Beaulieu Road in the early-mid 80s. Completely closed on Sunday, according to the timetables I have access to. Given it's surrounded by the open New Forest, one could argue there is more demand at the weekends than weekdays.
Since about 1992 (ish) it's been the precise opposite, with an hourly service on Sundays only and less-frequent trains on other days.
In the past seven years they have always also shut, Berwick, Cooksbridge, Falmer, Glynde, London Road, Moulsecoomb, Plumpton, Southease, to prevent large amounts of people from getting off at one of these stations and walking in or cycling in to Lewes from there.
Dang! An avenue for the determined closed off. One would think that some of those stations are far enough away that the distance alone would put many off, except the most determined. I know even Glynde, perhaps the nearest of the lot, is a fair distance, the best part of an hour's walk over the hill if I remember right - I've done it.
Now the really determined will take the train to Eastbourne in the morning and walk along the South Downs Way, arriving just as it gets dark.
I know November is not the best time of year to do this walk (it's very nice in June though), but could still make a nice day out if the rain happens to hold off that day.
The trains all run non stop from Brighton or Wivelsfield all the way to Newhaven Town or Polegate and skip out all of the other stations. So getting the train to Brighton and then taking the overcrowded buses is the only way to get there. Or otherwise you could get off at one of the Mid Sussex stations (eg, Hassocks, Burgess Hill, Wivelsfield, Haywards Heath, Balcombe, etc) and cycle in. Uckfield and then the bus is also a good option too and those buses are quieter (but still much busier than normal) than the Brighton ones.
It is only actually the past seven years (2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022) that Lewes has shut its rail service for the bonfire. In 2015 and all previous years Southern used to run extra trains all throughout the evening and night to get people to Lewes and back home again. There was a shuttle to and from Brighton at least every ten minutes. Plus extra trains to and from London and Eastbourne and Hastings and Seaford too. The trains would run all night long in to the early morning to get people home. They used to run a proper special increased service for Lewes on bonfire night.
By stopping the trains they have only made it worse. The buses now get extremely overcrowded. The buses have always been busy but with no trains they are even busier. Brighton & Hove used to use their bendy buses on the 28 and 29 every Bonfire Night but now those are gone so it is even worse with double deckers.
Lewes Bonfire does get dangerously overcrowded on the main roads. Last year was very quiet though (well at least compared to other years) probably due to the corona virus but this year was a lot busier (but still not as busy as the previous years) again. I can see why they want to stop the trains but in some ways it just makes it worse as the buses get even more overcrowded. I am not sure what the solution is. Lewes is a small town full of narrow roads and not really designed for such large crowds.
I went to the Lewes fireworks in 2005 (via car, not train) and at that time, there seemed to be no restrictions on travel there of any form, and while it was busy, it was not silly-busy. We arrived when it was still daylight though, perhaps 3 or 4pm (there were various "pre-events" to keep you entertained if I remember right, like a barrel-rolling at the bottom over the river) and I don't remember that much of a problem with parking. We parked on the west side of the town, up the hill, in a leafy residential area, I think only 5-10 mins from the top of the high street.
