1920. At the New Romney end, one of the sidings adjoining the station was extended to serve the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. The line was realigned to be closer to the coast in the 1930s, in order to attract holiday traffic along the coast between Dungeness and New Romney. The rerouted line opened on 4 July 1937, and included new stations at Lydd-on-Sea and Greatstone-on-Sea. At the same time, the branch to Dungeness was closed to passengers. By 1952, nine trains a day were serving New Romney from Appledore, with two further through trains from Ashford. After electrification of the South East main line in 1962, the direct services from Charing Cross were discontinued, and the remaining services were run on diesel-electric stock. Later improvements Hastings was poorly served by the railway, as many of the residential areas to the east of the town centre were some distance from the station. In 1872, the SER considered building a new station, but progress stalled until July 1886, when a local landowner offered £1,000 (£ in ) to build a station near Ore Tunnel. Ore railway station opened on 1 January 1888. The original swing bridge over the River Rother east of Rye was proposed to be replaced by a fixed bridge in 1881. The SER were amenable to this as the Monk Bretton Bridge (that now carries the A259 east of Rye) was in planning stages, though the replacement bridge did not open until 1903. In 1899, the SER and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway created the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR) as a joint operation. In 1907, a steam railcar service was introduced on the line in an attempt to increase local traffic. Three additional halts were constructed between Winchelsea and Hastings; Three Oaks, Guestling (later renamed Doleham) and Snailham, all of which opened on 1 July. Snailham Halt was inaccessible by public road, and could only be reached by a rough track. The station was never modernised, and retained its original wooden platforms. Steam railcar services were withdrawn in February 1920 and replaced with tank engines. Snailham Halt closed on 2 February 1959. Following World War I, plans were put forward to construct a chord linking the line eastwards at Ashford towards . This would allow trains to run between Hastings and Dover without having to reverse. The plans stalled at the design stage and the