Rye in 1979 (and earlier!)

(All 19.2.1979 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK - 70s UK RAILSCENE

A selection of shots taken at a snowy Rye station back in 1979. Tons of atmosphere enhanced by the black and white photography, which was all I could afford back then! It wasn't arty - just cheap!

About this time the line was under a real threat of closure - not sure what they were thinking but a lot of people still hadn't twigged that the days of rail closures were just about numbered. It was always a strange trip across Romney Marsh stopping at strange little places, Rye was the only real town en route.

Of course today the line is transformed, providing an essential link from places like Brighton and Eastbourne to the HS1 route at Ashford. If we'd listened to the headbangers back in the seventies this would be an empty trackbed, and even more trains would be squeezed on to the Brighton Main Line! 

Of course two other useful lines at Rye WERE closed, the Harbour branch, lifted in 1962. This was a mile and a half long and connected the harbour to the town. The sea at Rye has retreated over the centuries and has left the town, once a coastal resort, over a mile inland.

Former Rye Harbour Branch Line

Goods only line that was built in 1854 for the harbour and lifted in 1962. The section from Tollgate Lock on the River Brede to the crossing with Harbour Road can now be walked following the shallow embankments over the former shingle banks.

  © Copyright Simon Carey and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons 

Licence.

The Rye and Camber Tramway.

The other closed route at Rye is the Rye and Camber Tramway, which operated a narrow gauge route from a separate station in Rye to the small village of Camber, along the dunes. This line sadly closed in 1939, though even today there is still some track in situ!

More on Ashford-Hastings (Marshlink) (link). 

The Marshlink Line is the name given to services on the railway line linking Ashford with Hastings in the South East of England. The line was part of an original proposal by a company named the Brighton Lewes and Hastings Railway to extend its coast route to Hastings. The South Eastern Railway eventually built the line, thereby renewing a local rivalry between itself and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) the line was opened on 13 February 1851. Recommended for closure by Dr. Beeching in 1963, the route has survived various attempts to axe services completely, and stations remained unmodernised and gas-lit well into the 1970s.

The line was single tracked between Appledore and Ore on 1 October 1979, leaving a passing loop at Rye. Linespeed was reduced from 85 mph to 60 mph, but there are additional long term speed restrictions in place, including 20 mph across an ungated level crossing at Winchelsea, and 40 mph between Doleham and Ore.

Ham Street, Appledore and Rye have staggered platforms: passengers cross the line from the end of one platform to the end of the other.

The line is not electrified, with the exception of Hastings to Ore. This small section was electrified to provide for carriage sidings (there was no space at Hastings) as part of the "East Coastway" electrification of July 1935.
The line has an active rail users group called "The Marsh Link Action Group".

Proposals have been made to upgrade and electrify the line to extend Southeastern high speed train services (which will operate from London via High Speed 1 to Ashford) onwards via the Marshlink to Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne, which if realised, could transform the line into an important through route.

The line was closed for nine weeks from January to March 2012 for essential repair work to Ore tunnel. There was also maintenance to signals and bridges to increase train speeds along the line.

• Description of route

The stations on the route are listed below:

• Ashford International
• Ham Street: was Ham Street & Orlestone
• Appledore: the station's formal name includes (Kent) in its title, although Appledore (Devon) station closed in 1917
  • Freight-only line diverges to serve Dungeness nuclear power station, operated by Direct Rail Services. The branch originally served both New Romney and Dungeness: there were stations at:
    • Brookland
    • Lydd Town
    • Lydd-on-Sea Halt
    • Greatstone-on-Sea Halt
    • New Romney
    • Dungeness was closed to passengers in 1937; and completely in 1953
  • all were closed to passengers on 6 March 1967
• At Appledore the double line becomes single track
• Rye
  • here there was, until 1962, the branch to Rye Harbour, opened in 1854
• Winchelsea
• Doleham
• Three Oaks
• Ore Tunnel [1,402 yards (1,282 m)] 
• here the line is doubled and electrified (originally for access to the carriage sidings at Ore but since removal of these sidings they are just used by service trains)
• Ore
• Mount Pleasant Tunnel [230 yards (210 m)] 
• Hastings

Passenger services

Passenger services are operated by Southern, as part of its East Coastway services. The line is no longer a separate part of the network. Trains run hourly between Ashford and Brighton, stopping at Ham Street, Appledore and Rye on the Marshlink Line with an additional shuttle at peak times. Three Oaks and Winchelsea stations are served by a two-hourly service in each direction, while Doleham is served by just three or four trains a day. Ore has separate hourly trains to Brighton and London.

Rolling stock

This line is one of the few in south-east England not to be electrified. Consequently, services are operated using Class 171 "Turbostar" DMUs. These replaced the elderly Class 205 and Class 207 units in mid-2004. When Class 171 units are not available a class 201 diesel-electric unit (1001) owned by Hastings Diesels Ltd stands in. This unit has been fitted with central door locking so it can continue running services.

More on the Rye Harbour Branch (link)

Rye Harbour Branch Railway « on: June 30, 2011, 15:24:15 PM » The Rye Harbour Branch (1 mile). This 1½ mile standard gauge branch left the Ashford-Hastings line just west of Rye station. It can be joined on the southern edge of Rye at grid reference TQ 920199, where a kissing gate leads on to a narrow waymarked path enclosed by bushes. This is the trackbed, which soon opens out on to a shallow embankment across sheep pastures, with fine views of Camber Castle to the south. The old railway can now be followed, with very minor diversions, as far as the former level crossing on Harbour Road (TQ 936192). Do not turn back here, but continue by road to Rye Harbour, turn left at the T junction where Harbour Road ends, and walk past the William the Conqueror pub to the water's edge. Turn left here and you will see the railway trackbed heading back towards Rye. Look around carefully, and you will see another grassy embankment nearby, which carried a branch off of the branch. While you are here, do not be surprised to see railway trackbeds heading off at 90 degrees to each other: there were three wagon turntables in Rye Harbour, which explain how this seemingly impossible feat was achieved. There is a bus stop near the end of Harbour Road, from which buses can be caught back to Rye (half hourly Monday to Saturday, limited service Sunday).  More on the Rye and Camber Tramway (link). The Rye and Camber Tramway was an English railway in East Sussex. It was of 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge, relatively unusual amongst British narrow gauge railways. It operated from 1895 until 1939, connecting Rye to the coast. It was about 1 3⁄4 miles (2.8 km) in length, and had three stations - Rye, Golf Links and Camber Sands. It operated mainly to transport golfers to the golf links and holidaymakers to the coastal dunes. The railway was constructed between January and July 1895 and ran entirely on private land. It was the first designed by consulting engineer Holman F. Stephens, who went on to build and run small railways all over the Country. The line was built to convey golfers to the Rye Golf Club and ran from Rye station to the golf club. In 1908 the first extension to Camber Sands station was opened and the intermediate station renamed "Golf Links". Camber terminal was moved to a more accessible site and a tea hut was opened at the end of summer 1938, but this only used for a few months as the war intervened the next year. Although initially quite successful, increasing competition from automobile and bus transport eventually caused the tramway to enter a gradual economic decline, as was the case with many small railways. Passenger service was ended at the outbreak of World War II but it was extensively used by the Government to convey parts for the P.L.U.T.O. (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) project for which a special siding leading to a new pier near Golf Links Station was constructed by Canadian troops. The line was in such a run-down a condition by the end of the war that it was deemed irrecoverable and was sold for scrap in 1947. The Rye & Camber Tramways Co. Ltd was liquidated in February 1949. Rolling stock There were two small Bagnall steam locomotives, "Camber" and "Victoria", but in later years a small petrol locomotive was used exclusively. The tramway had two enclosed carriages and several locally-built four-wheel wagons to convey sand from the beach for local builders. Several temporary sidings were constructed at the Camber end for this purpose, where the dug-out dunes can still be seen. Remains A number of relics, including the frame and bogies of one of the carriages, can be seen at the Colonel Stephens Museum at Tenterden. Golf Links station building survives virtually intact. Some track is embedded in concrete near the station as the trackbed was used as a roadway during wartime. Most of the route is a footpath, although a short section has been destroyed by gravel workings. The line plays a prominent part in several novels by Rye resident E.F. Benson.