Here in Kent and Sussex, we are fortunate to have a number of heritage railways within easy travelling distance from our homes.
The most famous of them is of course, the Bluebell Railway, one of the earliest to be formed after the infamous Beeching Cuts left many towns and villages cut off from the national railway network that was British Rail.
Then there is the Lavender Line at Isfield, not closed and ripped up as a result of the Beeching Cuts, but as a result of an East Sussex County Council road scheme in Lewes which resulted in the Lewes to Uckfield line being severed on the approach to Lewes. This resulted in the abandonment of that section of line and Uckfield becoming the terminal station of the long section from Hurst Green/Oxted. The fight to reopen the Lewes – Uckfield link was first pursued by the ‘Lewes – Uckfield Joint Railway Committee’ throughout the 1970s, which was set up to stop the line being closed in 1969. This was superseded by the ‘Lewes – Uckfield Railway Association’ which lasted until 1980. An enormous amount of time and effort by individuals within these groups was put into meetings, writing letters, carrying out public surveys and so on, in an effort to stop the route being further destroyed and run-down. That archive is immense and reflects the battle that was pursued chiefly throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Later, the Wealden Line Campaign was established and has been actively engaged in getting the link rebuilt ever since.
Before that occurred, British Rail had put forward an alternative route which could connect Lewes, but facing east towards Seaford/Newhaven/Eastbourne, rather than Brighton and requested that East Sussex County Council should meet the cost as it was the county council scheme that necessitated the re-routing. East Sussex County Council declined and eventually the completion of the first part of the Lewes Relief Road was made by cutting through the railway embankment near Harveys Brewery in Lewes. The second part of the original Lewes relief road scheme was never built, instead they built Cuilfail tunnel to provide access to the A27 trunk road after the railway trackbed had needlessly been ripped apart. More detail on this will appear in later articles.
What is now the Spa Valley Railway, was the former British Rail link-line from Eridge (on the Hurst Green/Wealden Line) to Tunbridge Wells West which closed on 6th July 1985 except for stock movements until 10th August of that year. The station at Tunbridge Wells West was substantial and had a great many sidings for out-of-service passenger trains. This vast area was subsequently sold and two large supermarkets and a car park now occupy that space. However, plans have now been proposed for bringing the station back into the national rail network, details of which can be found on the BML2 Project website.