Rochester Common railway station

Rochester Common
General information
LocationRochester, Borough of Medway
England
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companySouth Eastern Railway[1]
Pre-groupingSouth Eastern and Chatham Railway
Key dates
20 Jul 1891Opened as
Rochester[1]
1 Jul 1899Renamed
Rochester Common
Dec 1901Renamed
Rochester Central
1 Oct 1911Closed

Rochester Common was a station on the Chatham Extension from Strood serving the town of Rochester.

The station was opened by the South Eastern Railway which merged with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway to form the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1899. After the merger the SE & CR deemed that the Chatham Extension was an unnecessary duplication of the line and stations that it inherited from the LC & DR, and therefore the Extension and its stations, including Rochester Central (as it was then named), was closed in 1911. The station was demolished soon after closure and the site of the station later became sidings for Rochester Freight Depot until c. 1990.[when?]. Since closure the whole area has been redeveloped erasing any trace of the railway.

The track layout was remodelled so that only the South Eastern Railway's bridge over the River Medway was used, and that layout is still there in the present day Chatham Main Line route.

The London, Chatham and Dover Railway's bridge lay unused and then derelict until it was rebuilt in the 1960s to be the eastbound carriageway for a widened A2 road bridge which opened in 1970.

Medway Towns
Halling
Cuxton
Strood
Rochester Bridge | Strood (1st)
Goods station
Rochester Common
Rochester
(2015–)
Rochester
(1892–2015)
Chatham Central
Chatham
Gillingham
Rainham
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Strood
Line closed, station open
  South Eastern Railway
Chatham Extension
  Chatham Central
Line and station closed
  1. ^ a b Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.