southease station

[bigc]

Great thread this. I've used Southease as a starting point for the South Downs Way. As other people have pointed out, it's a useful place to pick it up.

The station I don't see the point of is Balcombe, how many people use that in the course of a day.

And there's Aldrington of course; would people really miss it if it were closed?

Balcombe isn't helped by the fact so few trains stop there, even those FCC stopping trains dont stop there. That midnight train Southern run from Victoria does though, as it seems to stop everywhere.

I guess Aldrington is useful if you want to get to that area of Hove from central Brighton, because it's far quicker than the bus is(the 5 seems to take forever).

I do like Southease station but it does really feel like it's the middle of nowhere, just two platforms plonked in a field.

Lord B, is Newhaven Marine still officially open? I know it takes far more effort to close a station these days. I personally don't see why they don't close Newhaven Harbour too, it's so close to Newhaven Town station and the area there is so run down!

 

[Theatre of Trees]

I personally don't see why they don't close Newhaven Harbour too, it's so close to Newhaven Town station and the area there is so run down!

Because Newhaven Harbour is for the ferries and Newhaven Town for the town, close the harbour station and those wanting the ferries have a longer walk with all their luggage, close the town station and those using the town have a longer walk. Therefore its easier keeping both open as they both serve a particular purpose and don't cancel each other out.

 

[bigc]

Not related to Southern's operations, but I read in the argus they have restored some ferry links to Newhaven.

If this is the case, whoever owns the land around there REALLY needs to do something about it, as it's such a grim welcome to England.

 

[bailey]

is Newhaven Marine still officially open? I know it takes far more effort to close a station these days. I personally don't see why they don't close Newhaven Harbour too, it's so close to Newhaven Town station and the area there is so run down!

Recently I bought a ticket at Brighton to Newhaven Town and when I put Newhaven into the ticket machine thing it came up with all three. If you put Newhaven Marine into National Rail enquires it comes back with trains for Newhaven Harbour.

 

[bigc]

Yes it did that when I went there, but when you select Newhaven Marine it just doesn't work. It's really odd that station because I believe it still isn't officially closed?

But it hasn't been on the network maps for years, even going back to the NSE days. I'm sure Theatre of Trees can elaborate on the confusion.

Talking of stations, I remember rumours during the 1990s that they were considering building a station at Patcham but I've never found anything about it.

 

[Yorkie]

You can get on the train at Southease and commute to London every day. When I was on a course last year the 7.35am out of Newhaven (direct to Victoria) also stopped at Southease, as did the 17.15 train home.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Newhaven Marine was officially renamed Platform 3 of Newhaven Harbour some years ago. I don't think it's used any more, but this trick avoided the need to go through any formal closure procedures.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Talking of stations, I remember rumours during the 1990s that they were considering building a station at Patcham but I've never found anything about it.

I was involved in commissioning some of the consultants' work that was done on this project. The former Borough Planning Officer for Brighton Borough Council was very keen on the idea. He knew that the council would never approve any "development north of the bypass", but he dreamt up a little scam that he thought he could sell to councillors - a new railway station ("Patcham Parkway"), combined with a massive car park (a "park and ride scheme") and even a new showroom and regional sales centre for Endeavour Motors (replacing the place on Preston Road, just north of Preston Circus, and releasing that land for some other grandiose scheme the Planning Officer fancied). None of this was "development", of course. It was all "transport related infrastructure" - merely an appendage to the by-pass.

For a while, British Rail were interested in the Patcham Parkway project - because they were fearful of losing commuter revenue from people who had been buying season tickets from Worthing, Shoreham, Hove and Brighton deciding to use the newly improved road system (A27/A23) to drive to Gatwick station instead and halve their spending on season tickets. But the practical problems of squeezing a station on to the site that could accommodate 12-coach trains proved insuperable. And the fears of losing season ticket revenue from the Worthing, Shoreham, Hove and Brighton areas proved unfounded. They also came to the conclusion that adding an extra stop on the Brighton mainline would slow down trains, when what was really needed was a cut in journey times.

So nothing ever came of the idea.

When the Borough Planning Officer was eventually replaced, there was no-one left at the council with the will to revive it - especially considering the hostility that "development north of the by-pass" still engenders.

And that's one of the reasons why Waterhall has been ruled out as a site for a football stadium.

 

[bigc]

I assume LDC would oppose them if they tried to shut it?

I had a look round there awhile back, it's like you step back 20 odd years.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

The tracks are still used as sidings for stock and I am aware of the odd service running from the station to Lewes up to 2006 though the station itself isn't advertised or exists in timetables. Full services ended sometime in the 1970s.

 

[bigc]

Fair enough LB, I'd always thought the last thing needed was an extra station.

I used the train to get from London Road to Hove today and due to decent connections, it took me less than 20 minutes. Had I got the bus it would have been much longer than that I wager(5B or whatever from Beaconsfield Villas). Makes me kinda wish we'd had more train stations throughout Brighton, to nip about quicker.

 

[dougdeep]

Virginia Woolf liked it.

 

[Cian]

Theres a far more pathetic station on the South East Commuter here... I give you Kilcoole:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:IMG_RailwayStaKilcoole5297w.jpg

1 platform. No buildings. 6 trains a day. 1 mile walk to ANYTHING.

 

[Shizuoka Dolphin]

1 platform. No buildings. 6 trains a day. 1 mile walk to ANYTHING.

Unless you've just come along for a paddle in the sea!

The initial closed station theme has led me off to all kinds of reading up on abandoned settlements. A good start being here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_town

Has anyone visited a genuine Ghost Town? It's fascinating to read about entire towns (or islands! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashima_Island) which are now completely deserted.

 

[Zesh Rehman]

ghost towns fascinate me, i have know idea why but they just do !

 

[Gwylan]

Balcombe isn't helped by the fact so few trains stop there, even those FCC stopping trains dont stop there.

Oh, they do. Every bloody FCC train seems to stop there, the trains I get in the morning do and most of my trains home do. No-one ever gets on, no-one ever gets off; it's like Addlestrop, except there's no blackbird singing

Lord B. That was a fascinating post about Patcham: I've thought that it would be useful to have a station there and wondered why there wasn't one. Do you know if they've ever had plans for one between Moulsecoomb and Falmer as that's a long gap between stations, compared to the gaps between Brighton and London Road and Moulescoomb?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Lord B. That was a fascinating post about Patcham: I've thought that it would be useful to have a station there and wondered why there wasn't one. Do you know if they've ever had plans for one between Moulsecoomb and Falmer as that's a long gap between stations, compared to the gaps between Brighton and London Road and Moulescoomb?

Moulsecoomb station didn't open until 1980.

I think it is extremely unlikely that anyone would think of putting another station between it and Falmer. Apart from anything else, what would they call it? It would, after all, be in ... Moulsecoomb (unlike the existing station, which would have been more accurately called Hollingdean).

What was extraordinary about Moulsecoomb station was the fact that Brighton Borough Council weren't at all keen on the idea - they were worried about the effect it would have on the fares revenue of the council's bus company if all those students at the (then) Polytechnic started using the train instead of the bus to get to and from college. The Southdown bus company didn't support the idea, either.

 

[British Bulldog]

You doubt the TRUTH of what I say?

The signal box was at the north end of the station, on the Lewes-bound side of the tracks, adjacent to the level crossing.

From http://www.sussexias.co.uk/articles/main_9.htm :-

SUSSEX MAIN LINES - A YEAR 2002 SURVEY
by John Blackwell

Southease opened as Southease and Rodmell Halt on 1st September 1906 and was served initially by two petrol railcars built by Dick Kerr & Co of Kilmarnock for the stopping service between Lewes and Seaford. These proved to be unsatisfactory and were replaced in 1912 by push-pull locomotives which operated the service until electrification in 1935. Southease Halt comprises a concrete footbridge and platforms. The crossing keeper's cottage and signal box have been demolished. The minor road which crossed the line here and linked the A26 to Southease village has been closed but the interesting former swing bridge over the River Ouse remains as part of the footway at TQ 426055. It is the second bridge on this site, being built in the 1880s. The opening mechanism remains but since 1967, there has been no need to open the bridge for navigational purposes.

Quite fascinating this is LB I never knew a signal box ever existed at Southease ( but then again I never worked on that line until the 80's ) It would be interesting to find out if it was a proper signal box block post or just a crossing box?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Quite fascinating this is LB I never knew a signal box ever existed at Southease ( but then again I never worked on that line until the 80's ) It would be interesting to find out if it was a proper signal box block post or just a crossing box?

I think it controlled more than the crossing. My recollection is that it was staffed overnight for years by a guy who lived locally who was officially employed as a "relief", whose job (in theory) could send him anywhere in the South Central division. But he rather liked Southease ... a TV in the box and a good book to read, while he waited for one train to pass by at about 4 o'clock in the morning.

 

[British Bulldog]

I think it controlled more than the crossing. My recollection is that it was staffed overnight for years by a guy who lived locally who was officially employed as a "relief", whose job (in theory) could send him anywhere in the South Central division. But he rather liked Southease ... a TV in the box and a good book to read, while he waited for one train to pass by at about 4 o'clock in the morning.

I remember the relief signalman's job very well LB I done it for years myself and it was very enjoyable, I used to get down the East coast, West coast and up the Arun Valley line as well. I'm going to have to find out a bit more of the history of Southease signal box to satisfy my own curiosity now.