Station Name: SWANLEY JUNCTION[Source: Nick Catford]
Swanley Junction Station Gallery 1: c1903 - c1910 Swanley Junction probably shortly after 1905 when the footbridge was built. The train on the main line, left, is signalled through the station but judging by the number of people on the platform is probably calling here. The locomotive is too far away for anything like a definite identification. Much clearer to see is its headcode, which tells us the train is running to Victoria via Herne Hill. Another locomotive, if not a train, can be seen on the right. It appears to be a SE&CR C class in immaculate condition but its headcode cannot be identified. The station is well provided with water columns: four are visible in this view and would have been supplied by the water tower visible right of centre. The down main line has recently been re-ballasted and makes a marked contrast to the filthy ballast of the other tracks.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection 1870 1:10,560 OS map. When Swanley Junction station opened there was no settlement close to the station. By 1870 four houses had been built along what was to become Station Road but still nothing else in the vicinity of the station. The house closest to the station is the stationmaster's residence. This was the first house to be built in the area.
1895 1:2,500 OS Map. Within 30 years of Swanley Junction station opening there had been substantial residential development to the north of, and between, the two lines with industrial development to the south. The layout of the station is clearly seen with a triangular island platform and side platforms. The platforms on the Sevenoaks line were built on a curve. The main station building was also triangular with a separate gents' toilet / porters' room to the west; shelters are seen on both side platforms. A footbridge spans the four platforms to the west of the main building. A short refuge siding trails from behind the east end of the branch down platform. The water tank is shown but not identified at the east end of the station building at the back of the down branch platform. To the west of the station the signal box (SB) at the top of the cutting approached by steps. The goods yard is seen to the east of the road bridge. There are three sidings; the middle one passes through a goods shed then runs alongside the small cattle dock. On the up side there is another trailing refuge siding with a locomotive turntable at the end. A second signal box is seen opposite the good shed on the up side; this controls
the goods yard. 1911 1:2,500 OS map. There has been some further residential development to the south of the station together with a school. The junction signal box has been relocated to the down side at the west end of the main line platform.
1947 1:2,500 OS Map. The new Swanley station has now been built and opened to the west of Swanley Junction. As the town has continued to grow there has been substantial residential development to the north of the new station with public access from both sides of the line. Two more sidings have been added to the goods yard, together with coal bins. The junction signal box has gone, replaced by a new box at the east end of the new station. The refuge siding behind the down branch platform has gone. Click here for a larger version.
1962 1:2,500 OS Map. There has been further residential development to the north of the station. The High Street bridge has been widened and a footbridge has been added on both sides of the bridge. A third line has been added on the site of the branch up platform. One of the new sidings has now been removed. A watering point is shown at the goods station. The refuge siding and turntable on the up side of the branch have gone. Click here for a larger version.
Circa 1905 what the headcode suggests is a special working of some description storms through Swanley Junction behind Class M3 4-4-0 No.650. Here seen in SE&CR livery, this locomotive began life with the LC&DR as its No.181. Designed by William Kirtley the M3 class originated in 1891 and comprised 26 examples; all had gone by 1928. The train comprises a motley collection of stock which includes some 6-wheelers and probably one or two 4-wheelers. The second vehicle is of interest. Although the camera angle and distance are problems, it appears to be one of the ex-Southern Eastern Railway First / Family saloons. The SER had four of these, two built in 1893 [CHECK] and two in 1898. They contained a first class saloon, a first class compartment, a toilet and a servants ‘compartment; the latter offering a hint of the type of people who would use these vehicles. It is thought that these vehicles were later converted by the adaption of the servants’ compartment to a luggage compartment and later still into guard's brakes. At the rear of the train is a 'birdcage' brake and, although impossible to see with any clarity, it would likely have been a 4-wheeler.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection Swanley Junction station approach and forecourt sometime around 1910; the Ramsgate (etc.) line is on the right and that to Otford, Sevenoaks/Maidstone East out of view to the left of the water tower. Horse-drawn road transport is the order of the day. A decade into the twentieth century, road motor transport was still the preserve of the wealthy few.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection A delightful view of Swanley Junction from the footbridge sometime around 1910. The line to Chatham, Ramsgate etc. is on the left; note the tall signal post with two, no doubt co-acting, arms for sighting purposes owing to the bridge in the distance. The line from Otford and Sevenoaks / Maidstone East comes in on the right. The goods shed and wagons can be seen beyond the bridge on the right. There was a signal box opposite the goods shed, here obscured by the bridge and track curvature. Today we are subjected to attempts to brainwash us into believing that modern trains and modernised railway stations are something wonderful when many are quite ghastly and clinical. The railway stations of a bygone age were, however, quite the opposite. It is a shame that we cannot see this view in colour; the numerous enamel advertisements and the posters would themselves have been colourful and, in many cases, quite artistic. Much if not all the station furniture seen here is obsolete insofar as the National Network is concerned. At far right, for example, a chocolate dispensing machine and a weighing machine can be seen. On the porters’ room, foreground, is an advertisement for the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway while on the building's platform side is a Swanley Junction running-in board with additional wording below the name - presumably informing passengers of destinations for which they can change trains. Public gas lighting is still in use in numerous places, including in parts of London, but on railway stations, heritage railways excepted, it is also a thing of the past. Illuminating the footbridge steps an incandescent mantle gas light can be seen; this one has a permanently-lit pilot flame and the mantle is operated by means of the chains suspended either side of the globe. This would be a job for a porter with a hooked pole although it would appear that a tall person could reach the chains from the steps. Also visible are the roof of the stationmaster's house, centre background, and the water tower. There was also a turntable, located around the curve on the right and on the up side, reached via points trailing in the up direction.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection Click here for Swanley Junction Station Gallery 2: c1910 - 27 June 1937
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