The Kent Past website tells us:
"Chatham station was opened on 25
January 1858, when the East Kent Railway opened a single line eastwards to
Faversham. Two months later, On 29 March, the link with the North Kent Line at
Strood was opened; and the new railway reached Dover Priory in
1861.
Chatham station was squeezed within
a 50-yard long chalk cutting, with tunnels at either end. There were three
platforms when through running between London Victoria and Canterbury commenced,
in December 1860: one platform served the down line, with the remaining two
forming a single island in between the up line and sidings, which ran along the
southern perimeter. A staircase connected the station to the road, with the main
building situated on the down side platform. A full range of freight and
locomotive facilities were available, due to it originally being the terminus.
These included wagon turntables, goods and engine sheds, together with a 45 foot
turntable and a water tower. Initially signalling was by hand, as there was no
box, the points being controlled by adjacent levers.
Due to increased traffic, brought
about by the completion of the line from Victoria to Ramsgate in 1863, the
station was completely redesigned to increase platform capacity. The main
building was moved from the platform and constructed on a road bridge straddling
the station. Much of the sidings and sheds were replaced by two additional
platforms, which were all linked with a fully enclosed footbridge. By this time,
signalling had made advances and two signal boxes were incorporated into the new
design, one at either end of the station.
On 2 July 1939, work commenced on
the electrification of the line, as a result, electric lighting illuminated the
platforms, whilst the locomotive turntable, now being redundant, was
removed.
During the British Rail era many
more changes were made, including colour light signalling, reduced platforms,
from five to two, and by 1959, the signal boxes had been removed and replaced by
a central box at Rochester."
The Kent
Rail website tells us:
"Chatham forms a significant
chapter in the history of the East Kent Railway (EKR), for it acted as the
western terminus of this company’s first stretch of operational line, between
the Medway Towns and Faversham. The EKR was formally born on 4th August 1853,
when Royal Assent was received for the building of a 48½-mile line between
Canterbury and Strood. The SER’s failure to extend its 1849-opened North Kent
Line across the River Medway to Rochester and Chatham, compounded by the fact
that the company’s main Dover trunk route assumed a course through the ‘’Weald
of Kent’’, saw that the populations of the North Kent Coast were deprived of a
vital rail connection to the Capital. Wealthy landowners of Faversham had
brought this issue to the fore, instigating the formation of the EKR. Thanet had
enjoyed a railway link to London since 1846, through running having commenced to
Ramsgate and Margate on 13th April and 1st December of that year respectively.
However, the line was circuitous, and a passenger for Margate, from London
Bridge, had to endure a journey via Redhill, Tonbridge, Ashford, and
Canterbury.
On 25th January 1858, the EKR
commenced operation between Chatham and Faversham. At this initial stage, the
company was not aiming to evolve into a direct competitor of the SER, but rather
as a feeder to the latter’s North Kent Line. For two months, a horse and cart
service operated between Chatham and Strood stations. Completion of a physical
connection between the two networks eventually occurred in March, and EKR
services began running into the SER’s station on 29th of that month. The
extension of services between the two sites had involved the boring of the
428-yard-long Fort Pitt Tunnel, the formation of an elevated track bed, and the
erection of a bridge over the Medway, after which the double-track line curved
northwards into the SER’s platforms at Strood. Here, LC&DR carriages would
be attached to the rear of SER services, and taken onwards to London. The EKR
applied to Parliament for running powers over SER metals, thus enabling the
company to reach the rails of the ‘’West End of London & Crystal Palace
Railway’’ (WEL&CPR), in Battersea. Ultimately, the latter lead to a planned
terminal area at Victoria. However, the SER countered these proposals, arguing
that the North Kent Line was already at saturation point, and was unable to
accommodate more services. This would be a move which the SER would later
regret, for as a result of the company’s stance, the EKR received Parliamentary
approval in 1858 for the building of its own line between Strood and St Mary
Cray. At the latter, the metals of the independent ‘’ Mid-Kent Railway’’ would
be met, and this network in turn provided access to the rails of the
WEL&CPR. On 1st August 1859, the EKR was formally renamed the ‘’London
Chatham & Dover Railway’’, and connections opened as
follows:
Faversham to
Canterbury: 9th July 1860
Faversham to Whitstable: 1st August 1860
Strood to London Victoria: 3rd December
1860
Previously, in 1855, the EKR had
also received Royal Assent for the extension of the original proposals, and a
line beyond Canterbury, to Dover, was now on the agenda. Although the opening of
the Faversham to Canterbury section of route had been slower than hoped, owning
to one of the company’s earliest cash crises, through running between Victoria
and Dover was eventually possible from 22nd July 1861.
Chatham was a station of some
architectural note, for it was situated upon a cramped site, sandwiched within a
50-yard-long chalk cutting. The layout was flanked on either side by tunnel
portals: at the London end was that of the aforementioned Fort Pitt Tunnel,
whilst at the ‘’country’’ end of the station was the 297-yard-long Chatham
Tunnel. Three platform faces were in evidence when through running between
London Victoria and Canterbury commenced, in December 1860: one face served the
‘’down’’ line, whilst the remaining two faces formed a single island surface,
positioned in-between the ‘’up’’ line and a trio of loop sidings, the latter
running along the southern perimeter to the layout. A road bridge straddled all
tracks, and staircases linked it with the below platform surfaces – a footbridge
between platforms later came into use at the ‘’country’’ end of the layout. The
main station building was positioned on the ‘’down’’ side, and its elongated
shape on early maps suggests that it was built to the same design as those
structures which emerged at both Canterbury C&D and Dover
Priory.
In spite of the fact that the
station was situated upon a highly restricted site, Chatham was host to a full
range of freight and locomotive facilities, undoubtedly because of its original
role as the terminus of the EKR line. A trio of wagon turntables existed at the
London end of the platforms, which linked sidings either side of the running
lines, and a goods shed was also in evidence. The latter was positioned on the
southern fringes of the layout and, unusually, lacked a rail connection – it
did, however, boast a canopy! Enough room had also been found for a three-road
engine shed: this was squeezed within a tight space behind the ‘’country’’ end
of the ‘’down’’ platform, and was accompanied immediately to its north by a
45-foot 5-inch turntable. A water tower was erected above the cutting, perched
on the cliff face in-between Chatham Tunnel and the bridge of ‘’Maidstone
Road’’. Signalling was primitive in these early years, and the station lacked
not only a signal box, but also semaphore signal posts; points were controlled
by adjacent levers, and trains were signalled by
hand."