I was in Gillingham, just absolutely devoured 2 supersize whopper meals in Burger King and needed to walk it off before I chundered everywhere, so I walked up to HMS Wildfire to see if any 'progress' had been made (but as expected nothing new except the gate to the ditch had been taken down), so I thought why not take a stroll up to the disused railway line as I've been wanting to take a look for years but never got round to it...
There is only one other report on this which was uploaded nearly 2 years ago, and you can see from comparing the 2 how nature is slowly taking the tracks back. As this isn't well documented I've made it quite picture heavy.
I couldn't find much on the history on this site (after all it's just a set of train tracks), but this railway line stretches from Gillingham to Chatham Docks (Asda), and used to connect to the current railway used by Southeastern. Below is a map issued by Medway Council:
So anyway, here's some pictures (just going to say sorry for the quality in advance, it had been absolutely pissing it down all day so the lighting wasn't all that great).
This is one of the ends of the track (Chatham Docks/Asda side)
Standard railway sign
Works walkway next to the track
The rails have been removed here but their supporting clamps have been left there
Starting to rust
3 rails, might give an idea as to how old/new it is
Nice view of Kent Police station
Starting to get a bit overgrown from here
Can barely even make out the tracks
Cool little bridge, it shocked me how stable the metal struts are
Literally no play at all
More overgrowing
Spiky bastard of a tree growing in the middle of the tracks, I'd love to see what the roots do to the thick metal tracks in a decade or so
Maybe a railway geek will know what this is used for, no idea
It's weird how the overgrowth just stops, and it gives you an idea of how bad it's getting in some parts
Leading to what has to be one of the best sights down here
My potatocam doesn't do this any justice, but the trees have grown up so high and the area just opens up
View attachment 741364
So that's that, get there soon if you don't want to get spiked by all the bushes and harassed by bees and wasps
There is only one other report on this which was uploaded nearly 2 years ago, and you can see from comparing the 2 how nature is slowly taking the tracks back. As this isn't well documented I've made it quite picture heavy.
I couldn't find much on the history on this site (after all it's just a set of train tracks), but this railway line stretches from Gillingham to Chatham Docks (Asda), and used to connect to the current railway used by Southeastern. Below is a map issued by Medway Council:
So anyway, here's some pictures (just going to say sorry for the quality in advance, it had been absolutely pissing it down all day so the lighting wasn't all that great).
This is one of the ends of the track (Chatham Docks/Asda side)
Standard railway sign
Works walkway next to the track
The rails have been removed here but their supporting clamps have been left there
Starting to rust
3 rails, might give an idea as to how old/new it is
Nice view of Kent Police station
Starting to get a bit overgrown from here
Can barely even make out the tracks
Cool little bridge, it shocked me how stable the metal struts are
Literally no play at all
More overgrowing
Spiky bastard of a tree growing in the middle of the tracks, I'd love to see what the roots do to the thick metal tracks in a decade or so
Maybe a railway geek will know what this is used for, no idea
It's weird how the overgrowth just stops, and it gives you an idea of how bad it's getting in some parts
Leading to what has to be one of the best sights down here
My potatocam doesn't do this any justice, but the trees have grown up so high and the area just opens up
View attachment 741364
So that's that, get there soon if you don't want to get spiked by all the bushes and harassed by bees and wasps
