southease station

[Bluejuice]

Cor this thread is GREAT

So who wants to tell me what Freshfield Halt is/was all about?

 

[The Oldman]

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.

I seem to remember an Argus article a couple of years ago that said each day a train with no passengers went into Newhaven Marine very early in the morning so Southern could show the staion was not shut.

 

[Norman Potting]

Cor this thread is GREAT

So who wants to tell me what Freshfield Halt is/was all about?

Freshfield Halt was about at the halfway point between Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes on the Bluebell Railway. I think it was "cannibalised" to form a new halt just North of Sheffield Park to serve a short lived farm park tourist attraction. Not sure of the dates but think it was mid-late '80's that it shut!

Good to see that this thread has drawn out all the anorak trainspotter types (me included!) on this board. Am I the only one who likes to see the trains go by at Withdean and got excited when he saw a Virgin "Voyager" for the first time on the 1420 Brighton - Manchester service a few years ago??

 

[Grendel]

Cor this thread is GREAT

So who wants to tell me what Freshfield Halt is/was all about?

Freshfield, years ago, had enough inhabitants to warrant having its own mill and to support two pubs (The Sloop and The Millers). Presumably before farms were mechanised to the degree that they are today, the local farms employed a fair few people and thus having a railway halt was a viable proposition although bear in mind that this is speculation on my part.

I don't know if the Bluebell Railway have ever officially used it as a station, but I believe the last British Railways train stopped there in 1955. The line was closed in 1958.

There's a picture of Freshfield Halt in use here: http://transport-of-delight.com/UK/UKMinorRailways/Pages/Bluebell/FreshfieldHalt-1.htm

Another interesting one is the Ouse Valley Railway, which was never finished. Information on that, and a few piccies, can be found here: http://www.horstedkeynes.com/ousevalley.html

 

[Bluejuice]

Nice one fact fans!

 

[andybaha]

It must be the close season, a thread about Southese station getting 60+ posts. I have to admit I have found it quite interesting though. I live at Piddinghoe and sometimes we catch the train to Withdean, might as well use the travel vouchers which we have paid for. My lad thinks it's a proper day out if he gets a McDonalds, a train ride and footy match all in the same afternoon.

Anyway we catch the train from Newhaven and on a couple of occasions fans with Albion scarves have got on the train at Southese, so I guess there is a point for it existing after all. Looking forward to our train ride Falmer.

 

[Voice of Reason]

Yep - that'll be the day when I get get my day return from Polegate to Falmer for the "game". How much longer Mum?

 

[British Bulldog]

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.

The last time I signalled a train into the Marine platform was either the very late 80's or the early 90's when we used to have the boat trains running, There was only 2 a day that run but it was allways a good occasion to sit and have a cuppa and a chat with the driver in the signal box prior to departure.

 

[severnside gull]

I Know Nothing About Trains But Just Watching The Anoraks Come Out Of The Closet Here Has Been Brilliant - Keep It Up

 

[British Bulldog]

I Know Nothing About Trains But Just Watching The Anoraks Come Out Of The Closet Here Has Been Brilliant - Keep It Up

There's nothing wrong with a bit of knowledge and nostalgia, It's all part of our history.

 

[severnside gull]

There's nothing wrong with a bit of knowledge and nostalgia, It's all part of our history.

I really wasn't taking the piss (well not entirely)

It makes really interesting reading

 

[Shizuoka Dolphin]

While we're on the theme, I've often (well, sometimes. OK, it occured to me once) why Polegate's station was moved a couple of hundred yards up the road? You can still see the old platforms just before you arrive into Polgate (coming from Eastbourne).

 

[Lord Bracknell]

While we're on the theme, I've often (well, sometimes. OK, it occured to me once) why Polegate's station was moved a couple of hundred yards up the road? You can still see the old platforms just before you arrive into Polgate (coming from Eastbourne).

That's another project I was involved in.

The move was done simply to get Polegate Station closer to the town centre (and back to where the first Polegate station had been built in the 1840s). It followed a long campaign by a variety of local people - including the Town Council, the Ratepayers' Association and the local Labour Party.

I remember being sent to represent the County Council at a public meeting on the subject in the early 1980s. The speakers included Jimmy Knapp, then a regional officer for the National Union of Railwaymen.

The reason the station was moved down the line (in 1881) was the opening of the Cuckoo line to Hailsham and Heathfield, which required a bend at Polegate that couldn't be fitted into the original track layout without moving the station eastwards. Once the Cuckoo line closed, the station could safely be moved back to where it was most convenient (and next to where it was possible to build a new car park for commuters).

 

[GNF on Tour]

As I child I used to play in the shell of the old Hailsham rail station (around 1977-80) I guess. The old sheep-pens were still there and the platforms. Cuckoo line is now a nice cycle ride from Polegate up to Heathfield.

As a transport planner in Auckland (started off in Lewes in 92) I have been involved in the regeneration of the piss-poor rail network here, and its quite interesting work.

 

[Shizuoka Dolphin]

That's another project I was involved in.

The move was done simply to get Polegate Station closer to the town centre (and back to where the first Polegate station had been built in the 1840s). It followed a long campaign by a variety of local people - including the Town Council, the Ratepayers' Association and the local Labour Party.

I remember being sent to represent the County Council at a public meeting on the subject in the early 1980s. The speakers included Jimmy Knapp, then a regional officer for the National Union of Railwaymen.

The reason the station was moved down the line (in 1881) was the opening of the Cuckoo line to Hailsham and Heathfield, which required a bend at Polegate that couldn't be fitted into the original track layout without moving the station eastwards. Once the Cuckoo line closed, the station could safely be moved back to where it was most convenient (and next to where it was possible to build a new car park for commuters).

I never knew about that old line to Hailsham. Have been checking it out on Google Earth and it's very easy to follow. This site: http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/p/polegate/index.shtml has stacks of stuff to while away my day ay work!

 

[GNF on Tour]

 

[Gwylan]

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.

I remember Moulsecoomb station opening, I used it on its second day (for some reason I couldn't do it on its first).

Moulsecoomb's in a strange place though. As you say, it just serves the uni and the north end of Hollingdean estate: if they had a station further into Moulsecoomb, it could serve that estate and Coldean. I just wonder why, given that the council is so keen on rapid transport links into the city, why more thought isn't given to offering more stations: the west coast line is packed with them.

Until your post, I hadn't realised that Patcham had been considered. I can understand the logistical difficulties of accommodating a 12-carriage train but I can't see why there couldn't be one that handled shorter carriages. There's a lot of grandiose talk about monorails but it does strike me as odd that there seems to be no thought about an existing transport infrastructure.

And don't get me started on the closure of the Kemp Town branch line

I guess that's why I'm not a transport planner.

 

[Brovion]

Hey British Bulldog, is the Lancing signal box still in use? Didn't they centralise all the signalling a few years ago?

 

[British Bulldog]

Hey British Bulldog, is the Lancing signal box still in use? Didn't they centralise all the signalling a few years ago?

Yeah Lancing box is still working, The Portslade to Angmering re signalling was completed in 87 or 88 and is still all controlled from Lancing Signal box.

 

[London Calling]

Nah. It's got the two essential ingredients to be called a village ...

A church

And a website:-

http://southeasevillage.info/index.htm

Isn't this church one of the original Norman churches, I have only visited it as have been passing along the SDW, but as a cooling refuge on a hot summers day its an excellent community building.

LC