Saturday 5 May 2012

The London to Dover railway line.



Two postcards showing the same section of railway on the London to Dover route (or Dover to London, depending on your point of view).  The first one is dated 1907 and the second 1964, and it remains much the same today.  The main differences between the two cards, apart from the weather and the state of the tide, is the shape of the cliff which, like the cliffs nearer Dover, suffers regular landslips.

Although the railway line is still the same these days even though it now takes the high speed train, there have been major changes in this area most of which you can't see.  It is from beneath Shakespeare Cliff that the Channel Tunnel runs.


This is a photo I took myself about a year ago of the other side of the double rail tunnel seen in the two postcards.  The dual entrance is on the left but beside it there is another tunnel.  This one leads from the road above and allows visitors get to the large recreation area which has been made from the waste produced by digging the Tunnel. It is called Samphire Hoe, a lovely  nature reserve where you can walk, picnic, watch birds, butterflies and other wildlife.


A post for Sepia Saturday.  A click on the button will take you to the blog.
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20 comments:

  1. How strange to show the wildest windiest weather and roughest sea in a postcard. It’s good to se the contrast though.

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    1. Rough seas (and lifeboats) seem to be highly desirable as postcards. I'm not sure why.

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  2. Thanks for the journey. It's so nice they used the waste to make a park for everyone to enjoy.
    Nancy

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  3. That is scary, that first postcard! I sure wouldn't want to be on those tracks during those high waves. Great post, thank you.

    Kathy M.

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    1. I've been along it at high tide and it's .... interesting.

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  4. Good grief -- waves crashing on a train would be scarey. Is this area not a good beach? Here in Virginia, I can't imagine anyone allowing a train to use up prime tourist land.

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    1. Without the train tracks the tourists wouldn't have been able to get there. That was in Victorian times, the end of the 19th century. Since then tourists have been more interested in getting to Dover to cross the Channel to France.

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  5. I love these photos you have shared I love train trips, although that first postcard is amazing and such a trip on it would be awesome...........

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  6. These are wonderful "contrast" pictures showing the high tide and crashing sea. It almost looks as if the rails have been moved further from the sea in the more recent picture, although I am sure it is only the low tide that makes it look farther away.

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    1. It's a shingle beach so it may well have built up over the years.

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  7. I like them especially your photograph.

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  8. Great postcards and photos, Sheila. There are many places in the UK where the trains get wet from the sea during storms but I;ve never seen them on postcards.

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  9. They do not seem to have suffered too much from erosion, especially when you think of the powerful force of all that water continually grinding the cliffs down.

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  10. The first two cards look almost alike. I didn't notice the tunnels until you pointed them out.

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  11. I love tunnels..seeing them on postcards, driving through them, etc. Very cool to see two tunnel views of the same location 57 years apart.

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  12. What a difference between the tides, although I can imagine the older one is a particularly high one. Thanks for sharing the images.

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  13. What an amazing comparison! I would have been terrified to have been on the train in that first one! But I guess if you gotta get there somehow.....

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  14. I am not sure I would want to be on the train as it's getting splashed by the waves - it seems so ominous.

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