it was situated on loampit hill, very close to the present-day st. johns station. although the branch line was intended to rival the south eastern railway's line through it was probably the competition from this which contributed to the low use of the lcdr's branch, which closed in 1917 as a wartime economy measure. the line through the station was reopened for freight traffic in 1929 and passengers in 1935 to a new connecting spur via a flyover to .