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
Chelsfield
A Community Archive
Chelsfield Station: a brief
introduction
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