Sole Street railway station

Sole Street railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the village of Sole Street, near Cobham, Kent. It is 26 miles 71 chains (43.3 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between Meopham and Rochester. The station is managed by Southeastern.

Sole Street
Location
Place	Sole Street
Local authority	Borough of Gravesham
Grid reference	TQ655675
Operations
Station code	SOR
Managed by	Southeastern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	61,242
2015/16	59,572
2016/17	68,620
2017/18	64,338
2018/19	64,698
History
Key dates	Opened 1 February 1861 (1 February 1861)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Sole Street from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Office of Rail Regulation statistics suggest that the decline in traffic at Sole Street that has been noted since 2009/10 coincided with the opening of fast High Speed One services from nearby Strood.

History

The main line of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway was opened in stages. The section between Rochester Bridge (then named Strood) and Bickley was opened on 3 December 1860;[1] but Sole Street station opened later, on 1 February 1861.[2][3]

Facilities and Connections

The station has a ticket office which is open during the morning peak only (06:00-10:00 Mon-Fri). At other times, the station is unstaffed and tickets can be purchased from the self-service ticket machine at the station. The station is fitted with modern help points and covered seating is available on both platforms. The station also has toilets which are located in the stations ticket office. There is also a small chargeable car park located outside the main entrance to the station. The station has step free access to the London bound platform however access to the Kent bound platform is via the stepped footbridge only so is not accessible.[4]

The station is served infrequently Monday-Saturday by the route 416 bus operated by Redroute Buses which provides connections to Gravesend and Meopham.[5]

Services

All services at Sole Street are operated by Southeastern. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: [6]

• 1 tph to London Victoria via Denmark Hill
• 1 tph to Dover Priory via Canterbury East

On Sundays, the service runs between London Victoria and Canterbury East.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Meopham		Southeastern Chatham Main Line		Rochester
	Disused railways
Meopham Line and station open		London, Chatham and Dover Railway Chatham Main Line		Rochester Bridge Line and station closed

References

1. Dendy Marshall, C.F.; Kidner, R.W. (1963) [1937]. History of the Southern Railway (2nd ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. pp. 327, 502. ISBN 0-7110-0059-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
2. Dendy Marshall & Kidner 1963, p. 524
3. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 158. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
4. "Sole Street Station Information". Southeastern, 2020.
5. "Routes 416/417 Timetable: Gravesend to Meopham or Cliffe". Traveline South East, 2020.
6. "Timetable 2: London to Medway Towns, Ramsgate and Dover" (PDF). Southeastern, December 2019.

External links

• Media related to Sole Street railway station at Wikimedia Commons

• Train times and station information for Sole Street railway station from National Rail