Lydd

Lydd station was built in 1881 and closed in 1967. In many ways it is a metaphor for the area; the real action is elsewhere. The station was renamed Lydd Town when the railway company built another station, Lydd-on-sea Halt, a bit closer to the coast and near a newly developed holiday camp. Traffic to Lydd Town declined as it had mainly served holiday traffic. It sits next to Lydd airport which is frequently discussed as a viable alternative to building another runway at Heathrow or Gatwick but this is the main bit of transport infrastructure so you can see that it needs some work - we're some distance from the M20 here. There is occasional talk of reopening the line down to Appledore which would open a connection to Ashford and Hastings but there are more than a dozen level-crossings which would need to be upgraded and automated. The line isn't electrified either so most of the local stock wouldn't be able to use the line.

But for all that you'll notice that the track looks clear and well-tended. The reason for this is that a couple of miles from here is Dungeness and this track runs to a spur and a freight siding which serves the nuclear power-station. Again the action is somewhere else.

From here I went somewhere else; to RSPB Dungeness where I battled the wind and rain to see some lovely birds including a Hobby, a handful of Great Crested Grebes, Dunlins and the usual suspects.