The Grain Branch Line is an Frieght-Only Single track bi-directional branch line, In North Kent. It diverges off from the North Kent Line at Hoo Junction, travelling the 12 miles to the Isle of Grain. The line has a spectacular, remarkable history and a huge potential for the future.
To read about the reopening of the line - Scroll to the bottom of this blog.
The History:
The Grain Branch line or at the time known as the "Hundred of Hoo Railway" opened in 1882 by the South Eastern Railway to Port Victoria on the Isle of Grain. The line opened in two stages.
Stage 1 - Opened April 1st 1882, Between Hoo Junction and Sharnal Street.
Stage 2 - Opened 11th September 1882, line extended from Sharnal Street to Port Victoria.
Until 1906, there were only three stations on the branch line, they were Cliffe, Shanal Street and Port Victoria. In 1906 new stations at Uralite Halt, High Halstow, Beluncle, middle stoke and Grain Crossings were built to serve the branch line.
In 1932, the Southern Railway built a new station on the line, Stoke Junction. This was to allow a new line to spur and diverge off the Branch line at Stoke Junction. The New line was a single track line to Allhallows, with one station at Allhallows. The Allhallows branch was built due to the seaside resort having a huge potential to be very popular. In 1935, the Allhallows branch became double track.
During World War 2, The Grain Branch line was used for frieght. Soon after the War, an Oil Company built an Oil Refinery at the end of the line at Grain, Rail yards and facilities were provided. In 1951 Grain Crossing and Port Victoria stations closed. An New station East of Grain Crossing opened, Known as Grain Station.
(Photo of the Site of which was the Old Grain Station)
The line was reduced down to single track again in 1957. On the 4th December 1961, passenger services on the Grain branch and the Allhallows branch were withdrawn and the line was closed for passengers.
However the Grain Branch Line was kept to fully open for frieght services and is still open as an Frieght-Only Branch Line to this day, with an increased amount of Rail frieght opportunities have come apparent in the recent decades on the isle of Grain and the surrounding areas. The are plans to reopen the Frieght-Only line as far as Hoo Peninsula, that will be mentioned in more detail later.
In 1961, the same year as the branch line closed to passangers, a half a mile frieght line opened which spurred off the Grain branch line to Cliffe Gravel Rail Works, which is located just outside the town of Cliffe, Rochester. The Line first served the Portland Cement Works in 1961, Since then the freight spur line has been used to transport frieght to Cliffe. Various different frieght and agregattes has been transported. The frieght line remains open to this day, to transport agrregattes to Cliffe Brett Agreegattes at the end of the frieght spur.
The Half-a-mile frieght line spurs off of the Grain Branch Line at Cliffe Signal NK509.
The line in Present Day:
As mentioned earlier, Since the Grain Branch Line closed to passengers in 1961, the frieght-only line has benefited from serveral frieght opportunities in the Isle of Grain Area. Many frieght terminals and sidings can be found near the end of the line (Isle of Grain Area) including Grain Thamesport, Grain Foster Yeoman, Grain Oil Terminal and Grain BP terminal. The line is used by frieght trains serveral times a day. More frieght runs weekdays, some frieght runs on Saturdays, with no or very little amount of frieght running on the line on Sundays and Bank holidays.
Some railtours in recent years have gone down the line including a Hastings Diesel 1001 unit. The line is non-electrified, so only diesel units or locomotives can use the Grain Branch Line.
(Picture below of an Hastings Diesels "1001" Thumper Unit, at Chatham Station.)
Due to the line currently being single tracked in it's entirety between Hoo Junction and Grain Crossing, a token exchange system is in place between Cliffe Signal NK509 and Grain Level Crossing. Meaning the driver has to have this token to allow them to proceed on the single track line. The driver will then hand the Token back to the signaller at Grain Crossing, once they have passed the single track token area. A very unique and historic system, still in place in 2023, Truly Amazing!
(photo of an token exchangemachine from Wikipedia - one of these are located at Cliffe Signal NK509 on the Branch line.)
At the Grain end of the branch line, there is semaphore signals (pictured below). Two of which are situated to either side of Grain Level Crossing. There are some of the last semaphore signals in Kent, the others which are at deal, down on the Kent coast.
Level Crossings:
There are currently two level crossings on the branch line, One at Wybourne Lane Level crossing and the other is Grain Level Crossing.
Wybourne Lane Level Crossing:
Wybourne Lane Level Crossing is an Open Level crossing is High Halstow, Rochester. It's an Open Level Crossing, meaning at has no barriers at all. Just automatic lights that sound roughly a minute before the train passes the crossing. The crossing is quite a rare level crossing, with only 23 of its type left on the United Kingdom. The crossing is on a small country lane that leads to Wybourne Farm.
Grain Level Crossing:
Grain Level crossing is an manual level crossing at the end of the branch line near the Isle of Grain. It's Kent's (and South-East's England's) last manual level crossing left, it's due to be closed and replaced by an automatic crossing some-point this year by Network Rail.
Manual level crossings are very rare in the United Kingdoom in the modern day, it is amazing to see one in 2023!
In the last 30 years or so, many level crossings have been replaced by automatic crossings for safety and reliability reasons. The main problem to overcome with closing Grain Crossing it is the only road to/from Grain and no alternative road is available. So to enable the works to replace the crossing to an automatic one, a new temporary road and crossing would need to be built.
The manual level crossing opened the same year as the signal box. In 1882 (141 years ago!) which was the same year the line first opened between Hoo Junction and Port Victoria.
There is an signal box to the side of the Manual Crossing, it's still in use, However, the signal box has less operational duties than it would of had in its Golden Days in 1920s and 30s. The Signal Box remains in use, to provide shelter for the signallers oparting the gates, as well as for the token exchange system and to operate the semaphore signals and switches close to the crossing
The Signal Box is Grade II listed. The box obtained its listing in July, 2013. It is also last Stevens & Sons designed Signal Box in the Country. Before the box was listed, it was refurbished to bring it back to a new state.
The future - The Reopening of the Grain Branch Line:
There are plans at an advance stage to reopen the Branch line as far the Hoo Peninsula, with a Station around the mid-point of the branch line at Sharnal Street. There will be a number of passing loops along the line to allow an significant number of passenger and frieght trains to use the line. The new station, Sharnal Street will branch off from the branch line and the station will be single track platform, So the new station will not be directly on the branch line and won't have any significant affects on the reliability and frequency of frieght trains on the grain branch line.
In addition to construction of Sharnal Station. The costs are also for the following works:
Vegetation clearance, steady ride works, passing loops, Update Level Crossings, and new signalling.
The new station and the line reopening is part of Hoo's £170 million redevelopment scheme. £63 million of which is for the reopening of the line and the new station at Sharnal Street. The project is part of Medway Council's Housing Infrastructure fund (HIF), also known as the Future Hoo Rail Programme.
Here's an artist impression from Medway Council of Sharnal Street Station, of which it should look like when it eventually opens.
GRIP - Stage of the Project:
The project to reopen the line to passenger services is currently at GRIP Stage 4, "Single Option Development". GRIP stage 3 was completed in July 2022.
GRIP stage 4 is making all the big and important decisions to do with the project. Such as what Train Operator Companies will use the line?, what trains will use the line?, will it be electrified?, Where exactly will the station be located?, and many other questions. This stage of the project is likely to take the longest.
Based on the research I have conducted on the reopening of the rail line, based on the current stage the project is at, I believe that the Grain Branch Line will reopen to passangers Summer 2025 at the earliest.
GRIP definition:
GRIP stands for Governance for Railway Investment Projects and is an 8-Step process into opening a rail line (or in this case reopening a closed passenger rail line). So the project being on GRIP Stage/Step 4, the project is roughly half way through.
Twitter Thread on the Reopening of the Line:
For the most detailed information on the reopening of the Grain Branch Line Check out my twitter thread, here:
That's all for this Blog and the end, hope you enjoyed reading it. Thanks for taking your time to read this.
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