The railway from Orpington to Sevenoaks was completed in 1868 under the directorship of the SER (South Eastern Railway). After crossing the huge embankment over the Orpington Valley, it went into cutting before the 597 yard Chelsfield Tunnel which inspired The Railway Children by E Nesbit. NIne navvies lost their lives building this. The line was operated by SER (and from 1899 by a working partnership of SER and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway or SECR). Much of the land belonged to Mr Waring of Chelsfield and the station was conveniently sited for taking his produce to market in London. It was less convenient for other landowners and farmers! An additional station was opened nearer Halstead in 1876. This station was eventually renamed Knockholt to avoid confusion with Halstead in Essex. Sidings were provided on the Up Line principally for coal, and on the Down Line there was a short siding on the level where the push-pull carriages were sometimes parked, and wagons for local farmers to both send and receive produce. In the late 1920s a footbridge across the Up Line sidings was built to serve the newly constructed Chelsfield Park Estate. A bomb fell on the tracks on 4 November 1940 demolishing the footbridge and damaging tracks. The ARP (Air Raid Precaution) Incident Records for the day detail two High explosive bombs, with casualties of “1 dead, 6 lightly wounded”, also “damage to station property, footbridge demolished and fell on train”. The original timber station was destoyed by fire (as was Knockholt) in the 1970s. The skew road bridge carrying Warren Road has always been a popular location for photographers. Text ©2008 Philip Lane, with later additions PCT