Swanley railway station
railway station serving the town of Swanley, Kent in England
Swanley railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the town of Swanley, Kent. It is 17 miles 31 chains (28.0 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between St Mary Cray and Farningham Road on the main line. The Maidstone Line branches from the main line east of Swanley and the next station on that route is Eynsford.
The station and most trains that call are operated by Southeastern. The station has four platforms.
Since March 2016, Oyster cards have been accepted at Swanley, with the station being placed into London fare zone 8.
History
The original location of the station was at grid reference TQ513684 at the junction with separate platforms for the main line and the Sevenoaks branch. It was first named Sevenoaks Junction and 1871 was changed to Swanley Junction. On 27 June 1937, there was a collision between two trains near the station, resulting in the deaths of four people and with 37 injured. In 1939 a new station called Swanley was constructed approximately 440 yards (400 m) further west and the original station was closed.
The public source identifies “Swanley railway station” as railway station serving the town of Swanley, Kent in England. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Swanley, railway and station.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Swanley railway station”, the useful work is to connect “railway station serving the town of Swanley, Kent in England” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q946238. Authority coordinates are 51.393, 0.169. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2016, 1871, 1937 and 1939.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Swanley railway station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.