Longfield railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the villages of

Longfield Longfield is a village in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located 6 miles south east of Dartford and the same distance south-west of Gravesend. History The place in Kent is recorded as ''Langanfelda'' in the Saxon Charters of ...

, Hartley, and

New Ash Green New Ash Green is a village in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 8 miles south west of Gravesend. History Building of the village began in 1967, with Span as the developer and Eric Lyons as the designer. The architectural des ...

. It is down the line from and is situated between and . The station and all trains that call are operated by

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

History

Although situated in Longfield, the station was originally named after

Fawkham Fawkham is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. Fawkham is defined as a hamlet by Sevenoaks District Council, with a population of 429. Fawkham is a low density, linear settlement along the bottom of a dry chalk ...

when it opened in June 1872. The name of a nearby village was chosen as a local land owner had offered land and cash for provision of a station. The original station was destroyed by fire around 1900, but rebuilt in the same location. The railway line through Fawkham station was

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

in 1939 under the Southern Railway with electric trains operating between

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and Gillingham. Steam trains continued to pass through the station on their way to/from the Kent Coast until June 1959 when those services were then also turned over to electric operation under British Railways. With the start of summer timetable in 1961, the true location of the station was recognised when it was renamed 'Longfield for Fawkham & Hartley' from 12 June. By the end of the 1960s the cumbersome appendences were dropped in favour of plain Longfield, although the longer name survived on some signs and tickets well into the next decade. The station building built following the fire of 1900 was demolished in 1971 and replaced by the contemporary CLASP prefabricated design favoured by British Rail. Usage of the station has grown considerably in the last thirty years, as it rests within a large catchment area of residential development. The frequency of services and journey times to and from London also attracts commuters away from the slower North Kent Line services provided at Gravesend, Northfleet and Swanscombe stations.

Services

All services at Longfield are operated by

using , and EMUs. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 2 tph to (1 of these runs non-stop from and 1 calls at ) * 1 tph to * 1 tph to via On Sundays, the service is reduced to hourly in each direction.

References

External links

{{TSGN and SE Stations, Chatham=y, Ashford=y, SN None=y Transport in the Borough of Dartford Railway stations in Kent Former London, Chatham and Dover Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1872 Railway stations served by Southeastern