Deal - Sandwich opened 1847

2017 is the 174th anniversary of  the Deal and Sandwich Railway - an event which ought to be celebrated in the largely original buildings which are still in daily use!

Deal Station was the terminus of the branch line from Minster The original buildings still stand - except the train shed which was removed to make room for the line to Dover opened 1881.

Sandwich Station when opened in 1847, The original buildings have been extended at the sides to serve growing popularity of nearby golf courses.

Shipping anchored in the sheltered waters off Deal, waiting for a change of wind before setting off up the Thames or down the Channel...

Information about cargoes arriving from overseas was commercially valuable. Before the electric telegraph, visual signalling systems like this semaphore were the best that could be done...

Bringing the railway history to life
TO COMMEMORATE THE STATIONS’ HISTORY, Trains4deal suggests: 

• an on-site display and leaflet(s); 
• walking- and cycling- guide leaflets (or online)  to the existing routes to/from the stations, 
• matching branded information boards, and a website

Publicise local cycle-hire facilities and work with local cycle hire business (including possibly a new start-up on Deal station) on an EXPERIMENT with BIKE SHARE systems and E-BIKES - including the first public charging point in the district. This will pave the way towards a longer-term project to get visitors to explore the wider areas within reach of the stations (with the help of leaflets and waymarking), and encourage commuters to local workplaces to use train+bike rather than car.

Conduct a FEASIBILITY STUDY of costed options for transforming the under-used stations into thriving local HUBS for TOURISM and SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT, including:

• scope for new community uses and community-based local small businesses to bring more life and people to the buildings and sites;.
• checking out the highways, traffic, safety and land ownership issues, 
•  establishing railways operational requirements
•  addressing the needs of disabled and impaired-mobility travellers

CONSULTATION with local people  is a vital part of this process, but without a properly funded professional feasibility study, nothing will happen. If budget pressures reduce station staffing further, these historic stations will be largely unprotected and at risk.

What is our longer term vision? Click here

Deal's Time Ball Tower
This is also part of the story.  
The electric telegraph (pictured above at Deal Station) ran alongside the rail tracks from 1847, sending information between ships anchored off-shore and the City of London about cargoes arriving from overseas.
It also brought an accurate time signal from Greenwich Observatory. 
By 1855 a visual signal on Deal seafront (dropping the ball fixed on top of a tower) sent an accurate time-check to sailing ships out at sea, a vital aid to navigation.
The Tower was built in 1855.
Find out more at Deal's Time Ball Museum