What can I say about this Beautiful Corner of Kent. Its our favourite place to be and would fully recommend it to all our Guest. IN 1830 the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway Company introduced the worlds first steam-powered passenger and freight railway service, running from a terminus near Canterburys Westgate Towers to a station close to Whitstables town centre. For nearly one hundred years the city and its seaside neighbour had been linked by a turnpike road; goods and passengers travelled by ship from London to Whitstable Harbour, and then by coach and cart to Canterbury. From May 3, 1830, they could take the `iron road instead; but because transferring from ship to shore and then inland to the station was inconvenient and expensive, the railway company built Whitstable Harbour and extended its line to a station in the harbour and a network of sidings alongside the quays. Whitstable harbour opened in 1832, providing shelter for 20 sailing ships of up to 150 tons, a dock for transferring freight between sea-going and river vessels, and sidings for 80 rail wagons. The trains were pulled by ropes along most of the six-mile route between Canterbury and Whitstable, the ropes being reeled in and out by stationary steam driven winding engines at Tyler Hill and Clowes Wood. For a few years Robert Stephensons In victa locomotive hauled the trains to and from Whitstable Harbour and Bogshole, at the foot of the Clowes Wood incline - from there on, the gradients were too steep to permit the puny pioneer to proceed any farther. Soon the trains became too heavy for In uicta to haul from the harbour to Church Street, about halfway to Bogshole. Horses took over until a third winding engine was built. This replaced both the horses and In uicto and was originally erected at Church Street. Later it was moved to East Quay, its chimney providing an ideal location for Whitstable harbours light
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 10:57:33 +0000
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