 The coastal resort and port town of Ramsgate was historically served by a complex network of unconnected railway lines , the legacy of competition between two rival companies to provide links to London and to neighbouring Margate . The town 's first railway station , Ramsgate Town , was opened by the South Eastern Railway on 13 April 1846 , on what was then the outskirts of the town , about a mile from the seafront . Lines from the station ran north , before splitting west to Canterbury and on to London , and north to Margate . 
