Snowy Rye in 1979

RYE

(All; copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing 19.2.1979) 

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On a snowy 19 February 1979 I took a trip over to the Hastings-Ashford line which was still very much a classic railway - and had even been under closure (notices were issued and posted!!) a few years earlier.

Like other stations on this line the platforms were staggered, which was something you simply didn't see over me side of Sussex (Littlehampton). I think at this time the route was still double track throughout, which helped push up costs in the attempt to close the line! This probably is why the station buildings survived all along the line as well. All in all it meant that this was a line that was a pleasure to travel on, empty trains across an empty landscape, especially on bleak winter days like this!

It's all change now with the once threatened line a major artery feeding traffic from along the crowded south coast into Ashford International station, delivering thousands of travellers on to Eurostar to Paris, Brussels and beyond. 

Rye in 1986

(Pics 19.8.1986 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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Back in 1986 I managed to spend 2 or 3 weeks each year travelling on rover tickets. One used to go west to Weymouth, Yeovil, Warminster and up to Reading, the other east towards Kent and East Sussex.

A favourite line was the Hastings-Ashford which unusually had diesel traction, and had narrowly missed closure in the 70s - in fact the closure notices had been put up at some of the stations!

It would have been a deeply regretted closure though I suspect it would have been reversed as much of the route would have had to remain in place for the Dungeness nuclear flask trains. But of course it didn't happen and the line has gradually flourished since, given a new importance by the Channel Tunnel.

Back in 1986 it was still quite a sleepy backwater, and had plenty of charm. I took these pics on 10 August 1986.

More info (from Wikipedia)

Rye railway station serves Rye in East Sussex, England. It is on the Marshlink Line 11 ¹⁄₄ miles (18.1 km) east of Hastings providing a passing place between two single track sections. Train services are provided by Southern. The staggered platforms are linked by footbridge. Owing to a prolonged threat by British Rail to close the line, the station remained unmodernised and gaslit well into the 1970s.

History

The station opened on 13 February 1851, six weeks before the 1851 census. The census lists the station master as 23-year-old James Broderick from London. In each of the four successive censuses, William Hunt from Devon is names as station master, indicating at least a 40-year spell in charge. In 1901 it shows Richard Hunnisett as station master and in 1911 it is George Geer.

Services

The typical off-peak service is one train per hour to Hastings and Brighton and one train per hour to Ashford International.

At peak times an Ashford to Rye shuttle also operates meaning that between 0600 and 0900 six trains operate towards Ashford International and the wider network of services available there. In the reverse direction in the evening some six trains operate between 1730 and 2000.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Winchelsea		Southern Marshlink Line		Appledore (Kent)

Gallery

• 

  Class 171 DMU number 171729 on a Brighton service
 
• 

  View of Platform 1 (Ashford-bound) from the footbridge
 
• 

  Marshlink Line trains are booked to pass at Rye
 
• 

  The station's signal box, opposite Platform 2 (Brighton-bound platform)

Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.244 million
2005/06	0.261 million
2006/07	0.308 million
2007/08	0.328 million
2008/09	0.339 million
2009/10	0.341 million
2010/11	0.386 million
2011/12	0.376 million
2012/13	0.393 million
2013/14	0.427 million