Lewes Station
Lewes station has an unusual layout, as this Google Map shows.
Lewes Station
The line going off to the right is the East Coastway Line to Bexhill, Hastings and eventually via the Marshlink Line toAshford.
The top line at the left goes to Plumpton and eventually to London, whilst the bottom one goes to Brighton.
At the moment a great deal of work is going on, as these pictures of the station show.
Lewes could end up being a more important station if plans to reopen the Wealden Line to Uckfield come to fruition, to create a second route between London and Brighton. There is a BML2 web site, which is nothing but ambitious, as this map shows.
BML2 Map
I think that the Lewes to Uckfield section might be rebuilt and it would be an ideal place to use IPEMU trains, as they could be used on the whole of the Uckfield Branch of the Oxted Line to replace the current Class 171 diesel trains.
I have a feeling too, that IPEMUs would be ideal to bridge the electrification gap between Ashford and Ore and allow Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne to have high-speed services to St. Pamcras. Would these services if they ever start turn back at Eastbourne, Brighton or Lewes?
There is certainly scope for extra services in the area, if only there were more routes to London. In many places along the South Coast, services are hourly, which given the development and other issues in the area, probably isn’t enough.
In my view, half-hourly services are the minimum frequency on any rail-line that is connected to major centres of population, as this effectively, is a turn-up-and-go service. If the Scots feel this is needed on the Borders Railway, then the logic probably applies along the Sussex Coast.
Plumpton Station, Level Crossing And Racecourse
When a friend phoned me from Brighton asking me next time I was in the area to meet him for a coffee, I decided to combine the trip with a visit to the site of the level crossing in I Wonder If This Happens In Europe.
These are pictures I took at Plumpton station.
It would not be called grand, but it must be one of the few stations in the UK with an attached racecourse.
The rebuilding of the level crossing is causing problems according to Wikipedia. This is said.
Network Rail closed the level crossing in September 2015 so that the gates on the crossing could be replaced. However, Lewes District Council rejected the plans to replace the gates as it would cause “substantial harm to the significance of the signal box”. Network Rail have said that they cannot open the crossing as the work is not completed. This has effectively split the village in two, with some motorists having to take a six or seven mile detour.
I did chat with a local and her grey whippet and feel that there could be more to this than meets the eye.
If you type “Plumpton suicide” into Google, you find reports, where people have killed themselves at the crossing.
But I also feel that Network Rail haven’t been too clever in this one. My view is that stations like Plumpton need at least a half-hourly service, as this means you have a proper turn-up-and-go service.
One of the pieces of work being done in the area, is to close all the signal boxes and handle all signalling from Three Bridges Operating Centre. This work combined with an automated level crossing, could surely enable all the half-hourly services between Lewes and London to stop at the station.
But it would enrage the militant wing of the heritage lobby!
As to the signal box, they should be looking at a version of the Highams Park solution. Perhaps it would make a cafe and/or business centre.
Starting a half-hourly service might have the effect of increasing traffic at the station.
It’s a difficult one, but with the population of areas like Sussex getting older, more numerous and more and more people cutting use of their cars, who knows?
For the duration of the level crossing closure, Network Rail and Southern had a golden opportunity to experiment with stopping all services. Some of those drivers, who are doing a long detour, might have been persuaded to try the trains to Lewes, Brighton or London.
I Wonder If This Happens In Europe
This article from Rail News entitled Level crossing upgrade hits deadlock is priceless. This is the first couple of paragraphs.
A bid to upgrade the gates at a ‘high risk’ level crossing in Sussex has fallen foul of planning laws, and Network Rail has written a letter of apology to local residents who have been protesting that the road across the railway has now been closed for several weeks.
The gates at Plumpton between Burgess Hill and Lewes are of the traditional pattern, and controlled from the box alongside. But Network Rail said that “despite its local popularity and heritage, independent risk assessments had identified that the level crossing posed a high safety risk, as well as being increasingly difficult to operate and maintain”.
They now need to be replaced with modern lifting barriers which could in future be controlled by the new Rail Operating Centre at Three Bridges. The upgrade is costing £2 million.
This all sounds straightforward.
But it isn’t as Lewes Council has refused planning permission on heritage grounds.
The lawyers must be loving this one, as it will obviously run and run.
But as it’s a high risk crossing, surely this crossing should be closed before a serious accident happens.
Remember, I used to live in East Anglia and every few months or so, there was a news story about a serious level crossing accident.
Network Rail should be tasked to get rid of them all as soon as possible, so more tragedies like Elsenham and Ufton Nervet never happen again.
I suppose they could always close the East Coastway Line and run Rail Replacement Buses instead.
I wonder if other countries in Europe handle this sort of problem better!
The Only Decent Picture I Took Between Ashford And Lewes
My trip along the coast was not noted for warm, sunny weather.
This is the only decent picture I took as the train trundled from Ashford to Lewes.
The Only Decent Picture I Took Between Ashford And Lewes
The others tended to be of sodden fields in the drab cold weather. The Scots and especially Carol Kirkwood, would have called it dreek.
To Brighton The Long Way
As it had been a long time, since I’d been to the Rye area in Kent, I decided to go to see Ipswich at Brighton, by taking the long way round via Ashford, Brighton and Lewes.
I arrived at Ashford on the high speed Class 395 from St. Pancras and from there to Rye, I had a very clean Class 171 to myself.
My Personal Class 171
With some of the controversy about the lack of toilets on Crossrail, it is interesting to note that the six car Class 395 has only two toilets, whilst the two car Class 171 has just a single. So it would appear that there isn’t much demand for toilets-on-the-go in Kent.
On a serious note, the journey from Ashford to Rye is on the Marshlink Line, which has recently been looked at for electrification so that high-speed services can come from St. Pancras to Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne via Ashford. It’s reported here in Kent Online.
If you look at the area from Ashford to Eastbourne, it is not one of the most prosperous places in the South East, although it has improved in recent years, so the promoters of the scheme might have a point, when they say an improved train service might give the whole area a lift.
An electrified Marshlink Line connecting Ashford to Ore where the existing third-rails finish could be one of those additions to the rail network, where because it’s there, you get all sorts of unexpected benefits.
The electrification would have to be third rail, which is probably something Network Rail want to avoid. But this would mean that apart from the freight services to Dungeness Power station, all the services along the South Coast could be electric, as third rail running is no problem for the Class 395. The Class 171 would find employment elsewhere.
The case is probably not a strong one, as if it was when the Marshlink Line had problems in Ore Tunnel a couple of years ago, the powers that be, would have taken the opportunity presented by the line closure to electrify it.
What will probably result in the electrification of the Marshlink Line is developments on the diesel-operated Uckfield branch of the Oxted Line. In the discussion of the future of this line on Wikipedia, various scenarios are put forward that could result in the full electrification of this line. If this happens, then electrification of the Marshlink Link would remove the Class 171 trains from Sussex and Kent, which surely would be a saving in train care costs.
According to this report in the Sussex Express, the council is backing electrification of both lines.
Electrifying two rail lines in East Sussex, including Uckfield to Hurst Green, is the best way of improving capacity, reducing journey times and boosting the county’s economy, a council chief said.
East Sussex County Council has designated the electrification and dual tracking of the Uckfield to Hurst Green and Hastings to Ashford lines as its key priorities for improving rail infrastructure and services.
The report also mentions an East Sussex Council Council report entitled Shaping Rail In East Sussex.
I have read this and it is a sensible document, that shows the council is serious about providing a good rail service for the area.
One thing the report mentions is that Thameslink was going to go to Eastbourne, but this has now been dropped. Other reports show that many commuters would like to be in London in seventy minutes instead of the current ninety and they had hoped a direct link via Thameslink would have helped achieve this. I doubt, going from Eastbourne to London via Ashford, would be anywhere near the magic seventy.
After 2018 when Thameslink is fully open, the pressure on railways in East Sussex will inevitably increase. Especially, as it is a county, where a lot of the roads are not an easy alternative.
I do wonder if electrification and dualling of these two lines is going to be one of a host of infrastructure projects announced before May.
Rail Travel Along The South Coast
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve travelled along most of the South Coast by train in two trips; one to Bexhill and the other to Littlehampton and Yeovil.
Effectively the South Coast is covered by two main rail routes; the East Coastway line from Brighton to Hastings and the West Coastway line from Brighton to Southampton.
The fastest trains from Hastings to Southampton take five minutes over three hours with a change of train at Brighton. But there are twenty-three stops.
So it could be a journey that only a masochist would take, but at least you’d probably be in a comfortable Class 377 with a trolley service.
Even if you go via Clapham Junction, it will still take nearly three and a half hours.
So it is definitely a journey where most people would drive. But a lot of the roads are dreadful.
So could anything be done to make this journey faster and better?
The Class 377 trains are 100 mph units, but some of the route has a lower speed limit, but as I found on the route, the slow speed is probably more due to the number of stops than the speed of the trains.
The only improvement being talked about is to improve the Marshlink line from Hastings to Ashford, so that high speed services could run between St. Pancras and Eastbourne.
Judging by the troubles that the current Hastings line is suffering from, it would seem that this scheme might be cheaper than sorting out the Jerry-built Hastings line.
If you search the Internet for South Coast Main Line, you find this document from the East Sussex Rail Alliance.
I think we can file that under In Your Dreams.
The Great Eastern Main line has a similar problem of slow speed which is hopefully being solved with the Norwich in Ninety project.
Perhaps a similar approach could be used along the South Coast.
East London To Yeovil By The Long Way
Yeovil is a long way from London and when I saw the fixture list, I felt it was a game that would be impossible to see.
So when I found out that Thomas Heatherwick had designed a café at Littlehampton, a town I’d never visited, I thought perhaps I could go there on the way and have a decent lunch.
So I booked a ticket to Littlehampton from Clapham Junction and then another from Littlehampton to Yeovil, with changes at Fratton and Salisbury.
I started just after ten and took a Class 378 London Overground train to Clapham Junction.
I just missed a Littlehampton train at Clapham Junction, so I had a cup of hot chocolate on the bridge at Knot Pretzels.
The train I did get to Littlehampton was direct, but it did take an hour and thirty five minutes in a comfortable Class 377. I did walk to the beach at Littlehampton see the café and have lunch.
I just caught my train out of Littlehampton at 15:23, which was the first leg of my journey along the South Coast to Yeovil to Fratton. The train was an elderly but well-refurbished Class 313.
From Fratton it was a First Great Western Class 158, which was going all the way from Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff.
The final leg was a South West Trains Class 159 from Salisbury to Yeovil Junction. I arrived on time at 18:40.
I think this journey shows up our trains in a reasonable light. The journey times are slow not because of slow trains, but because of the frequent stops and complicated route. The journey took three hours seventeen minutes from Littlehampton to Yeovil, but there was only thirty-three minutes wasted in connections.
Although some trains date from the 1980s, there wasn’t anything as bad as the dreaded Pacers that inhabit the North. The services were pretty well-used and except for the short leg from Littlehampton to Fratton, there was a catering trolley on all trains.
Would I do this journey again? I might, but I doubt I’ll ever need to do it. My next trip to the South Coast involves a trip to Brighton, which will be a lot quicker.
I had hoped to take a few pictures, but my camera died at Littlehampton.
Trains To Bexhill
I went the one-train way to Bexhill from Clapham Junction. This may by convenient, but it is rather slow. It takes one hour fifty three minutes from Victoria and there is just one comfortable Class 377 train every hour during the day.
Class 377s At Bexhill
You can do the journey in one hour forty one minutes using HS1 and changing at Ashford from St. Pancras, but as with Victoria, there is just one train an hour.
To illustrate the poor train service in this part of Sussex, if you go from Charing Cross to Hastings, you can do it normally in about one hour forty-five minutes, on a train with innumerable stops. At the moment a lot of the services are replaced by buses due to landslips. If you read Wikpedia on the Hastings Line, you’ll see how it was built by the worst of Victorian gerry-builders and how some of the line has been single-tracked, so that normal-sized trains can use the line. Until 1986, the line was operated by special narrow trains.
It would seem that something ought to be done.
There is an unelectrified line called the Marshlink Line, that links Hastings to Ashford. There is a proposal to upgrade and electrify this line, so that high speed commuting services from St. Pancras, can serve Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne.
As an aside here, some years ago, I looked at a business proposal in Hastings. After driving to meet a guy there, I had to go to see a client near Gatwick. It took me nearly two hours to cross half of Sussex in a fast car, as the roads were completely inadequate. Since then the Hastings by-pass has been chopped, so surely creating a modern railway from Ashford to Eastbourne and on to Brighton and Portsmouth, should be a priority?
I can’t find any reference to how much it would cost to upgrade the line, but it would surely benefit more people than the proposed hundred million pounds, that are being spent according to reports in Somerset.
Going South
I could have called this piece Going Southern or Wandering Through Sussex, but today’s trip was a bit of a nightmare.
I’m always a bit apprehensive going south of the Big Sewer, as inevitably when I do I get lost or something happens.
Today’s trip couldn’t have been simpler. I wanted to get to Bosham station, just to the west of Chichester to have lunch and walk by the sea with an old colleague. It appeared that now the new South London line is open, a start by going to Clapham Junction station would be a good idea. From there I would take the 09:38 towards Bognor Regis and change off this train at Barnham station for Bosham.
The first leg went very well and just a couple of minutes late, the lightly-loaded Overground train pulled into Clapham Junction. There was a slight problem in that there are no ticket machines by the Overground platforms and you have to go outside the gated area to get a ticket. I couldn’t complain about the price and it cost me just £15.30. As one connection from the Overground to the train I wanted was just a minute, you’re a bit stumped if you cut it fine and have a ticket to collect.
I could have done it as the 09:38 pulled into the station, about ten minutes late.
We ran well until Billingshurst, but then it all started to go wrong, as a train in front had broken down. Eventually, it became obvious, I wouldn’t make my connection, so I phoned my friend and we agreed, he’d pick me up at Chichester. Which is what happened, but we finally got to the restaurant in Bosham about an hour after we planned.
We had our lunch and a walk and then I was dropped back at Bosham station to get the train home. As my ticket allowed me to go via Havant, if I wanted, I wasn’t pleased to see the westbound train steaming out of the station, as I arrived on the platform. As the trains seemed to be running to a random edition of the timetable, I thought the best thing to do, was to take the first train to arrive, as most seemed t0 be either delayed or cancelled.
So I found myself on a Brighton train and felt the best thing to do, would be to ask the conductor’s advice, as to the best route back to Clapham Junction. But he was nowhere to be seen, so I decided to take my chances at Barnham station.
There I got advice to go to Worthing and get a London train from there, which is what I did. I finally arrived at Clapham Junction nearly three hours after being dropped at Bosham. The trip is scheduled to take around one hour fifty minutes.
To make matters worse, i just missed an Overground train at Clapham Junction and had to wait fifteen minutes. But there were no further delays and I thought the train was surprisingly full for an early evening one. It will be interesting to see how traffic builds in the next few months.
So why were the Southern trains late?
One of the rather overworked employees said is was all down to the cold and when I said it didn’t seem to happen on the Ipswich line, he blamed the third rail electrical system. Perhaps, now the long-since dead idiot who decided to use this system, is getting the criticism he deserves. After all Southern Railway did start electrification with an overhead system and then ripped it out in the late 1920s.
I should say too, that all the staff were very good and helped when they could. The advice to go via Worthing was totally spot on.
I think next time, I go south, I’ll check on the weather first!
The Anonymous Widower 