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Horton railway station is a large junction station, built by the South Eastern Railway in 1854.
History[]
The original station was built by the South Eastern Railway, being a major junction station for several railway lines in the area, including a connection to the nearby city of Colhapper and, by proxy, the Dark Railway.
When originally built, the station had a simple four platform layout, though when the spur to Colhapper was built in 1865, an extra two platforms were built to accommodate extra traffic. Horton's overall look is inspired by the grand stations of the Great Western Railway, hence it's different look to typical SER stations of the time. Further rebuilds of the station and it's layout has given it an even more foreign look for the region.
Passenger services to Horton have always been frequent, as it lies at the heart of a series of networks connecting to London, Ashford, Ramsgate, Barbourne, Hastings and the Dexby line to Becksford. Because of it's important link with other lines, the Southern Railway planned to electrify the lines through the station as early as 1935, but, due to the war, these plans were put on hold. Horton Station's main lines was finally electrified with 3rd Rail by British Railways during the 1950's, though platform 1 (which is used for services to Colhapper) was not affected, as the line to Colhapper and Barbourne was not electrified.
In the 1970's the station experienced several cutbacks, with the closure of Platform 6 and all goods facilities in the station area. The branch line to Colhapper was closed in 1975, with the track being ripped up and the land on which the trackbed stood sold for housing.
Layout and Facilities[]
Horton Station is one of the largest stations in the area, with six platforms serving several different railway lines. The major focus of the station is passenger traffic, though goods sheds were used on each side of the station by British Rail up to 1971.
The station is served by fast and semi fast servces to London, Ashford and Hastings, whilst less frequent services operate to Ramsgate, Margate, Colhapper and Barbourne.
Appearances[]
The Dark Railway Series[]
Episodes:
- Series 5 - Repulse (mentioned) and Time Waits for No One, Part 2 (mentioned)
- Series 8 - Time Waster and Short Circuit (mentioned)
- Series 9 - Rock Shock (mentioned), Time Wasted (mentioned), and Extend Extra (mentioned)
Trivia[]
- Horton was once the Dark Railway's only connection to the national network.
- The station currently uses a model of Exeter St Davids Station, explaining it's unusual GWR look. In this form, it featured in the Station Cameras at Horton video, set after the events of One More Time. Dark DJ's unhappiness with this layout partially contributed to the loss of the line to Horton in Series 9, though there remains a possbility that the station will appear in some capacity in the future.