Dumpton Park railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the district of Dumpton between the towns of Broadstairs and Ramsgate, Kent. It is down the line from and is situated between and stations.
The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern.
The station has no buildings and just a few parking spaces, a bridge from the south side of the line to an island platform, with a small shelter at the bottom of the steps. Until 1965 the station served as the interchange between the main line and the nearby Tunnel Railway.
History
left|thumb|Layout of pre- and post-1926 lines and stations in Ramsgate
thumb|right|A 1945 [[Ordnance Survey of Ramsgate showing the location of the Dumpton Park and Ramsgate stations]]
Following the railway grouping of 1923, both the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham & Dover Railway became a part of the newly-formed Southern Railway, which looked at the duplication of lines and stations at Ramsgate and Margate. The company decided to link the two lines at Ramsgate to allow through running between them. That scheme had been proposed by the South Eastern & Chatham Railway before World War I, but work did not commence until 1925. That resulted in the closure of the two terminus stations at Ramsgate Town and Ramsgate Harbour, and the construction of a line skirting the northern edge of the town to link the two existing lines. New stations on the north-eastern and north-western fringes of the town, at Dumpton Park and Ramsgate respectively, replaced the stations in the town centre and at the harbour. Construction work on the new line involved over 700 men moving of chalk, at a cost of approximately £500,000 (£ in ).
The new link opened on 2 July 1926, although Dumpton Park station was not fully open to the public until 19 July 1926. On 2 July 1926, both former Ramsgate stations were closed along with the line through the tunnel to Ramsgate Harbour. The tunnel was sealed and abandoned, and the former Ramsgate Harbour station was sold to Thanet Amusements, which converted the site into a zoo and funfair called Merrie England. Although adequate for the town's residents, the new stations were a long way from the seafront attractions, which were at the foot of a steep hill. The day-trippers, on whom Ramsgate's tourist industry depended, were therefore increasingly attracted to Margate, where the station was next to the beach.
By 1933, Merrie England, then owned by Ramsgate Olympia, had become extremely popular, and began to lobby the Southern Railway to reopen the line through the tunnel, with a new junction station between Dumpton Park and Broadstairs. The Southern Railway rejected the proposal as too costly and impractical. Ramsgate Olympia and the Southern Railway were keen to make the attractions near the harbour accessible from the railway main line, and to provide a service from the seafront to the Dumpton Park stadium for Greyhound racing. The two companies eventually agreed on a scheme under which a new narrow-gauge line, dubbed the Tunnel Railway, would use the of the tunnel nearest the beach, before branching off into a new tunnel, which would emerge at a new station at Hereson Road, a walk from Dumpton Park station.
- 1 tph to via
- 1 tph to
Additional services including trains to and from and London Cannon Street call at the station in the peak hours.