Rowlands Castle 1977

ROWLANDS CASTLE

(All pics 6.7.1977 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK - HAMPSHIRE TRANSPORT HISTORY

Four lovely shots I managed to take back in 1977 at the neat station at Rowlands Castle in Hampshire. I took the motorbike up from Littlehampton on a hot summer's day, the roads round Rowlands Castle weaving in and out of Hampshire before I got there.

Back in 1977 the Portsmouth Direct Line wasn't that busy, one express and one stopper per hour I think, but I snapped one train passing through. The station looked in pretty much original condition with few if any passengers. I suspect it's a lot busier now, hopefully all the buildings survive.

A piece of luck was the elderly car in the exterior shot making the picture look like it was taken about ten years earlier!

Wivelsfield 1977

WIVELSFIELD

(All pics 4.7.1977 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK - SUSSEX TRANSPORT HISTORY

A few shots from an oddly quiet Wivelsfield station in July 1977. At this time it was still replete with traditional buildings on both platforms. These black and white shots capture station details nicely and for a change I managed to include a few passengers in the shots!

Wivelsfield is on the Brighton Main Line and in 1977 saw both fast and stopping services from Brighton to Victoria. Trains from Littlehampton to Victoria via Hove and trains from Eastbourne and Ore also passed through, so the lines were quite busy.

Nowadays the stopping service is Brighton to Bedford via Thameslink (2 trains an hour) and Eastbourne/Ore to Victoria (Brighton to Victoria on Sundays) (1 train an hour). The station serves the northern part of Burgess Hill, the village of Wivelsfield is two miles away.

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