The first new station for more than 60 years will be opening on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway next week.

Warren Halt will serve the Romney Marsh Visitor Centre and will open on about 20 days of the year in connection with special events at the centre and on the railway – starting on Monday (16).

It will be served by shuttles from New Romney, enabling visitors to park at the larger station car park and ride to the visitor centre.

RH&DR general manager Danny Martin said: “It’s great news that the railway is still driving forwards and providing a link between all the attractions on the Marsh, as it has done for for many, many years.

“The halt has allowed us to expand out own special event calendar to double the number and work together with the special events at the visitor centre as well.”

The station - a single platform built of wood - sits next to a former gravel pit, now a pond and home to newts and other rare species. It is the first to open on the line since the former Maddieson’s Camp, now Romney Sands.

The halt will open on Monday, with the first train leaving New Romney station at 11am. It is intended that shuttles to Warren Halt will be hauled by The Bug, a steam engine built by Krauss and used in the line’s building in 1927.

They will be hourly on the advertised days, allowing people to spend some time learning about the history and wildlife of the Romney Marsh before returning to New Romney.

For details of which days services to the halt will be running, see the railway’s website at www.rhdr.org.uk or printed timetables, out on Friday (13).

BLOB There are 20 free tickets for the first train available to readers of the Kentish Express which comes out on Thursday.