The SER's route included reversing at Ramsgate to take a branch line to Margate Sands; this section closed in the 1920s as part of a rationalisation to merge duplicate routes built by the SER and its former competitor the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR).

At the time, coastal towns on the Isle of Thanet such as Margate and Ramsgate were undergoing a rise in popularity as holiday resorts, and railways could be seen as faster and cheaper rivals to the steamboat traffic bringing holidaymakers from London.

By August 1836, the rival London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) made its own proposal to serve Thanet.

The SER hoped by building the line to Ramsgate, it would be able to run boat train services to Ostend.

[8] After the LCDR's line reached Dover on 22 July 1861, there was serious competition between the two companies for continental port traffic.

[9] The rivalry between the SER and LDCR almost bankrupted both companies, and consequently they formed a joined management committee, known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR), in 1899.

The Margate Sands branch line survived as a goods depot until November 1976, when it was closed completely.

[14] On 9 October 1894, an early morning goods train carrying hop pickers from Ashford to Canterbury West collided with a horse and cart on a level crossing close to Horton Chapel Farm.

[15] On 26 July 2015, electric multiple unit 375 703 was in collision with a herd of cattle on the line at Chilham and was derailed.