[Sussex] Newick and Chailey Station last days.

[GREASED WEASEL]

You can still see the end of it (boarded up) in Black Path (or at least you could a couple of years ago when I was last there).

they should really make something of that

it's well worth seeing

when you look at the new(ish) station
it just doesn't compare

 

[kevo]

Lewes to Uck cut was bonkers - post-Beeching as well. Why break up the network for the sake of 7 miles? Would provide an alternative London to Brighton route too.

Some lines had to close tho - Tunbridge Wells to East Grinstead, a line which ran across the top of the Ashdown Forest! How many people used that? I have a BR timetable from 1950. It tells me the last departure from EG was 10.35pm on weekdays, arriving at TW at 11.12. Surely it was completely empty most evenings?

 

[Eeyore]

Lewes to Uck cut was bonkers - post-Beeching as well. Why break up the network for the sake of 7 miles? Would provide an alternative London to Brighton route too.

Some lines had to close tho - Tunbridge Wells to East Grinstead, a line which ran across the top of the Ashdown Forest! How many people used that? I have a BR timetable from 1950. It tells me the last departure from EG was 10.35pm on weekdays, arriving at TW at 11.12. Surely it was completely empty most evenings?

i was told this cut was due to the desire for industrial estate. It certainly seems a very foolish decision.

 

[kevo]

i was told this cut was due to the desire for industrial estate. It certainly seems a very foolish decision.

The line is still there I think. The industrial estate runs alongside it. The original plan was to terminate the line at Crowborough I believe but campaigners managed to keep it open as far as Uckfield.

 

[Grombleton]

Great vid, thanks for sharing.

Coming from a long line of family who worked on the railways, it's always a pleasure to see. I still have plans to recreate a scale model of my village with the old station still running but time is but a cruel mistress. My plan this summer is to walk/cycle a number of old lines to recapture and visit some long-lost stations.

 

[silverwizard]

I have always understood that the Uckfield-Lewes line was closed because a new bridge needed to be built for the line to cross the proposed relief road in Lewes. British Rail refused to build the bridge because they felt the cost was not economically viable. The road was built in the mid to late 60’s.

 

[GT49er]

Lewes to Uck cut was bonkers - post-Beeching as well. Why break up the network for the sake of 7 miles? Would provide an alternative London to Brighton route too.

Some lines had to close tho - Tunbridge Wells to East Grinstead, a line which ran across the top of the Ashdown Forest! How many people used that? I have a BR timetable from 1950. It tells me the last departure from EG was 10.35pm on weekdays, arriving at TW at 11.12. Surely it was completely empty most evenings?

It (Lewes to Eridge) was a Beeching proposal - one of quite a few that weren't implemented straightaway, usually due to local protests (or because it adversely affected the local MP!)

Industrial (and more often housing estates) often did spring up - building firms wanted to make a quick buck; wonders will never cease! - but such developments were often encouraged by the anti-rail government of the day to prevent the likelihood of a bunch of weirdos trying to restore them n the future.

 

[GT49er]

Great vid, thanks for sharing.

Coming from a long line of family who worked on the railways, it's always a pleasure to see. I still have plans to recreate a scale model of my village with the old station still running but time is but a cruel mistress. My plan this summer is to walk/cycle a number of old lines to recapture and visit some long-lost stations.

Count me in! - if you can persuade Julia Bradbury to come along too!

 

[Eeyore]

There is a story told, confirmed by a relation of the local mayor at the time, that Beeching was especially harsh on the routes out of East Grinstead. This being because he was a local resident who didn't want to be seen as biased.

 

[GT49er]

There is a story told, confirmed by a relation of the local mayor at the time, that Beeching was especially harsh on the routes out of East Grinstead. This being because he was a local resident who didn't want to be seen as biased.

Au contraire, I think. Have you never wondered why the line from East Grinstead (Beeching's home) to his work in London never closed?

 

[Eeyore]

Au contraire, I think. Have you never wondered why the line from East Grinstead (Beeching's home) to his work in London never closed?

I'm guessing that it would have been a profitable line being a direct route to London. The other three lines went, including the mad decision to cut the Crawley line.

 

[kevo]

I'm guessing that it would have been a profitable line being a direct route to London. The other three lines went, including the mad decision to cut the Crawley line.

View attachment 119438

What's the valley railway marked on that map - proposed route from Uck to Hailsham?

 

[GT49er]

I'm guessing that it would have been a profitable line being a direct route to London. The other three lines went, including the mad decision to cut the Crawley line.

Well, it would have had at least one first class annual season ticket holder, wouldn't it.

I rememberz at the time Private Eye published a 'revised' version of the map of British Railways post Beeching. It had one line on it, one end at Victoria, the other at East Grinstead.

 

[Eeyore]

What's the valley railway marked on that map - proposed route from Uck to Hailsham?

Yes. All the stranger given that the drawing is from 1951. I guess some folk never gave up hope.

 

[GT49er]

What's the valley railway marked on that map - proposed route from Uck to Hailsham?

The Ouse Valley Railway - along with the St. Leonards Railway from Hailsham to St. Leonards - a half-arsed proposal from the mid to late 1800s. Never got anywhere.

 

[kevo]

A half-arsed proposal from the mid to late 1800s. Never got anywhere.

Edit

 

[GT49er]

When does that map date from, out of interest?

I don't know - but the lines from the Ouse viaduct to Uckfield to Hailsham to St. Leonards are shown as proposed lines, never built - look at the key in the top right.

 

[Boys 9d]

Ouse Valley Railway

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouse_Valley_Railway

 

[seagurn]

There was also talk of uck to glynde they built the hotel for the station at the top of moore lane along laughton road which would of served ringmer .
Also they started constructon of the uck line to what i always thought was haywards hth as when i was a lad there was a massive cutting about half a mile outside uck that used to be one of the drives for a shoot i used to help out on.

 

[goldstone]

I don't know - but the lines from the Ouse viaduct to Uckfield to Hailsham to St. Leonards are shown as proposed lines, never built - look at the key in the top right.

There were some earthworks done on the Ouse Valley Line before the plug was pulled. You can see them along Copyhold Lane near the Balcombe viaduct, and at the Uckfield end in fields to the west of the bypass.