The last time we did this,
it was a cold November morning.
Today, it's a coldish misty December morning.
Don't- Where are you going? Don't run away
(laugh)
And this time I'm with my friend Martin.
Hello.
Introduce the station to which we're going to.
Swale.
Excellent.
(intro music)
Hello, can I get a return to Sheerness, please?
For today, yeah.
Thank you.
So we're going to Swale in Kent,
but I bought my ticket for Sheerness.
Which is at the end of the line
because I suspect that there won't be a gate.
There won't be a member of staff.
It's going to be an unmanned station, isn't it?
So we'll be able to get off,
go look at Swale and then carry on to Sheerness.
I'm trying to get some shots out
of the window to be like,
Hey, look, here's the window.
But the view from the window is just fog, basically.
It's a little misty this morning.
My voice. Blimey.
This is the midway complete with its submarine.
(announcement ding)
We will shortly be arriving at Rochester.
Please check that you have all of your personal belongings
with you when leaving the train.
(announcer continues indistinctly)
I love that.
Someone put on Twitter the other day,
"Please ensure you have all your
personal belongings with you."
They were like, "first, my personal belongings
are at home.
Why would they be on the train?"
(Geoff laughing)
I found that very funny.
Why is there a submarine in the midway?
It used to be open to the public
as a attraction and then closed pending refurbishment,
which it's never had.
Right, how many stops until, where are we going?
Sittingbourne.
We've got to change.
Martin's going to tell you off the top of his head,
all the stops between here and Sittingbourne.
Chatham, Gillingham
If I think about it long enough
it'll come up on the scrolling screen.
Would it be Rainham by chance?
Aye, and then Sittingbourne.
There's four.
We're right about the mist and the fog.
The sun has come out.
It's still a little bit misty.
I'm hoping that next half an hour,
the mist is going to lift.
And we're pulling into Sittingbourne now.
How long has our connection time?
About 12 minutes.
12 minutes.
So that's time for another tea.
That man doesn't so does there's a Costa somewhere.
There's a pumpkin.
Definitely.
Yeah, definitely going to get another cup of tea
Shuttle leaving Sittingbourne.
Here go the doors.
To Swale.
It's very exciting.
That's incredible auto focus on my thumb
to leave my face like that.
It's like the macro.
Sorry, we're at Kemsley.
Kemsley.
Teach it.
The line is all single branch,
but this is the passing point.
It is the passing point.
Let have a look.
(doors opening)
No, no.
Will there be a ticket machine or will it be,
will it be a permit to travel machine?
That's the questions.
I think there'll be...
I think it'll be a proper ticket machine.
I think it'll be a permit to travel machine.
The teas are on whoever loses.
Okay.
No, there's going to be a ticket machine, isn't it?
Because it actually gets, this the weird thing about Swale-
(announcement dig)
You will shortly be arriving at Swale.
It gets a regular service.
The SRA many years ago,
tried to turn it into a public interest station.
It was suggested to be done right.
But yeah, there's a big, there's a big road,
one side and there's a big marsh land on the other side.
Welcome to Swale.
Here we go.
Okay.
Should we see if we can get away from here?
From the conductor?
There's not a lot here.
There's nothing here.
(Martin and Geoff laughing)
So, what's here?
Nothing.
Pretty much nothing.
Single track curve platform.
There is a dot matrix indicator.
There's this enormous low bridge.
So basically, yeah, we'll do the history
of the station in a minute and we'll have a little explore.
But basically you come here for the bridge, right?
Yes.
So, yeah, it's a single track,
but the platform is long enough for eight cars
And we just reached the end of the platform
and off the Southern end of the platform you can see-
I was going to say it goes to two tracks, but is there...
What's the points about.
If the train speeds that's to protect,
to stop it coming onto the incoming line.
So the train will go into the dirt
and not meet an incoming train.
Apparently 5,000 people a year use this station
Pause right there.
Literally, literally, as we were between, was it Kimball?
Kempston? What was it?
Kemsley.
Kemsley and Swale.
My friend texts me to say the new figures out.
So literally as we're recording this today,
the new figures from the office of Rail and Road Regulation,
I really have to learn who that is.
So we got to go online now and find out the new,
See what the new figures are.
what the new figures are.
You couldn't be more pertinent,
but your point make around 5,000 people use this.
Where do they come from?
(Geoff laughing)
Because there is nothing.
The nearest town is called Iwade.
I hope it's pronounced I-wade and not Ee-wad
or something.
And that's in that direction.
We're about to have our ticket machine question answered
except it's out of service.
(Geoff laughing)
(Car engine)
Yeah, so they're every half an hour.
So Sheerness, oh four and 34
going the other way to Sittingbourne.
There at 29 and 59.
And then-
Victoria gets
So what's the difference?
They all change at Victoria.
So B is changed at Sittingbourne.
C is changed at Sittingbourne.
So is there no direct
E is changed at Sittingbourne.
There's no direct.
So why do they bother distinguishing
between B, C, and E?
I don't understand.
I think I want to say that the station
used to call Kings ferry,
maybe Kings Ferry Port.
There was certainly a time when the bridge that used to be
here collapsed back in the 1920s.
And Swale, Kings Ferry, having to staff hold.
But then they put a station on the north side
and on the south side.
So it was literally to enable people,
when the bridge was down, to get the train
right up to the water, get a ferry across
and then pick up the train on the other side.
But nowadays, yeah, King's Ferry Boat Club.
King's Ferry Boat Club
So, it was called King ferry,
but I'll put a link to Wikipedia in the description.
Look it up for yourself.
But it's, there's a couple of bridges
and some water and not a lot else.
There was a lift bridge here,
but I like the fact that the railway
goes right alongside the road.
Just over here.
(train engine)
Just seeing this plaque.
This tablet commemorates the opening of
the Kings Ferry bridge in 1960.
Our train should've been here by now.
I can see it coming.
How was your morning out in Swale?
Lovely.
If you were to sum up your Swale experience?
Yes.
There's not a lot to say, is there?
I like how you've been responsible.
I have picked up the coffee cups.
The tea cups.
You've picked up the the tea cups,
and I've got nothing.
And they will go in the bin on the train
because there are no bins here.
There are no bins here.
So basically at Swale there's a bridge,
an out of service ticket machine,
and a bus stop with a very infrequent bus service
And a frequent train service.
And a very frequent train service.
(doors closing)
Final point, we just spoke to the conductor
of the train and he said
that normally the only passenger he ever sees
that gets on and off at Swale is the guy
that works on the bridge, which is great.
So that Swale's regular passenger.
The bridge working guy.
The seasoned ticket holder if there is one.
(Geoff laughing)
(announcement ding)
Next station is Queenborough.
(outro music)