Between Downs and Thames - Railways of Gravesend, the Hoo Peninsular & Isle of Grain

Gravesend,the Hoo Peninsular and the Isle of Grain were once home to a large complex of railways, their fascinating story unfolding in this fully illustrated work. An ancient riverside town, Gravesend is today combined with its hinterland as Gravesham and it is as this expansive area that its railways and ferries are examined.Nestling between the estuaries of the Thames and Medway Rivers are the Hoo Peninsular and the remote Isle of Grain. Low lying areas of immense skies, both have played their part in the history of military and industrial railways.

The contents include:

A unique example of both a railway and a canal sharing a tunnel.

Northfleet’s locomotive building history and locomotive shed

The London, Tilbury & Southend Railways steam ferry and its landing places.

Royal trains and their associations with the area.

The Batavier steam packet service to Rotterdam and associated boat trains.

1980 proposal to electrify the Hundred of Hoo branch using submarine batteries.

An illustrated survey of the areas locomotives, carriages and multiple units.

The UK’s only double deck passenger train.

Chattenden & Upnor Railway and Hoo Ness narrow gauge military railways.

Chattenden Navel tramway & Kingsnorth Light railway