Sandling railway station

Sandling railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the village of Sandling and the town of Hythe, Kent. It is 65 miles 36 chains (105.3 km) down the line from London Charing Cross. The station and all trains that call are operated by Southeastern.

Sandling
Location
Place	Sandling
Local authority	Folkestone & Hythe
Grid reference	TR148368
Operations
Station code	SDG
Managed by	Southeastern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	107,080
2015/16	98,500
2016/17	93,456
2017/18	86,542
2018/19	94,630
History
Key dates	Opened 1 January 1888 (1 January 1888)
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Sandling from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The ticket office is manned only during part of the day; at other times a ticket machine, located outside the station building on the 'up' side, suffices.

It is the closest station to Saltwood Castle (where Alan Clark lived until his death) and it is frequently mentioned in the Alan Clark Diaries. In 1960, the station was allocated a camping coach converted from a Pullman car, which was fitted with a full kitchen, two sleeping compartments and a room with two single beds.[1]

Originally it opened as Sandling Junction and had four platforms. The up branch platform was closed when the line to Sandgate was cut back to Hythe and the branch line singled in 1931. When the line to Hythe was closed in 1951 the down branch platform was closed. Subsequently, the station was renamed Sandling for Hythe. In 2020 the disused branch platform is still in situ.