Rail Safety sessions with Leigh Academy at Paddock Wood station, Thursday 15th May
We were delighted to join Daniel Rushbrook, station manager, to welcome three groups of Year 3 young learners from Leigh Academy to Paddock Wood station.
Year 3 are learning about the key features of their community and how it has changed over time. The station has been important to the growth of the town and as 2025 marks 200 years of passenger rail travel we were happy to help them explore its history.
We began by sharing some key rail safety messages.
Using the rail safety quiz from the Travel Safe Travel Smart centre, Year 3 learned that the railway is a safe place so long as you use it the right way. Trains are very fast and heavy, sometimes travelling over 100 miles per hour and weighing as much as 80 elephants. From full speed, trains can take the length of 20 football pitches to stop in an emergency. The electric power for the trains is always on and is much stronger than the electricity in your home, you must not get close to it. You should stand behind the yellow line when you are on the platform and always keep off the tracks to stay safe.
Our next session covered the history of the station.
The first passenger rail services began on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in September 1825 and railway fever soon gripped the country.
In 1842 Paddock Wood station opened as “Maidstone Road”. At this time the station was the closest to the county town of Maidstone, with a horse and carriage service connecting passengers six times a day. The area around the station was still mostly fields and woodlands, the station encouraged Paddock Wood to grow. The railway reached Maidstone in 1844, and the station changed its name to Paddock Wood.
Railways changed the way people could live their lives, offering journeys much faster and more comfortable than a horse and carriage. The 1860’s saw the arrival of mass tourism with seaside specials and trips to scenic areas such as the Lake District. The railways enabled people to order goods from much further afield. “Mail Order” services, the forerunner of today’s online shopping began in 1861 thanks to the railway. People could also travel more easily for work, from the 1870s “Hop-Pickers Specials” were organised in September to bring families from London to help with the harvests in Kent. In 1892 another track was opened from the station, heading south to Hawkhusrt and known affectionately as the “Hop Pickers Line”.
Railways were the great innovation of the Victorian age, enabling the movement of people and goods to power the industrial revolution. However in the early 20th century roads improved, as the years passed cars became cheaper and more common place, as did road haulage in vans, trucks, lorries and buses. The railway could not always compete.
In 1963, Dr Richard Beeching published a report on the future of Britain’s railways which would see many lines close as they no longer carried enough passengers and freight to cover the costs of running them. The “Hop Pickers Line” had already closed in 1961, thanks to the work of local conservation groups you can read about its history when you visit the station and the town.
Following this part of the visit, Daniel took the young learners onto the platform, explaining the safety features. As well as the yellow line, Daniel pointed out lighting to help people move about the station safely after dark, help points to seek advice when the ticket office is closed, the footbridge to move between platforms, with lifts for people who can find the stairs difficult and ramps that Southeastern staff can use to make it easier for those who cannot step on and off of a train to be able to travel.
At the end of each visit we gave out tote bags with a copy of Arlo’s Adventures, a pick-a-path railway safety book, and let our young learners choose some sweets to take with them for later.
Tutors have tied these sessions into their wider curriculum work, helping their young learners to think about the community of Paddock Wood, how it was affected by the building of a train station and its implications for the area. The classes have created a balanced pros and cons list, posters and speeches about why they should have trains.
Everybody who visited the station was attentive, grateful and remembered the key safety message “Keep off the tracks”.
It was a pleasure to be able to help them with their learning by supporting their visit to the station.
