Mistakes of the 60s - cuckoo line

[nomis1066]

20-25 years ago I was out and about checking out some locations on the long closed Cuckoo Line that ran from Polegate through Heathfield and Eridge - this will be the 50th year since that railway was closed between Hailsham and Redgate Mill Junction.

Without exception - all the towns that lost their railway in 65, and finally 68 when Hailsham - Polegate shut, have expanded considerably and would, I'm sure, like the trains back again. But it can't happen as so much of the route has totally disappeared.

Here are some photos taken recently with some then and now shots comparing locations when I first photographed them with today. It is a sadly rewarding hobby checking out a shut railway - never more so then when I found two signal posts in the woods near Redgate Mill Junction recently. That was thanks to a Hastings Diesels compadre giving me directions.

Hailsham has just the station master's house left which the current owner kindly allowed me to photograph. As did the lady at Rotherfield. Heathfield Tunnel only sees wheels of the cycle and skate board variety now, Hellingly station is now much obscured by trees and there's just a hint of irony in the old up platform at Horam being occupied by a block of flats.

 

[yorksrob]

Thanks for posting a really interesting set of pictures. It's particularly interesting to see how even a closed railway can change within the space of twenty five years, especially as the route looks rather less derelict now than then.

I agree that given the size of the various settlements along it, the route would be very busy by now.

 

[mr_jrt]

It's a shame really, as I've long regarded it as one of the "mainline grid" railways we could have had, had it been retained - by that I mean (forgive any silly errors - I mused this a loooong time ago):

• Clapham-Wimbledon-Surbiton-Woking-Southampton
• Clapham-Wimbledon-Surbiton-Woking-Fareham
• Clapham-Wimbledon-Surbiton-Guildford-Portsmouth
• Clapham-Wimbledon-Leatherhead-Horsham-Littlehampton
• Clapham-Croydon-Redhill-Three Bridges-Brighton
• Lewisham-Sanderstead-Oxted-East Grinstead-Seaford
• Lewisham-Sanderstead-Oxted-Eridge-Eastbourne
• Lewisham-Bromley-Sevenoaks-Tunbridge Wells-Hastings
• Lewisham-Swanley-Maidstone-Ashford-Folkstone
• Lewisham-Bexley-Dartford-Canterbury-Ramsgate

These would dive into Crossrail-esque tunnels at the first station listed, have some sort of orbital link between the second ones, another orbital between the 3rd and so on until you get to the coastway line linking the ends.

...along the lines of this: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zoWagaM06p7o.kgAySrwjmpk8

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Hailsham has just the station master's house left which the current owner kindly allowed me to photograph. As did the lady at Rotherfield. Heathfield Tunnel only sees wheels of the cycle and skate board variety now, Hellingly station is now much obscured by trees and there's just a hint of irony in the old up platform at Horam being occupied by a block of flats.

With regards to Hellingley, this was a railway area that I made visits to and researches upon many years ago in relation to the Hellingley Hospital Railway.

On the Cuckoo Line, Hellingley was the only one of the now-closed stations that had only one platform, which was situated on the up side of the running lines. When that railway station was first opened in April 1880, it was there to serve the sizeable land area that lay between Horam and Hailsham railway stations.

In the area to that lay between Hellingley and Hailsham stations lay the proposed line of the Ouse Valley Railway of 20 miles in length that was authorised by an Act of Parliament and had some works effected upon it in 1863/4, but was abandoned in February 1867.

 

[nomis1066]

Indeed - Hellingly was an interesting station with that overhead electric link to the hospital, now I believe, long gone. The site of the hospital platform was all overgrown when I visited back in 87/88.

I suspect Hellingly would have been the most remote of the Cuckoo Line stations but that village has also expanded and is now almost a suburb of Hailsham.

 

[nomis1066]

I use Southern to get to work at 3 Bridges signalling centre and when they all pile on at Polegate I do wonder how many have driven down from Hailsham where what could be a viable railway has been built on with just the station master's house left as I posted previously. The SM's house is visible to the left on the 2nd photo down - the white building. Isn't is somewhat ironic that the rest of what was a sizeable station has disappeared under housing?

And old railway towns frequently retain their link with the steel wheel with place names - such as pubs and street names. Hailsham is no exception.

 

[nomis1066]

This was where the Cuckoo Line joined up with the line from Uckfield continuing on up to Eridge which must have kept it's signalman busy with lines radiating off in four directions - London via Croydon, via Tunbridge Wells, Eastbourne via Hailsham and Brighton via Uckfield.

Sad to see Eridge as it is today and it is a major indictment of UK transport policy that the old place only really shows what it can still do when Spa Valley trains come down from Tunbridge Wells West which will feature in a future posting.

Eridge box remains - just. It was so overgrown that I didn't realise it was still there till my Spa Valley train started back towards Groombridge and T Wells West. I drove back a few weeks later and just found a space to park and was interested to note the overflow parking that made getting down the road past the station a challenge. Plenty of people use the Uckfield line now - and that will also feature in a future posting! There are around 25 years between the two photos on my then and now shot of Eridge signalbox.

Playing around with the ticket machine at Eridge resulted in a bargain fare to Lewes - £23.60 single - er, via East Croydon. But we'll look at that in more detail in a while!

Redgate Mill Junction - an interesting afternoon checking that out. Trackbed is clearly visible heading south to Rotherfield with up and down signal posts still there - the down signal retains a lot more of it's equipment and is appropriately in the on position. Redgate Mill Lane was a good place to get one photo showing two railway bridges - one long closed and the other still carrying trains to and from Uckfield.

 

[steamybrian]

As possibly one of the few readers of this forum who actually travelled over the line before it closed so I have poignant memories of it.
Whilst we can look back and consider it was a mistake but by the mid 1960s there was a slow decline in passenger usage because the car was "king". Like so many of the branch lines at the time that was losing money little effort was made to make economies. Stations were fully manned and signal boxes were fully open from the first train to the last train.
I was advised by someone working in BR SR HQ that the Polegate to Hailsham section was running at a small profit when closed in 1968 but the need for heavy investment in infrastructure made it uneconomic to invest.
Since closure the towns of Hailsham and Heathfield have multiplied and it is ironic that some of the housing development at Hailsham covers former railway land. I am sure that if the Cuckoo Line was open today it would be in a simplified system but traffic would be booming similar to the nearby Uckfield line. The Uckfield line narrowly escaped closure in 1969 but who could have seen what the future holds.
The decisions made by railway planners today may in 50 years time be considered wrong because peoples travel plans may have changed.

Finally I will add that the old signal box at Eridge has been retained by Network Rail for the future use of the Spa Valley Railway. They have been in negotiation with NR to restore it and it is hoped that restoration will start later in 2015 after work by NR to extend the up platform has been completed during Spring 2015.

 

[yorksrob]

Given the success of The Marshlink in recent years, I often wonder whether the local network could have been saved with a simplified hourly service between Brighton and Tonbridge on the one hand and Oxted and Eastbourne on the other, timed to connect in both directions at Eridge.

 

[kentuckytony]

A wonderful collection of pictures by all of you. Thanks for sharing.

 

[steamybrian]

It would appear that you have not mentioned Mayfield. Whilst the A267 (Mayfield- by-pass) has been built along the site of the trackbed the station building is still standing. In construction of the by-pass the road builders removed the section of embankment the platforms were built on leaving the station building perched on the edge of the deep cutting in which the road is situated.
Many of the bridges/earthworks between Heathfield and Redgate Mill Junction have been left in situ for possible future conversion to a cyclepath and footpath. The Wealden District Council/ East Sussex Council adopted this policy after sections of the trackbed had already been sold by BR to private local landowners. The present owners are now reluctant to sell resulting in the Cuckoo Trail petering out north of Heathfield Tunnel and only a short section has been opened in the Argos Hill area.

 

[nomis1066]

It would appear that you have not mentioned Mayfield. Whilst the A267 (Mayfield- by-pass) has been built along the site of the trackbed the station building is still standing. In construction of the by-pass the road builders removed the section of embankment the platforms were built on leaving the station building perched on the edge of the deep cutting in which the road is situated.
Many of the bridges/earthworks between Heathfield and Redgate Mill Junction have been left in situ for possible future conversion to a cyclepath and footpath. The Wealden District Council/ East Sussex Council adopted this policy after sections of the trackbed had already been sold by BR to private local landowners. The present owners are now reluctant to sell resulting in the Cuckoo Trail petering out north of Heathfield Tunnel and only a short section has been opened in the Argos Hill area.

You are quite right - Mayfield is the one missing link which I need to get sorted - and will do so as soon as I can.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

As possibly one of the few readers of this forum who actually travelled over the line before it closed so I have poignant memories of it.
Whilst we can look back and consider it was a mistake but by the mid 1960s there was a slow decline in passenger usage because the car was "king". Like so many of the branch lines at the time that was losing money little effort was made to make economies. Stations were fully manned and signal boxes were fully open from the first train to the last train.
I was advised by someone working in BR SR HQ that the Polegate to Hailsham section was running at a small profit when closed in 1968 but the need for heavy investment in infrastructure made it uneconomic to invest.
Since closure the towns of Hailsham and Heathfield have multiplied and it is ironic that some of the housing development at Hailsham covers former railway land. I am sure that if the Cuckoo Line was open today it would be in a simplified system but traffic would be booming similar to the nearby Uckfield line. The Uckfield line narrowly escaped closure in 1969 but who could have seen what the future holds.
The decisions made by railway planners today may in 50 years time be considered wrong because peoples travel plans may have changed.

Finally I will add that the old signal box at Eridge has been retained by Network Rail for the future use of the Spa Valley Railway. They have been in negotiation with NR to restore it and it is hoped that restoration will start later in 2015 after work by NR to extend the up platform has been completed during Spring 2015.

Now that is good news re the old box at Eridge - I find it a sad sight in it's present state as I recall it when it was still open and well looked after. It is in equally poor condition inside as I was told recently by one of our on track people who occasionally finds himself on the Uckfield line.

Re Polegate Hailsham - there has been talk in past years of a light rail link between the two but as with all other "might happens" in this part of East Sussex - it has all come to nothing. And doing nothing we excel at, sadly.

The 60s was that decade when it was really fashionable to close railways and I think we are lucky to have the network we have today because other lines were under threat - like Hastings Ashford but by the end of that destructive decade, opposition groups had teeth (my economics teacher at Rye was involved in keeping that line open).

Yes - the car was changing attitudes all round - no doubt about that - and one can look at some lines and concede they didn't have a future - like, locally, Crowhurst to Bexhill West - but I just find it so ironic that while we were beavering away shutting lines, the Japanese were beavering away on their first High Speed Shinkansen which my pa travelled on. We have spent much of the intervening 50 years saying we didn't need High Speed only to become recent converts (after everyone else) and this will be at the expense of campaigns to put right, where possible, mistakes of the 60s - such as Uckfield Lewes.

Quite right - they didn't have crystal balls 50 years ago - but what might have appeared to be sound decisions re line closures then are clearly to be regretted in many cases today.

 

[nomis1066]

A little ironic that Eridge signal box on an open railway has fallen into such disrepair - though good news is that the Spa Valley Railway will take it on - while Bexhill West station that hasn't seen a train in 50 years or so is in fantastic condition and open for various types of business.

The Google view of Bexhill West shows how close it is to the Hastings Eastbourne line - divided by what is still called Terminus Road. The station still has the start of the platform canopy in place at the rear of the building - and you can find all manner of things going on there today - an antiques business, a food hall, a music shop and an excellent cafe - while sad not to see trains there I take my hat off to everyone there who keep the old place in such good condition.

The green sign - so I was told by the antiques man - was, to his knowledge, found at Sidley, the one intermediate station on this line. Sadly Sidley station has disappeared under the Hastings Bexhill link road - 3.5 miles of single carriageway a snip at £113 million. But that's another rant......

 

[nomis1066]

A wonderful collection of pictures by all of you. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks. Good to see message reaches out so far.

 

[nomis1066]

I sampled the delights of the Spa Valley Railway back in the summer - the first time I had travelled that line since BR shut it back in 85 - supposedly, as was rumoured at the time - as a precondition of electrifying Hastings to Tonbridge.

In those days I was a relief clerk on the old BR South Eastern Division and frequently worked turns at Tunbridge Wells Central and Tonbridge ticket offices and it was around that time I became Mr Angry and firing off hand written letters to local papers about the truncated state of the route via T Wells West which was and still is a far more grandiose station than the Central.

Chris Green paid a visit to the Central one day in the early 80s and made it clear that if he had the money he would like to see Uckfield Lewes reopen and by so doing, restore Kent's link to the Sussex coast via Eridge. It amazed me at the time that the line to Eridge stayed open as long as it did because once BR and East Sussex County Council had done their destructive bit at Uckfield in 1969, that was a line to nowhere.

T Wells West was a major stabling point for BR's fleet of 3 car DEMUs and as a nation we had probably decided enough was enough after the butchery of the Beeching era - which can be seen to be exactly that when you look at the number of places devoid of their railways today that could do with them back again.

Here are some photos I took at the West - around 25 years apart in some cases. There is still space for a railway up through a thoroughly dilapidated Grove Tunnel (which I am determined to navigate) - Sainsbury's store might need some trimming back but as far as I recall it was a precondition of planning permission 20 odd years ago that space be left for at least a single track line.

I had a chat with an SVR bloke that afternoon and asked him what they all thought of the possibility - vague as it is - that their infrastructure might return to the national network (as it should) were the BML2 scheme to ever come to fruition. The impression I got was that they probably think it should indeed be part of the national network again but that it'll never happen.

 

[satisnek]

As possibly one of the few readers of this forum who actually travelled over the line before it closed so I have poignant memories of it.
Whilst we can look back and consider it was a mistake but by the mid 1960s there was a slow decline in passenger usage because the car was "king". Like so many of the branch lines at the time that was losing money little effort was made to make economies. Stations were fully manned and signal boxes were fully open from the first train to the last train.
I was advised by someone working in BR SR HQ that the Polegate to Hailsham section was running at a small profit when closed in 1968 but the need for heavy investment in infrastructure made it uneconomic to invest.
Since closure the towns of Hailsham and Heathfield have multiplied and it is ironic that some of the housing development at Hailsham covers former railway land. I am sure that if the Cuckoo Line was open today it would be in a simplified system but traffic would be booming similar to the nearby Uckfield line. The Uckfield line narrowly escaped closure in 1969 but who could have seen what the future holds.
The decisions made by railway planners today may in 50 years time be considered wrong because peoples travel plans may have changed.

Finally I will add that the old signal box at Eridge has been retained by Network Rail for the future use of the Spa Valley Railway. They have been in negotiation with NR to restore it and it is hoped that restoration will start later in 2015 after work by NR to extend the up platform has been completed during Spring 2015.

I think that the big problem in the 1960s was that there was no legislation in place to safeguard rail routes after closure. I understand that in many cases the land was sold off in haste for purely political reasons.

But then it would have been all part of the attitude at the time. Why would you want to retain old rail formations anyway?

 

[steamybrian]

I sampled the delights of the Spa Valley Railway back in the summer ................
Sainsbury's store might need some trimming back but as far as I recall it was a precondition of planning permission 20 odd years ago that space be left for at least a single track line.

I had a chat with an SVR bloke that afternoon and asked him what they all thought of the possibility - vague as it is - that their infrastructure might return to the national network .......that it'll never happen.
....

When the Sainsbury's store was built "passive" protection of the route was made. Although they built public toilets on the alignment they have said they will demolish them at their cost if the railway was to ever reopen. It now requires extensive construction work to rebuild the railway through the former Tunbridge Wells West station site requiring demolition of the bus terminal, closure of service roads, Sainsbury's lorry depot and building alterations to Homebase store, etc. The local Councils have said they will stop any further development work on the alignment and recent sale of some surplus railway land at Grove Junction has allowed space for the future reopening of the railway.
As a working member of the Spa Valley Railway we are often asked about the reopening of the line to National Rail but until compulsory purchase orders, Acts of Parliament, construction plans, etc, etc are approved then the SVR will continue to run and members will not even discuss it because who knows what will happen in maybe 50 years in the future... ?????? :roll:
I get fed up about hearing about BML2 and the Wealden Line Committee and their grandiose plans and wish they would concentrate their efforts on reopening Uckfield to Lewes which in my opinion has a far better chance of happening in my lifetime.

 

[edwin_m]

But then it would have been all part of the attitude at the time. Why would you want to retain old rail formations anyway?

Quite. Closing a railway and then saying the formation will be protected for possible future use is effectively admitting you might be wrong, and no politician wants to do that.

 

[yorksrob]

I get fed up about hearing about BML2 and the Wealden Line Committee and their grandiose plans and wish they would concentrate their efforts on reopening Uckfield to Lewes which in my opinion has a far better chance of happening in my lifetime.

I would rather see effort concentrated on restoring the link between Brighton and Tonbridge, however, until something is done about England's laughable policy towards reopenings and the hurdles which make even relatively modest openings unlikely, grandiose projects will be the order of the day.