tow path its entire length. Spoil from the tunnel was used to infill the marshland between St Mary's Church Strood and the River Medway. Frindsbury Basin could handle vessels to 300 tons. A steam pump was installed there to keep the canal topped up. Commercially the venture was a failure, because tolls were high to recoup the cost, entry to the basins could only occur at high tides (making it quicker to sail the round the Isle of Grain). With the end of the Napoleonic wars the military justification had also been removed. In 1844 A single line railway was laid through the tunnel, part on the towpath and part on a timber structure over the canal. The canal was sold in 1845 to the South Eastern Railway (SER), who filled in the canal within the tunnel and laid a double track (see North Kent Line). Rail The South Eastern Railway terminated at Strood, with passengers taking a steamer or coaches to reach Rochester or Chatham. The station, completed 10 February 1856, was opposite The Railway Tavern. More recently it was called the Old Terminus. On 18 June 1856, the line was extended along the river bank to Maidstone, and Strood Station we see today, was opened (see Medway Valley Line). Also in 1856 the new road bridge over the Medway was opened, in its present position, back where the Roman bridge had been. In 1857 the mediaeval bridge was demolished the stone being used to build the Strood Esplanade in 1858. In 1860 the SER built the Strood pier. The East Kent Railway had permission to run a line from Faversham to Chatham, and intended to connect with the South Eastern Railway at Strood. When negotiations failed, the East Kent, now called the London Chatham and Dover (LCDR), linked with the Mid Kent Co. at Bromley (see Chatham Main Line). The East Kent Railway built a bridge over the Medway (1853) and taking their line to the North of the Angel, over Gun Lane, and Watling Street then south to Cuxton where it followed the Bush Valley and hence to Sole Street. The London Chatham and Dover built a station on the A2, adjacent to Canal Road, this was called Strood Station, when it was built, then Rochester Bridge Station,1 April 1861 Rochester & Strood, 1 November 1861 Rochester Bridge (Strood), 1862 Rochester Bridge, 1905 The South Eastern Railway