Swanley Junction - My Local Abandoned Station! | Another Station, Another Mile Lockdown Special

With lockdown understandably restricting everyone's ability to travel and explore, I decided to look for railway history and secrets closer to home - and found an abandoned station in my hometown that was the whole reason the town came to exist in the first place. Here is the 77-year story of Swanley Junction - my local lost station!

DISCLAIMER: This was entirely filmed in one walk, on my own, and social distancing was adhered to at all times. No non-essential travel on public transport was undertaken.

#StayHome #Lockdown #History

Additional Reading:

MUSIC CREDITS//:
Main Theme: Dreamhour - Better Friends

All other channel music by Nay Fitzpatrick:

AJ OMEGA ELSEWHERE//:

[ChrisHolloway]

Great video! As someone who lives at SMY and worked at the Asda in Swanley until recently and now for the railways I love some railway knowledge like this!

[adrianmorgan]

I remember going to the (now demolished) Station Master’s house circa 1970. The Station Master’s wife used to look after us kids after school. Nice lady.

[Geffo]

I was told that the station is again on the move, coming down closer to the town centre. Not sure how they'd incorporate the Sevenoaks branch, but apparently Swanley has a lot of development planned for the next five years.

[stuarthall]

I have always wondered why there was never a station at Swanley Village. The line passes very close by it and many much smaller communities had stations at one time.

[bostonrailfan]

had the same thing happen to me thrice: my local line had a few local stations closed that you’d never realize were there unless you looked, two survived partly intact and a third only in memory of a few…all only discovered because of reading about other stations nearby!

[gabri_maybe]

I discovered your channel some weeks ago, and I gotta say, I was shocked by the quality and the subscriber count, you have one of the best intros I've ever seen!

[anonarchist]

Love it! Make sure you post your future episodes in UKNP as well!

[paulmc]

I live in Horton Kirby and used to catch the train from Farningham Road through Swanley to Victoria and back every day.
I knew about Swanley Junction station, and Station Road with its choice of take-aways.
But I've never gone looking for the remains of the station. Very interesting, thank you.
Someone else mentioned the coal obelisk just outside Swanley station - that would be interesting to know a bit more about.
Also, just past Farningham Road Station was a halt on the down line only, for the Farningham home for boys.

[mikegillard]

You found the “thing”. Sorted and well done.

[jonathanberry]

Awesome content man, can’t believe it took YouTube so long to recommend your channel!

[markselby]

I'm a former southeastern driver I was told about the former Swanley Junction when route learning.
Thought you might have mentioned in passing the impressive coal marker obelisk just to the west of the station.
Maybe that's a bit off topic though...

[davidghewitt]

Stumbled onto your vids while down a youtube rabbit hole - and i'm glad i did! Subscribed :) . Oh - BTW - nice T Shirt chap! #GO! #PSB #InformEducateAndEntertain :)

[kevelliott]

No sooner do you complete the quest of Swanley Junction station than you throw up another - the vanished Rochester Bridge station (which I didn't know about till now) is on MY doorstep in Strood! And there's another really nice railway-themed micropub here - the 1050 from Victoria!

[batman]

You perhaps omitted to say that Swanley was rebuilt in 1959 to accommodate 2 extra tracks. Another local station you may wish to visit is Lullingstone, just south of Eynsford Tunnel. Now that is hard to find!

[MossdaleNGaugeRailway]

Chislehurst station has also moved a bit from where it started from

[twistedcheese]

You should explore the Fleetwood branch line. There is so much to see its crazy. Hopefully it will reopen soon

[CoxallK]

New subscriber here. Loving these videos mate. Keep up the good work and keep them coming. 👍🏽

[CJT]

have you visited the Miniature Railway at Swanley Park?

[Andrewjg_]

People say that Swanley is in Kent whilst others say that it’s in Greater London. Is Swanley technically in Kent. And also is close to the M25 London Orbital Motorway, A20 and M20. Anyways interesting video AJ. Andrew G.

[ThetrainguyUK]

Oh that means you live like a few milles away from me lol. Might see you on a train someday.