[19] There was a signal box on the Up side which was located at the point where the Sheppey branch curved away to the east;^[20] this closed on 24 May 1959.^[21] By this time, the goods shed had already been demolished although the goods yard remained open until 16 August 1971.^[21][22] The line through Queenborough was electrified and the platforms were lengthened in 1959 as part of phase I of the Kent Coast Electrification.^[23]

By 1993, much of the station building was no longer in use and only the booking office was staffed on weekdays until mid-morning.^[24]

On Platform 2 (Sheerness bound), there is a substantial and historic two-storey building which contains a ticket office on the ground floor. Outside of these hours, tickets can be purchased via a ticket machine, located by the sidegate on Platform 2. The station also has a car park, waiting shelters and help points.^[25]

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

The typical off-peak service is one train per hour in each direction between Sheerness-on-Sea and Sittingbourne, from where connections are available to London Victoria, London St Pancras International, Dover Priory and Ramsgate. During the peak hours, the service is increased to two trains per hour in each direction.^[27]

More information Preceding station, National Rail ...

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Swale		Southeastern Sheerness Line		Sheerness-on-Sea
	Historical railways
Swale Line and station open		South Eastern and Chatham Railway Sheerness Line		Sheerness Dockyard Line and station closed
				Queenborough Pier Line and station closed
Kings Ferry Bridge North Halt Line open, station closed		South Eastern and Chatham Railway Sheerness Line		Queenborough Pier Line and station closed
				Sheerness-on-Sea Line and station open
	Disused railways
Terminus		Southern Railway Sheppey Light Railway		Sheerness East Line and station closed

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