Constructed high above the shore at the rear of the town, it was initially named Folkestone and replaced a temporary station built to the west pending the construction of Sir William Cubitt's 19-arch Foord viaduct.

To the north of the station, the SER constructed a branch line to Folkestone Harbour which the railway company had purchased earlier the same year.

[7] Goods traffic became the most important business at Folkestone Junction and extensive goods facilities were provided in the 1890s on the former site of the line's coking ovens which had become redundant when the perfection of coal-burning techniques put an end to the production of coke for locomotives.

A short length of the down platform remained outside the signal box and was retained for use by staff.

Various schemes for the re-use of the remaining land at Folkestone East have been proposed, from the site of a new depot,[11] sidings for stabling and maintaining CTRL services[12] and a new passenger station.