The station was opened on 5 October 1863 by the
Kent Coast Railway (KCR). The KCR was operated by the
London, Chatham & Dover Railway (LCDR), which absorbed the KCR on 1 July 1871, and the station was renamed
Birchington-on-Sea by the LCDR in October 1878. A small goods yard was situated on the Up London bound side of the station which closed in the 1970s and operated by the signalbox located midway on the down platform closed about the same time during a resignalling programme. The wire and rod cutout can still be seen within the brick face of the down platform. The 2007 Budget plan of
Network Rail allows for the removal of the remaining manual turnround and it is believed short residual siding occasionally used for storing tamping track maintenance units, 'tampers'. A junction existed to the west of the station to serve
RAF Manston until the 1930s operated from a Ground Frame Birchington B located some upside of the station - a plan of which can be seen in the
RAF Manston Museum. ==Services==