A door opening very slowly ...

(Pic copyright Rail Thing/Steve Sainsbury)

FACEBOOK - RAIL THING - REVERSING BEECHING

Way back in 2009, when the New Somerset and Dorset Railway was formed, we were living in a very different world! Roads still seemed to be in the ascendant, and rail enthusiasm was still considered a tad eccentric.

Things have changed a lot in 8 years! Rail reopenings are gathering pace and some interesting closed lines are coming into the spotlight. One of course is the S&D!

I got an early morning phone call today from Radio Solent who had got the press release from the government re rail reopenings. I was invited to do a piece for the 11.30 am slot, live! I managed to wing it without stuttering or swearing, the net result being that the New S&D got yet more publicity and I managed to name check all five restoration groups along the route. I also managed to name check all the bigger places en route (Blandford, Sturminster Newton, Wincanton, Midsomer Norton and Radstock), all of which will benefit enormously in so many ways when the line returns.

That door is opening very slowly. Real energy crunches are still a way off, but already the rail restoration movement in all its variety is beginning to move into the mainstream. The important thing is to organise LOCALLY, so your line gets a profile. Most Beeching closures should be reversed over the next few decades, but there will be inevitable shortages of cash, materials and manpower as restoration picks up. 

Please do your bit!

(Pic is Ropley on the Mid Hants Railway back in 1976, now totally restored and transformed ...)

Hunstanton - time to start stirring

HUNSTANTON

(All pics sourced via the Internet)

FACEBOOK - RAIL THING ROUTES - BRITISH BRANCH LINES

THE RAIL THING WEBSITE

The British seaside town was one of the biggest victims of the Beeching cuts, as many seaside resorts were served by branch lines rather than stations on main lines. There was a synergy between closing lines and a more affluent Britain falling in love with resorts overseas (or more precisely the weather of resorts overseas!) This all took place in the 1960s and 1970s, and there was wholesale destruction of lines to seaside resorts in this period. Even quite large resorts were not immune to this process despite retaining a reasonably healthy trade - Ilfracombe, Bude, Swanage, Minehead and many others all fell victim to this carnage. 

One victim was Hunstanton, but this wasn't a Beeching cut. Like the Swanage branch it was a step beyond Beeching, he'd recommended the branch remain. But a process of running down the route, coupled with the structural issues outlined above, left it stranded as a long siding, serving a town that could no longer compete with Benidorm or Majorca. Even the presence of the royal station at Wolferton wasn't enough to keep the line running. On 5 May 1969 the line closed completely, making Hunstanton just one more run down seaside resort lacking a vital amenity.

The line originally opened in 1862, and Hunstanton station was built to handle the big crowds that soon flocked to the town, almost all being brought in by train.There were two very long island platforms to handle the traffic, at its peak (always on a Sunday) there were trains every ten minutes.

Passenger traffic reached its peak in the mid fifties, as Britain boomed after the war ended, and before most families had acquired a car. The line closed to freight traffic in 1964. Most through services to Liverpool Street ceased in 1959, leaving just a basic shuttle service on the line between King's Lynn and Hunstanton. A few through trains struggled on, in 1966 these had been reduced to one working on weekdays with two up and one down on summer Saturdays. The line was singled on 2 March 1967, this was the death knell for through trains as just about all sidings were also removed. With the line looking more run down and services less and less attractive ridership continued to fall. The line closed for the sake of just £40,000, the loss in its last year of operation, with no attempts made to increase traffic or utilise the line's resources.

Nearly 50 years on the world has changed. British seaside resorts are experiencing something of a revival, based around short stays rather than week or two week holidays. Seaside resorts with a train service have an automatic advantage over rail-less resorts - you can avoid the traffic jams commonplace near seaside resorts as everyone tries to get in at the same time on the same road. Add steam like at Swanage and Minehead and the attraction of a community/heritage line is plain for all to see. Community line first of course, as the purely heritage business model is likely to suffer in the future for many reasons!

There has always been some demand for the line to Hunstanton to return, and for all the usual reasons. So, thanks to a lot of demands, I've set up a Reversing Beeching group just for the line. This will allow interested parties to look at ways of getting the line back. Now a Reversing Beeching group is just that, a Facebook point of contact. It doesn't claim to be a preservation society or anything else. But that CAN grow out of a Facebook group, as Combe Rail has down in Ilfracombe. So if you want t help get things rolling at Hunstanton as a first step why not join and get involved? This is a line through flat country with few engineering works. The demand for the line is already there, even Beeching recognised this all those years ago!

to ilfracombe!!

Nº34069 Hawkinge running into Mortehoe & Woolacombe Station from Ilfracombe, with an up train. Some time during the 1950s. (Photographer unknown)

FACEBOOK - REVERSING BEECHING - THE ILFRACOMBE LINE

Devon suffered greatly from the Beeching cuts and seemed to be mortally wounded for decades after much of the rail network was brutally slashed mainly in the 60s. The Ilfracombe line - a magnificent steeply graded double track main line - did struggle (just) into the 70s, closing on 5 October1970. It was the final nail in Devon's railways, and very nearly the last Devon closure (which was the Kingswear line in 1972, though that line never really closed as such, just turned into a 'heritage' line overnight).

Even in 1970 the closure was seen as ridiculous and soon attempts were being made to reopen the line, which stayed intact until 1975. But the scheme collapsed in a mess of financial shenanigans, and the line was ripped up. The heart had been ripped out of both North Devon's railways and holiday trade.

Some people claim this tainted rail revival in North Devon which should really be a centre for heritage rail. Bideford station, Instow signal box and Torrington station are being or have been restored, and there is the fantastic Lynton and Barnstaple line up on Exmoor, but really the whole area has a lot of catching up to do ....

But now we have Combe Rail, a group dedicated to rebuilding the Ilfracombe line. I like to think I played a small role in helping launch this as it grew out of the Ilfracombe Facebook group, which now has over 800 members!! Hopefully many will join the new organisation and help make this happen sooner rather than later. 

So North Devon is stirring. There is even the chance of a 'Race to Barnstaple' as the Lynton and Barnstaple, Torrington and Ilfracombe lines rebuild back to Barny. There is also the other important route to Barnstaple, the line from Taunton, once a busy partly double track cross country route which cut a lot of time getting to Ilfracombe from here in Bristol. A tiny part of this line has been rebuilt of course, as part of the West Somerset's Taunton facilities. So far there is only a Facebook group, but how long before this line also has an active group promoting its early reopening? I'd love to see a fourth runner in the Race to Barny!

As Climate Change hits harder and harder (and warmer!) and as oil supplies tighten our coastal resorts are going to see a boom in visitor numbers. They are already inventing themselves as ideal short break destinations - but to really cash in on this they have to offer easy rail connection.

The Ilfracombe line revival is part of that process ....

In deep sleep 1973 (source)

will the cuckoo make a comeback?

(Horam, 1960s copyright Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK -REVERSING BEECHING - THE CUCKOO LINE

This is Horam station on the famous Cuckoo line, which ran from Polegate to Eridge and was closed in 1965, apart from the section from Polegate to the large town of Hailsham which survived until 1968.

In retrospect this was a particularly stupid closure. Hailsham is far too large to not have a railway service and is certainly paying for it now! But the line also provided an excellent alternative route from Eastbourne to London, and also served several other small towns en route. It may well be sooner rather than later that reopening of this route takes place, for the reasons listed abiove, and also because of the coming revival of British seaside resorts as more and more people choose to holiday at home rather than bear the strain (and soon prohibitive cost!) of flying to more exotic destinations. One of the big advantages of this route is that it will take some of the pressure off the current sole connection between Eastbourne and London (via Lewes and Haywards Heath) which becomes particularly congested where it joins the Brighton to London line.

Generally the closure of rail routes to British seaside resorts in the 1960s was clearly a huge mistake. It is barely believable that important seaside towns such as Ilfracombe, Bude, Padstow, Lyme Regis and a host of others are currently struggling with roads (LOL!) instead of having modern transport drop thousands of visitors on their doorsteps. This will have to change, and fast!

More info on Horam station (from Wikipedia)

Horam railway station was on the Cuckoo Line between Hellingly and Heathfield, serving the village of Horam.

History

The station was opened by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway on 5 April 1880 and was originally named Horeham Road for Waldron. It was on the line extension from Hailsham to Eridge. It was renamed several times: on 1 June 1890 it became Horeham Road and Waldron; on 1 April 1900Waldron and Horeham Road; on 1 January 1935 Waldron and Horam; and it finally became Horam on 21 September 1953.

The station closed to passenger traffic on 14 June 1965 but freight trains continued to pass through until 1968 when the line was closed completely.

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Heathfield Line and station closed		British Rail Southern Region Cuckoo Line		Hellingly Line and station closed

Present day

The Cuckoo Trail foot and cycle path runs over one of the platforms. Sections of the two platforms including a concrete nameboard,some lamp posts and seats are preserved. The rest of the station site is now a housing estate and a car park.

More info on the Cuckoo Line (from Wikipedia)

The Cuckoo Line is an informal name for the now defunct railway service which linked Polegate and Eridge in East Sussex, England, from 1880 to 1968. It was nicknamed the Cuckoo Line by drivers, from a tradition observed at the annual fair at Heathfield, a station on the route. At the fair, which was held each April, a lady would release a cuckoo from a basket, it being supposedly the 'first cuckoo of spring'. The railway line served the following Sussex communities: Polegate, Hailsham, Hellingly, Horam for Waldron, Heathfield, Mayfield, Rotherfield and Eridge. Services continued through Eridge and onward via Groombridge to Tunbridge Wells.

The Hailsham-Eridge section closed in 1965, the Polegate-Hailsham branch surviving until 1968. Eridge-Tunbridge Wells closed in 1985, and this line has been resurrected as the Spa Valley Railway.

History[edit]

The Cuckoo Line was built by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) in two sections, starting with the branch from Polegate to Hailsham which opened to traffic on 14 May 1849. The remainder of the line to Eridge was engineered by Frederick Banister, and opened to traffic in September 1880.^[5] The station buildings were designed by Banister's son-in-law, Thomas Myres.

The line from Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells (via East Grinstead High Level and Groombridge) opened on 1 October 1866, with the connecting line from Uckfield via Eridge opening on 3 August 1868. The final part of the route opened on 1 February 1876: a connection between the LBSCR station at Tunbridge Wells West and Tunbridge Wells Central, the station operated by the South Eastern Railway (SER). This single-line section passed through the short Grove Tunnel to Grove Junction, sited a little south of the SER station on its Hastings Line. In 1881 a new track alignment was built between Polegate and Hailsham allowing trains to run into Polegate at the west end of the station and direct to Eastbourne.

At the 'Grouping' in 1923, the railway passed into the control of the Southern Railway. When the Southern Railway was nationalised in 1948, the line became part of the Southern Region of British Railways.

Following the Beeching Report in 1963, the line was recommended for closure. The section from Eridge to Hailsham was closed to passenger traffic in 1965 (the section between Heathfield and Hailsham remaining open for freight until 1968), whilst the short branch from Polegate to Hailsham remained open until 8 September 1968. The closure of this section was hotly disputed – even British Railways itself agreeing that Hailsham was a growing town and that buses would be unable to cope with the demands of the increasing population.

The line between Eridge and Tunbridge Wells West remained open until 1985. Despite having survived 'Beeching', no money was spent on the line and British Rail regarded a track and signalling upgrade to be unviable. Closure was announced in February 1985, and the last passenger trains ran on 6 July 1985. Grove Junction was removed the day after closure, but the depot at Tunbridge Wells West remained in use for another month.

The Cuckoo Line today

See also: Spa Valley Railway

Today, the Cuckoo Line remains a closed railway – a footpath and cycleway known as The Cuckoo Trail runs along much of the route from Polegate to Heathfield. Polegate retains a railway station, albeit on a different site to that formerly used by Cuckoo Line trains, whilst the site of the station in Hailsham is now occupied by a housing estate and a public car park. Hellingly station survives as a private residence. At Horam the platforms are preserved including a nameboard. Heathfield station building is now a shop selling kitchen utensils but the site of the platforms is now occupied by industrial units. At Mayfield the station building survives as a private residence but the trackbed has now been removed and replaced by the A267 Mayfield bypass. Rotherfield and Mark Cross station is a private residence. Soon after closure of the Eridge to Tunbridge Wells West section, a preservation society was formed with the intention of reinstating the passenger service on the line. The Tunbridge Wells and Eridge Railway Preservation Society (TWERPS) acquired the line in March 1996 and by December 1996 had started to run a steam-hauled passenger service along part of the route. The line has been marketed as the Spa Valley Railway and it has gradually extended services with the final section to Eridge opening on the 25th of March 2011.

Shawpits Bridge, near Hellingly

Cuckoo Trail between Polegate and Hailsham

Accidents[edit]

D1 Class No. 297 Bonchurchand train, derailed at Tooth's Bank, North of Heathfield, September 1897.

The line had a good safety record: there was only one reported accident on the line. On 1 September 1897 at Tooth's Bank, 2 miles north of Heathfield, the 08:18am service from Eastbourne was running around 4 minutes late and was trying to pick up time in order to meet a connecting train at Groombridge. As the train entered the curve at around 40 mph it left the tracks. Driver James McKinlay was killed and Fireman Lewis Minns seriously injured, whilst 30 passengers suffered minor injuries. At the subsequent inquiry, Lt. Col. G. W. Addison reported that the main cause of the accident was excessive speed as the driver was attempting to make up lost time in order to make a connection at Groombridge. The track itself was in poor shape with many rotten sleepers and "curves having irregular elevation" which contributed to the accident. Following the inquiry, much of the track was relaid and the train scheduling was altered.

In April 1968 a lorry collided with a low road bridge under the line at Horsebridge north of Hailsham damaging the bridge causing immediate closure of the line. As the freight train service between Hailsham and Heathfield was due to be withdrawn the following month it was not considered worthwhile repairing the bridge so the line was prematurely abandoned forthwith. Some wagons isolated at Heathfield goods yard were cut up on site.

Route description

The Cuckoo Line diverged from the main Eastbourne to London line at Polegate, and ran northwards on a single track to the market town of Hailsham, which was the terminus for 31 years until the line through to Eridge had been completed. The line then passed through the villages of Hellingly (where a link to the Hellingly Hospital Railway joined the route, worked by overhead electric traction), Horam, Heathfield, Mayfield, Rotherfield & Mark Cross, then via Redgate Mill Junction to join theOxted Line for Eridge. The route continued north-eastwards, leaving the Oxted Line at Birchden Junction heading for Groombridge, High Rocks Halt and eventually Tunbridge Wells West. Through trains could continue on the single-track connection through Grove Tunnel to join the Hastings Line (heading towards Tunbridge Wells Central) at Grove Junction.

Name changes

Horam station was originally built as Horeham Road. In 1900 it was renamed Waldron & Horeham Road. Over the years, Horeham changed to Horam as the hamlet grew around the station, prompted by growth including an Express Dairies depot, and the name changed again in 1935, before becoming simply Horam in September 1953.

shanklin 1977

Isle of Wight Railways Remembered


I've always liked the Isle of Wight railway network, even if today it's a lot smaller than it was and will be again. One of the daftest closures of the Beeching years was the Shanklin-Ventnor line which connected the busy seaside town of Ventnor to the outside world. Of course BR at the time fully expected the IOW railways to all have closed by 1975, so that the rather silly situation with the line terminating short at Shanklin would have been short lived. Fortunately at least part of the essential Newport and Cowes line is currently being operated as a heritage line, I can't seriously see Cowes and Newport staying off the network for many more years!

settle and carlisle

(all 8.8.1984)

The survival of the Settle and Carlisle railway was probably the turning point for Britain's railways, the point where suddenly everyone begun to realise that not only had the Beeching-era closures come to an end, but that soon they would begin to reverse.

I've only visited the line once, back in 1984, and I've never travelled on it, despite being born in Carlisle! It's something I will have to do in the future.

If the Settle and Carlisle can successfully run then the Somerset and Dorset, which serves far more large towns, should indeed be open again in the not too distant future. This disparity underlines the importance of retaining rail infrastructure even where a line has closed. Restoring the S&D is going to require a lot of compulsory purchase and/or new build to get it back to Bournemouth and Bath. The route should have been retained, it only closed a decade before the turn round in rail fortunes. It's a national disgrace that this was allowed to happen.

a closed southern electric station

(Coombe Road, 12.3.1984)

This was Coombe Road on the old electrified line that used to skirt Croydon, closed in 1983. Closure of electric lines on the southern was very rare - I can only think of the Nunhead-Crystal Palace High Level (1954) and Haywards Heath-Horsted Keynes (1963) as precedents, though since the above closure the short Addiscombe and Coulsdon North lines have also closed.

This route didn't stay rail free for long as much of it was utilised by Croydon Tramlink, which also involved the compulsory purchase and demolition of a number of houses built on the trackbed after closure - something that is going to become very commonplace in the future as the Beeching cuts are reversed.