The Chatham Central Branch was built by the South Eastern Railway in 1891 parallel to the Toomer Loop over a new bridge across the Medway. Its terminus, Chatham Central, was so peripheral to Chatham it was actually in Rochester. It proved to be a white elephant, Rochester Common and Chatham Central stations being closed in 1911, the track being dismantled, although the new bridge became the new route linking Strood and Rochester.