Trains first reached Ramsgate in April 1846 when the South Eastern Railway (SER) opened a line from Canterbury. It terminated at Ramsgate. Later the same year (1846) the line opened across Thanet to Margate, to Margate SER, (later Margate East). Trains from Canterbury for Margate had to reverse at Ramsgate Town; a chord was built bypassing the station in 1864. This arrangement was inherited by Southern Railway on grouping in 1923. To simplify the arrangement in 1926 a new line was opened connecting the SER line from the site of St Lawrence to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) line just south of Broadstairs. The current Ramsgate station and a new station at Dumpton Park were built on this new line. The Ramsgate Town station and old SER line across to Margate Sands were all closed in July 1926.