Hundred of Hoo Railway

Hundred of Hoo Railway
The Hundred of Hoo Railway in relation to other railway lines in Kent.
Overview
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Kent South East England
Operation
Opened	1882
Owner	Network Rail
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The Hundred of Hoo Railway is a railway line in Kent, England, following the North Kent Line from Gravesend before diverging at Hoo Junction near Shorne Marshes and continuing in an easterly direction across the Hoo Peninsula, passing near the villages of Cooling, High Halstow, Cliffe and Stoke before reaching the Isle of Grain and the container port on its eastern tip, Thamesport. There used to be a short branch line leading from Stoke Junction to the coastal town of Allhallows but this closed from 4 December 1961, the same date on which the Hundred of Hoo line was closed to passenger services.

The first authorisation to construct a railway on the Hoo Peninsula was obtained by a group of local businessmen who sponsored the passing of the North Kent Railway Extension Railway Act in 1865 which provided for the construction of a branch line leaving the South Eastern Railway's Gravesend - Strood line near Shorne Marshes. The line would head eastwards across land north of Cliffe to reach Allhallows, continuing to the Isle of Grain. However, the major railway companies operating in the area, South Eastern Railway (SER) and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) were not interested in the project and as a result it failed to secure the necessary funding.

The opening of Queenborough railway station on 15 May 1876 by the LCDR which offered a sea link to the Dutch town of Flushing prompted the SER to investigate possibilities for a rival link to the continent. On 16 April 1878 the SER's engineer, Francis Brady, reported back to his employer on the feasibility of constructing a railway from a point near Gravesend and the North Kent Line to the village of Stoke, a distance of 9 miles. The estimated cost was £72,000. A 5% return was projected, the belief being that Gravesend's proximity to London would make it a more desirable outlet for the distribution of goods intended for the Kent area, rather than the LCDR's Chatham station.