Do you have any books you’ve finished with? If so, Friends of Otford Station would love to take them off your hands to sell in their charity book stall. Donating is really easy. All you need to do is pop into the station and add your books to the shelves in the waiting area near the ticket office, and that’s it!
A Happy New Year.
As we begin 2024, here are a few photograps of our work at the station from November and December. As always, a massive thank you to James and the team !
The big news is that we have created a brand new feature around the North Downs Way sign.
We are not quite finished yet, but we have made excellent progress transforming this patch of waste ground to the left of the station building into an interesting little garden.
The creation of a garden here was actually the original suggestion of one of our friends at Southeastern, and we have been happy to turn the idea into reality.
We have also been refreshing some of the bulbs on Platform 2, ready for Spring.
The planter on Platform 1 has been given a new winter look….
And, all the window boxes have been renewed as well….
The other big news is that we have just been nominated in the “It’s Your Station” – Silver Category at the Community Rail Network Awards. The results will be announced at a ceremony in Cardiff in March.
To help celebrate, we have had these lovely badges made for all our volunteers !
And finally, for all our steam fans, locomotive 34046 “Braunton” passed through the station again on Saturday 16th December with a Christmas rail tour from Gloucester to Canterbury. Here she is on the approach to Otford.
As summer 2023 draws to a close, here are a few photographs taken at the station over the last few months. All of the fabulous floral displays are made possible by the hard work of James and his team of wonderful volunteers.
Our beautiful planter on Platform 1 in full bloom….
Our lovely window boxes and hanging baskets….
Our new garden around the North Downs Way sign….
The unveiling of our “History of Otford Station” posters on both Plaforms in late June….
The visit of steam locomotive “Bahamas” on 9th August…..
As Spring begins the daffodils planted last year are starting to bloom. The borders alongside platform 2, the planter on platform 1 and the window boxes are all alive with colour.
This is all a big tribute to James and his wonderful team of gardeners who came out in the rain to plant all the bulbs back in Autumn.
The people in charge of the North Downs Way, one of the country’s national trails, have erected a large directional sign just outside the station. Hopefully, this will be of real benefit to visitors from London and elsewhere.
It shows the whole 153 mile trail which passes in front of the station. Suggested walks along the path to nearby stations at Cuxton and Oxted are also mentioned.
On Saturday 3rd March, West Country Class, 34046 “Braunton” heads the Golden Arrow rail tour from Birmingham to Canterbury through Otford.
The train returned to Birmingham the same evening and is seen here racing through Otford as darkness fell.
On Saturday 1st April, another rail tour to Canterbury, this time from Bristol, passed through Otford, headed by B1, 61306 “Mayflower.” The event was well publicized on social media and drew a crowd of more than 70 to the station.
The train returned to Bristol via Sevenoaks and Orpington and is seen here on the climb from Dunton Green.
As the winter weather arrives at Otford, here is just a very quick update of what has been going on over the past few months with the Friends of Otford Station….
The big news is that James and his wonderful group of volunteers spent two weekends back in November doing even more planting.
The first weekend, in very wet weather, saw the planting of bulbs all the way alongside Platform 2.
We are all now waiting in anticipation to see what an array of colour the arrival of spring will bring.
Meanwhile, on the second weekend, the window boxes at the front of the station were refreshed with winter plants.
On Remembrance Day, Otford witnessed a brief return of steam power.
To mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War, locomotive 45596 “Bahamas” underwent a temporary change in identity to become scrapped classmate 45606 “Falkland Islands.”
The engine steamed through the station in the late afternoon of Friday 11th November heading for Victoria on its way back from Margate on a special rail tour.
December 12th saw the launch of the new weekday timetable. First class on Southeastern trains has now been abolished and there is a new service direct to Charing Cross calling at Swanley, London Bridge and Waterloo East.
Sadly, the bad weather got the better of the railway on the first day and the inaugural service had to be cancelled. Hopefully things will get a bit better soon !
On August 7th, following on from creating the new display in the planter on Platform 1, James and 12 volunteers planted up 6 new window boxes to go along the front of the station. The task was completed in a record time of just half an hour.
Coolings were super generous and donated everything needed for the window boxes free of charge. The aim was to incorporate drought proof plants and pollinator friendly plants.
The following were planted in peat free compost:
6 x Salvia Victoria Blue (“Thriller”)
3 x pack of six red geranium (“Filler”)
12 x bacopia gold (“Spiller”)
The team are now arranging a rota for watering and deadheading to keep the boxes looking good. The next step is to think about Autumn plants.
We have now assembled a team of 19 volunteers, and we are now ready for the challenge of keeping the station looking nice. The first job for our horticultural team, led by James Holdak, was to create a display in our new metal planter on Platform 1, using plants donated by the wonderful people at Coolings Garden Centre.
The following were planted:
4 x Helianthus Sunbelievable brown eyed girl (sunflowers)
6 x Orange marigolds
6 x Yellow marigolds
4 x Convolvulus Trailing blue
2 x Petunia Night sky (purple trumpet shaped flowers)
The planter was looking splendid in the bright sunshine on August 11th when a rail tour heading for Canterbury passed through the station