Dover Marine Station 1921.
In the early 1860’s the South
Eastern Railway and the London
Chatham and Dover Railway had started running trains
onto the Admiralty Pier
to connect with their cross-Channel
steamers. There was little protection on the narrow
platform and in stormy weather passengers
and trains alike got soaked by waves breaking over
the pier. What was needed was a purpose build station,
with a roof!
In 1909 work started on reclaiming
the land on which to build the Marine Station. The Admiralty
Pier was built in a curve and a wall was constructed
a short distance from the pier, straight across the
curve to the original, pre-extension pier head. The
area between the wall and the pier was reclaimed using
chalk quarried from the cliffs.
The magnificent Marine Station had
just been completed in 1914 when the First World War
broke out, so its first passengers were troops on their
way to Flanders and the sick and wounded returning from
the front. In recognition of the part it played in war
transport, the war memorial of the South
Eastern & Chatham Railway was placed there rather
than at one of the large London termini.
The Marine Station opened to civilian
Continental traffic in January 1920 with a full passenger
service by February 1922. As well as the constant stream
of ordinary boat trains carrying passengers to and from
the continent, the station also saw special services
such as the luxury Pullman train “Golden
Arrow”. Also before the advent of safe, reliable
air travel, Dover was the port of entry for most VIPs
from the continent, with the Marine Station welcoming
European royalty and heads of state.
The Station played its part in World
War 2 handling the hundreds of special trains for
the Dunkirk
evacuation and suffering much bomb and shell damage.
After the war passenger services returned
but as the car ferry services increased the number rail
passengers crossing the channel fell.
In 1994 the Marine Station closed to
rail traffic and in 1996, after a major refurbishment,
re-opened as Dover’s new Cruise
Liner Terminal.
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