1. Services

2. Accessibility

3. Rail accidents

4. References

5. External links

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}}{{Staplehurst 1950}}

Staplehurst railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the town of Staplehurst, Kent. It is {{convert|41|mi|70|chain|km}} down the line from London Charing Cross and is situated between {{rws|Marden}} and {{rws|Headcorn}}. The station and all trains calling there are operated by Southeastern.

It is located in the north of the Staplehurst urban area — which lies in the Maidstone Borough Council administrative area. The ticket office, is located in a modern building on the London-bound platform 1. A passenger-operated self-service ticket machine is located by the platform 1 entrance.

The station is used by commuters to London from Cranbrook, Sissinghurst and Hawkhurst, which have no stations of their own. Arriva bus 5 links these three settlements to the station.

Services

As of May 2018 the typical off peak services from this station are:

• 2tph (trains per hour) to London Charing Cross
• 1tph to Dover Priory
• 1tph to {{stnlnk|Ramsgate}} via Canterbury West

There are also peak hour services to and from London Cannon Street

Accessibility

There is step free access to both platforms following the construction of a new footbridge incorporating lifts in 2009.

Rail accidents

• The stretch of line near the station which crosses the River Beult (pronounced "Belt") was the site of a fatal train accident on 9 June 1865. This accident is well known in literary circles as Charles Dickens was on the stricken train and survived. He later wrote a short story, "The Signal-Man", which was said to have been inspired by this accident, although it was actually based on the earlier Clayton Tunnel rail crash of 1861. The accident left Dickens very anxious about rail travel.
• On 14 September 1996,^[1][1] an eastbound Railfreight Distribution service, train number 6O67, the 00:53 Wembley Yard to Dollands Moor Yard, hauled by locomotives 47 033 and 47 360, came to a stand under the Sweetlands Lane bridge east of Staplehurst. A French-owned wagon loaded with steel coil derailed nearly {{convert|3|mi|km}} earlier, at Godden Cottages foot crossing; but as the derailed wagon was mid-train it remained upright and in formation, until striking a crossover at Staplehurst, causing the derailed bogie to disintegrate. The wagon mounted the station platform breaking the train brake pipe thus applying the brakes. The older brick section of the station platform deflected the wagon back onto the line, narrowly missing the A229 trunk road bridge, which otherwise would have been severely damaged.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}}{{Or|date=March 2010}}

It took three days to re-open the railway after the accident. The damaged steel coil wagon was moved to a site west of the station on the London-bound side of the line to be unloaded. {{Citation needed|date=March 2010}}

The cause of the accident was that the train was travelling at up to {{convert|75|mph|km/h}}, which was in excess of the {{convert|60|mph|km/h}} limit of the wagon. Although it was not possible to weigh the derailed wagon, other wagons in the train were unevenly loaded, which meant that individual wheel loads exceeded permitted limits.^[2]

References

External links

• Signal box diagrams for 1950 and 1962
• Staplehurst station on navigable 1940 OS map

• Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa
• Ross Brooks
• Ross Browner
• Ross Burden
• Rossburn
• Ross business journal
• Ross Butler (artist)
• Rossby
• Rossby Number
• Rossby Wave
• Rossby Waves
• Ross Campbell (footballer)
• Ross Carr
• Rosscarrock
• Ross Carter
• Ross Case
• Ross Charles
• Ross Cheever
• Ross Childress
• Ross Chisholm
• Ross Clark Circle
• Ross Clarke-Jones
• Ross Clifford
• Ross C. Martin
• Ross Collinge