Knockholt railway station


Knockholt railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line, located in the London Borough of Bromley, Greater London. It is down the line from London Charing Cross and is situated between and stations. It is in London fare zone 6 and is located next to the Greater London boundary within the Kent district of Sevenoaks. The boundary is the farm bridge at the southern end of the platforms.
There is a tunnel to the south of the station, not far from the station itself.
The station consists of a ticket office, a bike rack, a small shelter on platform 1 and a slightly larger shelter on platform 2. There is a footbridge connecting the two platforms.
The station is situated between Chelsfield and Dunton Green.
The station saw 477 entries/exits daily in 2024.

Location

The station is north-northeast of the village of Knockholt but closer to several other settlements. The station serves several small communities in the Sevenoaks district of Kent in addition to Knockholt; Badgers Mount to the southeast, Well Hill northeast, and Halstead south. Within the Bromley borough Pratt's Bottom is only west-southwest; and also Chelsfield at about to the north and west. To avoid confusion with Halstead in Essex it was named after the next closest village. The station is operated by southeastern and only metro stopping services call here. The platforms, like all stations on the London to Sevenoaks route, has space for 12 coaches. Northbound trains with 8 coaches will have their rear carriages further up the platform past the bridge.
The station has only got step-free access to one platform and has no toilets. This station is for passengers requiring the villages of Badgers Mount, Well Hill, Knockholt or Halstead. The ticket office is usually only open from 6-9 am on weekdays.

Services

All services at Knockholt are operated by Southeastern using,, and EMUs.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
Connections onto fast services to London,, and The Kent Coast can be made by changing at or. From Sevenoaks you can change onto Thameslink services to or via and Southeastern services to via or via.
From Orpington you can get Southeastern Services to and Thameslink services to

History

When the South Eastern Railway opened their "cut off" line through Orpington, Sevenoaks to Tonbridge in 1868, there was no station between Chelsfield and Dunton Green. A Knockholt Vestry meeting in March 1871 resolved to request the SER to build a station for Knockholt but this request was initially refused. Eventually, the SER agreed to provide a station if a £3,000 contribution was provided by "local parties,". This was raised and "Halstead for Knockholt" was opened in 1876.
Between 1887 and 1915 a twice daily bus service operated from Knockholt village to the station.
In 1899 the SER joined with its arch rival to form the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. Alfred Smithers, who had moved to Knockholt in 1881, became deputy chairman of the SECR. At the strong suggestion of Smithers, the station name was changed to "Knockholt" in 1900 to avoid the confusion which had arisen with Halstead Station in Essex.