On 2 Dec 2011 at 2:44pm ADT wrote:
Re: dogs travelling to Uckfield. Personally I'd love the Lewes to Uckfield train line to be reinstated, but standing at the station today wondered how it could ever be made to work.
They'd have to knock down properties on Court Road, precinct shops including Currys, WHSmiths, etc, plus have a level crossing on the Phoenix Causeway bypass somewhere near the existing bridge.
Not going to happen is it? Ho hum.
On 2 Dec 2011 at 3:25pm Spotter wrote:
It's not that hard. The trains would run on the London line until just after the tunnel, when the Uckfield line would branch off and join the old route somewhere near Hamsey...
On 2 Dec 2011 at 3:40pm Slarty wrote:
There is a 99-year buy back for ALL property on the old railway line between Lewes and Uckfield 'at cost' of when it was sold in the 70s, so price wise it wont be too bad if done before 2070-ish.
I found this out when I bought my house which is close to the old line and the solicitor search picked it up.
BUT...after saying that, there are many other routes being talked about, up the London line as mentioned above or out to Glynde and around as well as the old line through the new Law Courts and shops.
I don't think it will happen due to financial reasons. Lewes to Brighton return is £7.20 on peak, so what would Uckfield to Brighton return be and who would pay it?
On 2 Dec 2011 at 5:26pm realist wrote:
Total rubbish - there is , and never has been, a "buy-back" clause. There is a protected route from Uckfield south as far as Cowlease Farm. From then on to Lewes is anybody's guess! Just accept, Steam Dreamers, it ain't ever goin' to happen!
On 2 Dec 2011 at 7:49pm Castle Gate wrote:
This document (see link at the foot of this note) may be of some interest. Exploring elsewhere on the Interwebs, one may find a rather lovely walk to be had along the ghost route of this departed railway line.
Check it out here »
On 2 Dec 2011 at 8:23pm Matt Kent wrote:
@ ADT. Spotter is right. The reinstatement would include the 'Hamsey Loop' (Part of the 1966 Act) when the Causeway was built by ESCC.
Currently there is a great fear that ESCC will build over the alignment in Uckfield as part of a 'Traffic Alleviation' scheme that will be tabled in early 2012. I have been trying to promote BML2 with Brian Hart (Wealdine Line Campaign) for the last few years that includes the reinstated section of Lewes-Uckfield. Recently Lewes Town Council agreed a motion to support BML2. Lewes District Council currently do not, and ESCC never have supported nor promoted the reinstatement as they would rather build a £120million+ 3 mile bypass between Bexhill and Hastings, through the Coombe Haven Valley. What a transport legacy eh!!
Check out what BML2 is about, as it links Falmer to Uckfield and beyond and offers amazing network flexibility. We all know what happened with the Croydon landslide and the Balcombe Tunnel failure. The whole of the South East came to a standstill on the rail network. Oh, and everyone forgets that the current Brighton Mainline will be to capacity in about 8 years time. Thats even after longer trains that are due from First Capital Connect, and the additional Gatwick Expresses. Norman Baker needs to pull his finger out and invest in local/regional transport and not the £36billion white elephant that is High Speed 2, that carves up miles and miles of countryside for an extra few minutes to the north.
Check it out here »
On 2 Dec 2011 at 11:09pm David Lloyd wrote:
Lord Attlee said this week that only the Transport Secretary could safeguard
the line and that no such protection was in place. "Whether the proposed new road in Uckfield is built with a bridge over the trackbed is a matter for
the County Council and the planning process" (Rail 684).
What is the cost of BML2? Why can't both HS2 and BML2 be built?
If a person wants to travel from Lewes just to Uckfield there is a fast, frequent and efficient bus service, that serves communities en route, something that BML2 will not.
On 2 Dec 2011 at 11:18pm phil bong wrote:
No train spotter, but at the York railway museum a few years ago & there's a model, pride of place, of Glynde station showing the various mineral lines linking into it, & including one from the Ringmer direction. Now then. a link, changing the trackbed formation 'a bit (!)' to allow modern train formations would allow trains to run from Uckfiield, ignoring the cheapo steamers at Isfield & with a level crossing or bridges (yeah, expense !) taking in the new growth town/suburb/dormo/unlit village of Ringmer so that it arrives in Lewes on the Brighton platforms, not fouling the London ones of 'the Hamsey loop'. No Malling cutting or Hamsey loop, just through trains from Brighton which can go north taking i Ringmer & Uckfield. Will it happen ? Too many vested interests !
On 2 Dec 2011 at 11:42pm Yawn wrote:
You are quite right phil bong, it ain't never going to happen. Massively more expensive than reopening the old route, which was itself far too expensive to be a runner.
Where are you going to put the route - cut a swathe through the National Park and Glyndebourne, or further out across the Laughton levels and miss Ringmer altogether? In either case you have to reverse in and out of Uckfield, instead of doing the same thing at Lewes. Just look on a map.
On 2 Dec 2011 at 11:49pm Spotter wrote:
Mr Kent - have a thought for the thousands of poor souls who suffer the intolerable journey between Hastings and Bexhill each day. Rarely can a stretch of road like the bypass be more desperately needed. Coombe Haven valley is not exactly a rare treasure of open space, with it's tawdry caravan park, pellet factory and municipal tip...
On 4 Dec 2011 at 8:17pm Matt Kent wrote:
@Spotter. With the general trend for car users switching to Public Transport due to fuel increases (fuel which is forever depleting) and the fact that in 8 years time the whole of Sussex and beyond will have a rail network struggling south of Haywards Heath (due to its capacity), there are probably far more students, workers and families from all over that rely on the rail network than the A259. ESCC have to seriously review how they going to commit tens of millions of pounds to the future of the regions infrastructure. Given that ESCC own in the region of £4billion of road network, I can see where they might spend it. There's no denying though that local rail transport requires significant investment and expansion in and around Sussex, that includes towns like Bexhill and Hastings. However this may all be academic, given that Norman Baker holds the purse strings and could always pull the money for such schemes. And from speaking to him over to the last year, that might just well happen.
On 4 Dec 2011 at 11:10pm Spotter wrote:
As I understand it, Victorian cowboy builders buggered up the tunnels in Hastings - which means that they will always pose a serious rail bottleneck in that area. Hence the long-standing reliance on roads around there...
On 5 Dec 2011 at 5:27pm extra wrote:
The whole UK transport infrastructure is creaking. The amount of time and money I have lost over the years battling from Portsmouth to Dover and, as soon as you cross into France, the European motorways they are superb as are their rail systems. A27/259 routes are a particular joke, overcrowding on WCML and ECML and, the sooner we recruit a couple of Dutch engineers to sort out some dedicated cycle paths where the cyclists are safe and ride within the law the better!
On 5 Dec 2011 at 7:34pm Deelite wrote:
Many things seem to improve when you get out of the UK.