It is 13 miles 65 chains (22.2 km) down the line from London Charing Cross and is situated between Petts Wood and Chelsfield stations.

Previously, trains between London and Tunbridge Wells had taken a circuitous route via Redhill.

[4] About this time the Southern Heights Light Railway was proposed, which would have diverged from the main line south of Orpington and finished at Sanderstead.

[5] Crofton Roman Villa was partly destroyed by a railway cutting in the late 1800s but was rediscovered in 1926 when work was carried out to the area to the west of the station entrance as an entrance to a new council building.

Platforms 3 and 4 are an island, 3 used by trains towards Ashford International or Tunbridge Wells and 4 by stopping services from Sevenoaks to Charing Cross or Cannon Street.

Jo Johnson, who was serving as the MP for Orpington, as well as David Statham, Southeastern's Managing Director at the time, were hosting the event.