Margate railway station serves the town of Margate in Thanet, Kent, England. It is down the line from , between Westgate-on-Sea and Broadstairs. The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern. Trains from the station generally run to Victoria via or to via Ramsgate, Canterbury West and Ashford International.
History
thumb|left|[[British Railways|BR Standard 2-6-2T at Margate in 1958]]Trains first reached Ramsgate in April 1846 when the South Eastern Railway (SER) opened a line from Canterbury. It terminated at Ramsgate SER, later to be called Ramsgate Town. Later the same year, the line opened across Thanet to Margate, to Margate SER, (later Margate Sands). Trains from Canterbury for Margate had to reverse at Ramsgate Town; a chord was built bypassing the station in 1864, costing £13,707. St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay railway station was opened in 1864 just before this chord but closed in 1916.
The London Chatham & Dover Railway (LCDR) reached Margate from Herne Bay on 5 October 1863. This called at Margate (the current station), East Margate, Broadstairs and terminated at Ramsgate (later Ramsgate Harbour), located near the harbour and beach.
The station was opened as Margate, then renamed Margate & Cliftonville in 1880, Margate West from 1 June 1899, before reverting to Margate on 11 July 1926.
Architecture
The station was rebuilt in 1926 by the Southern Railway's chief assistant architect, Edwin Maxwell Fry. The building is constructed in a monumental classical style from brown brick with a stone dressing and a hipped tiled roof. The booking hall was built in a similar manner, in a distinctive ellipse shape with pendant lighting. It was Grade II listed in 1987.
Passenger volume
{| class="wikitable"
|+Passenger Volume at Margate
!
!2002–03
!2004–05
!2005–06
!2006–07
!2007–08
!2008–09
!2009–10
!2010–11
!2011–12
!2012–13
!2013–14
!2014–15
!2015–16
!2016–17
!2017–18
!2018–19
!2019–20
!2020–21
!2021–22
!2022–23
|-
|Entries and exits
|563,456
|584,569
|595,453
|660,439
|671,790
|653,152
|600,128
|605,626
|648,308
|619,974
|627,180
|678,986
|829,222
|892,924
|1,007,956
|1,113,676
|1,139,966
|353,114
|884,110
|1,025,940
|-
|Interchanges
|–
|9,236
|11,013
|6,737
|9,582
|11,693
|1,399
|3,078
|1,930
|2,132
|2,148
|2,404
|6,258
|6,683
|7,285
|8,233
|7,817
|1,157
|4,197
|8,333
|}
<small>The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.</small>
Services
thumb|left|Platform viewThe typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
- 1 tph to London St Pancras International via and
- 1 tph to London St Pancras International via and
- 1 tph to via Chatham
- 2 tph to
Additional services including trains to and from and London Cannon Street call at the station in the peak hours.
Cultural references
The station was featured in Only Fools and Horses, in the 1989 episode The Jolly Boys' Outing. Del Boy and Rodney discover the station is closed due to a strike, after being stuck in Margate following their coach blowing up.