the sheerness branch line opened on 19 july 1860, from sittingbourne to, at first, a station in the blue town area of sheerness, close to the southern edge of the royal navy dockyard. in 1883 a further station was added at sheerness-on-sea, accessed by a reversing curve from the original station, which was renamed sheerness dockyard. at this time, all trains had to run first to the dockyard station, then reverse (after the engine had changed ends) to sheerness-on-sea, and vice versa for the return journey. the original line was built by the independent sittingbourne and sheerness railway company, and taken over by the london, chatham & dover railway (lc&dr) in 1876. after 1899, it was run by the south eastern & chatham railway, formed by the working union of the lc&dr with the south eastern railway.