Gillingham Abandoned Railway line

Location: Gillingham

date - November 2017    

Access - Nope

I explored these railway tracks for the first time in 2013 and returned with a friend in 2017. It felt like going back to where my exploration journey began. Not much has changed since my first visit, except the area has become overgrown. This time, we ventured all the way down to the entrance of ASDA, which now occupies the site where the old docks used to be located. The markings on the tracks indicated that they once led to those old docks. Additionally, we noticed a nuclear waste site nearby.

Chatham Dockyard branch line - Gillingham

Welcome to my blog! This is my first-ever urban exploration (urbex), and I want to share my experience of an abandoned train line that runs from Gillingham train station all the way down to what is now Gillingham Asda. This train line has been abandoned since mid-2010 due to the bridge becoming unsafe. I remember seeing a train run along these tracks, and we always referred to it as the "ghost train." When I explored this the tracks had only been abandoned for about three years, and I have to say it was one of the easiest explorations I’ve done. Getting onto the tracks was straightforward, and walking along them was quite simple. We spent about two hours down there, undisturbed, just enjoying the peace and quiet. The railway line was in operation from 1877 until mid-2010 when it became abandoned due to the bridge becoming unsalvageable. The tracks were primarily used as a freight line to deliver materials to the docks. Since then, the line has been disconnected from both the docks and the main track line and has become extremely overgrown. Gillingham Asda now sits where the docks once were.