25th January 2025 – Sittingbourne Station Birthday Celebrations
On Saturday 25th January, Kent Community Rail Partnership and Southeastern celebrated the 167th birthday of Sittingbourne Train Station.
Gathering at 11am, with our station adopters, the 4th Milton Regis Cub Pack, and volunteers, we got the party started, with a happy birthday announcement over the Tanoy, followed by birthday cake in the foyer.
Southeastern staff, in particular Supervisor on Duty Mitchell Jukes, were incredibly helpful in making the whole event run very smoothly.
Passengers and passers by joined the celebrations, enjoying the cake and learning about the 167 years of Sittingbourne’s history.
A glimpse into the past
Sittingbourne Station was opened on 25th January 1868. At this time, neighbouring stations of Faversham and Rainham opened on this special day too.
As part of Rail 200, the national celebrations marking 200 years since the very beginning of passenger rail travel in the UK (1825), we’ll be celebrating the main train station birthdays along the Swale Rail Line (running from Sittingbourne to Sheerness). With the Sittingbourne birthday being the first we have celebrated in 2025.
Southeastern Supervisor Ian Bennett kindly found some vintage images of Sittingbourne station across the decades, and with the help of Station Manager Ben Donnelly, had them printed and displayed in the Foyer.
Unique stories & rail connections
Among those joining the celebrations, were Sheila and Allan Woodcock. Quite amazingly Sheila was also celebrating her birthday that day, and thoroughly enjoyed a slice of cake as a nod to both herself and the station, and their shared birthday.


To add to the coincidence Alan had worked for decades on the railways joining in 1966, and thought the celebrations were a wonderful touch.
Our hard-working volunteers, Linda Brinklow, Jonathan Fryer and Dominic Noades did an excellent job in distributing cakes out to all. Thank you for their time and commitment.
The celebration atmosphere continued through the afternoon with cupcakes available in the foyer for the rest of the day.
A big thank you to all of the Southeastern Staff involved for making it so special.
Happy Birthday Sittingbourne!