Guest 1266- Registered: 8 May 2014
- Posts: 381
Captain Haddock, I am not sure why you are surprised. DDC (you included) have been pushing for large scale housing, school expansion, budget food superstores, leisure centre etc at Whitfield rather than improve Dover. Of course this mini empire will need a new station and fast route to London. Where else are all these people going to work?
Jack of Hearts
Button
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,057
I confess to falling off my chair when I read post 15 and thinking of a less-than-polite word about Mr Heart. Then I read page 45 of the KCC transport document and, sure enough, DDC will investigate a Whitfield Station - so I take back what I thought, Mr Heart. Sorry!
Assuming that Kearsney Station is not acceptable for the future residents of Whitfield and a station at Guston would be just as bad, I need to get out my Hornby track to see if I can sweep from Aylesham to Whitfield via the A2, cut out the Dour valley and go on to Deal.
(Not my real name.)
Karlos- Location: Dover
- Registered: 1 Oct 2012
- Posts: 2,545
New station at Whitfield, 1st I've heard of that.
Any there any Council documents to look at? (not that it's anything to do with this thread)
Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,100
Jack Heart wrote:Captain Haddock, I am not sure why you are surprised. DDC (you included) have been pushing for large scale housing, school expansion, budget food superstores, leisure centre etc at Whitfield rather than improve Dover. Of course this mini empire will need a new station and fast route to London. Where else are all these people going to work?
NO I have NOT. (With exception of new leisure facilities).
See posts passim.
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Guest 1266- Registered: 8 May 2014
- Posts: 381
Button, you don't need worry about Deal. They are all going to drive to the new Thanet Parkway
Jack of Hearts
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,100
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Guest 1395- Registered: 5 Nov 2014
- Posts: 463
I wonder who had the bright idea of a 'Whitfield' station near Guston. Perhaps they just looked at a map and saw the railway line was near the A2, disregarding the fact that it's at the bottom of a deep cutting having just emerged from the tunnel. Or were they thinking of the Dover end of the tunnel, equally awkward?
Lew Finnis
Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
The longevity of the Dover - Folkestone line is down to geology and the political will to spend more money to remedy any further dae. If the government is happy to spend a staggering £56 billion on HS2 I am sure an engineering solution could be found to WHATEVER problems befall the line, if someone is prepared to fund it.
A long-discussed solution is a Canterbury loop to link us with the High Speed line at Ashford, running from somewhere past Bekesbourne to the line from Canterbury West .
Interesting about a station at Whitfield - where would that be exactly? I would not define the stretch between the Duke of York's tunnel and Martin Mill as Whitfield by any reckoning. And the Victoria line is of course topographically impractical to link with Whitfield.
Still, a train station is one aspect of development at "Whitfield" that I approve of.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
the line from Dover to Folkestone cost the railway more in keeping it open then any where in the whole of the UK has been like that for many years and on top of what they are doing now, if they had closed it when they first said they would and that was in the 1950s and build a new line inland then the cost was lower then ,and it would have paid for its self by now.
howard mcsweeney1 likes this
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,706
Ah ifs buts and maybes again coupled with the 20:20 vision of hindsight
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
No hindsight comes into it, they were told then that at some point in time it would happen no if no buts, they had known for many years.
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,316
Rename Martin Mill to Whitfield Parkway!
Terry
Jan Higgins likes this
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
Problem is, Martin Mill is about three miles from Whitfield. It is barely closer than Dover Priory, which is of course nearer London. Kearsney is in fact significantly closer to Whitfield than either of the other two stations and has good road access (at least up to the paddock entrance) .
Unless the Dover-Deal line does a detour towards Whitfield I cannot see the point of a new station. DDC is trying its best to divert Whitfield towards the line of course with the Light Hill development .
We certainly are right to be proactive about looking for alternatives to the vulnerable coastal route though. However much I hope it stays open for many years to come.
howard mcsweeney1 likes this
Guest 1395- Registered: 5 Nov 2014
- Posts: 463
The nearest a new station could be sensibly built is around halfway between the tunnel and Martin MIll, where the line changes from being in a cutting to on an embankment - there used to be a farm crossing there. Quite a way through the fields from Hangman's Lane, let alone the A2! If you look on Google Earth, it is just on the Guston side of the sub-station.
Lew Finnis
Karlos- Location: Dover
- Registered: 1 Oct 2012
- Posts: 2,545
There is somewhere between no and zero chance of this happening.
Anyone got a date for the re-opening of the Dover - Folkestone line? I'm fed up of driving to Folkestone.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
autum karlos
Karlos- Location: Dover
- Registered: 1 Oct 2012
- Posts: 2,545
I think dates have been narrowed down past that. Hopefully by the end of September.
Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
Another source also said 4-5 September yesterday.
Seems very soon, but I know it cannot come soon enough for all of us.
Maybe the notice period for timetable changes can be fast tracked, if you'll pardon the pun...?
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
The 5 of September is my 74 birthday so it will be a public day off.
Guest 664- Registered: 23 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,039
I hear the track is to be laid in the next few days.
