The Dyke railway station

Last updated

The Dyke
Devil's Dyke Station.jpg
General information
Location Devil's Dyke, Mid Sussex
England
Coordinates 50°52′42.50″N0°12′37.72″W / 50.8784722°N 0.2104778°W / 50.8784722; -0.2104778 Coordinates: 50°52′42.50″N0°12′37.72″W / 50.8784722°N 0.2104778°W / 50.8784722; -0.2104778
Grid reference TQ260103
Platforms1 [1]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company Brighton and Dyke Railway (operated by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway)
Post-grouping Southern Railway
Key dates
1 September 1887Opened
1 January 1917Closed
26 July 1920Reopened
1 January 1939 [2] Closed

The Dyke railway station [3] was a railway station near Devil's Dyke in West Sussex, England which opened in 1887 and closed in 1939. [4]

Contents

History

Site of the Dyke Station in 2007 Location of Devils Dyke railway station.jpg
Site of the Dyke Station in 2007

The Dyke Station opened as the terminus for the standard gauge railway line which ran from Dyke Junction Station (now known as Aldrington railway station) [5] [6] to 200 feet below the summit of Devil's Dyke. [7] The line was opened by the Brighton and Dyke Railway Company to serve what was at the time a very popular tourist destination, boasting two bandstands, an observatory, a camera obscura and fairground rides. The station itself was equipped with basic facilities to accommodate tourists and postcards of the station buildings reveal a converted railway carriage with shack attached bearing the sign "Tea and Cakes".

The 1893 August Bank Holiday saw around 30,000 people flock to the Dyke, many of them brought by the railway. [8] Operations continued until 1917 when, in the midst of the First World War, the line was closed as a wartime economy measure. Services recommenced in 1920 but lasted only a further eighteen years; the line closing in the face of increased competition from motor buses. [9]

The Southern Railway purchased a Sentinel-Cammell steam railcar in June 1933 for use on the branch. [10] Although operationally successful, the single railcar was not large enough to meet the needs of the line. The railcar was transferred away in March 1936 and tried in other areas, but was withdrawn in 1940. [11]

The site today

The station was demolished after closure and the site is occupied by a farm. Part of the trackbed of the line remained unused until 1988 when the "Dyke Railway Trail" was created. [12]

Services

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Golf Club Halt   London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Brighton and Dyke Railway
(1887-1939)
 Terminus

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Coastway line</span> Railway line in England

The West Coastway line is a railway line in England linking the densely populated conurbations of Brighton/Hove/Littlehampton and Southampton/Portsmouth, with 1.3 million people between them. It has short southward branches to Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. Some trains using part of the route operate as direct continuations of passenger services to/from London, particularly those to the branch stations mentioned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sentinel Waggon Works</span> Manufacturer of steam vehicles

Sentinel Waggon Works Ltd was a British company based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire that made steam-powered lorries, railway locomotives, and later, diesel engined lorries, buses and locomotives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hove railway station</span> Railway station in East Sussex, England

Hove railway station serves Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is 50 miles 56 chains (81.6 km) measured from London Victoria. The station and the majority of trains serving it are operated by Southern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartfield railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Hartfield was a railway station serving Hartfield, England, on the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line which closed in 1967, a casualty of the Beeching Axe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ's Hospital railway station</span> Railway station in West Sussex, England

Christ's Hospital railway station is near Horsham in West Sussex, England. It is 40 miles 7 chains (64.5 km) down the line from London Bridge via Redhill. It was opened in 1902 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and was intended primarily to serve Christ's Hospital, a large independent school which had moved to the area in that year. It now also serves the rural area to the west of Horsham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldrington railway station</span> Railway station in East Sussex, England

Aldrington railway station, sometimes known by its former names of Aldrington Halt and Dyke Junction, is a railway station that serves the area of Aldrington in Hove, in East Sussex, England. The station is 1 mile 74 chains (3.1 km) from Brighton on the West Coastway Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transport in Brighton and Hove</span>

Public transport in Brighton and Hove, a city on the south coast of England, dates back to 1840. Brighton and Hove has a major railway station, an extensive bus service, many taxis, coach services, and it has previously had trolley buses, ferries, trams, auto rickshaws and hydrofoils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ardingly railway station</span> Disused railway station in Ardingly, West Sussex

Ardingly was a railway station which served the West Sussex village of Ardingly in England. It was opened on 3 September 1883 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) closed eighty years later and is currently used as an aggregates depot. The Bluebell Railway owns the trackbed from just east of the station to Horsted Keynes and has long-term plans to rebuild the line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Groombridge railway station</span> Station in East Sussex, England

Groombridge railway station is a station on the Spa Valley Railway (SVR) in Groombridge, East Sussex, England. Once a busy station serving four directions, it closed in 1985 to British Rail services. A new station the other side of Station Road bridge was opened by the SVR in 1997 as part of a standard gauge heritage railway to Tunbridge Wells West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midhurst railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Midhurst railway station used to serve the market town of Midhurst in the English county of West Sussex. The first railway to reach the town was a branch line from Petersfield opened by the London & South Western Railway on 1 September 1864.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rowan Halt railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Rowan Halt railway station, was a railway station in Hove, in East Sussex, England which opened in 1933 and closed on 1 January 1939; the layout and curvature of Rowan Avenue indicates where the branch ran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golf Club Halt railway station (England)</span> Former railway station in England

Golf Club Halt railway station, was a railway station in Hove, in East Sussex, England which opened in 1891 and closed in 1939. The station served the Brighton & Hove Golf Club, established in 1887. As of 2018, the platform is still in situ, buried in undergrowth on private farmland.

The Steyning Line was a railway branch line that connected the West Sussex market town of Horsham with the port of Shoreham-by-Sea, with connections to Brighton. It was built by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, and opened in 1861. It was 20 miles in length. It followed the course of the River Adur for much of its extent and was alternatively known as the Adur Valley Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hull and Hornsea Railway</span> Disused railway in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England

The Hull and Hornsea Railway was a branch line which connected the city of Kingston upon Hull with the seaside town of Hornsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

Lewes Road railway station was a railway station in Brighton, East Sussex. It was located on the now closed Kemp Town branch line which first opened in 1869. The station opened on 1 September 1873 and was closed to passengers in 1933 but the line remained opened for goods trains until 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartington Road Halt railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Hartington Road Halt railway station was a stop on the Kemp Town branch railway line between Brighton station and Kemp Town, Brighton, East Sussex. It was open only briefly between 1906 and 1911. The line it stood on was closed permanently in 1971 and has now been demolished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brighton and Dyke Railway</span>

The Brighton and Dyke Railway was an independent railway company which built a branch line from Brighton in East Sussex to the Devil's Dyke, a popular beauty spot nearby in the South Downs, England. The line opened in 1887 but was not commercially successful; it closed in 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holland Road Halt railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Holland Road Halt was a railway station in Hove, East Sussex, which opened in 1905 and closed in 1956. It lay to the west of the original Hove station (1840–1880) and to the east of the current station of that name (1865–present) as well as the Cliftonville Curve. It was mainly used during rush hours by stopping trains to Worthing.

The Portsmouth to Brighton Railway was built by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and its immediate predecessor in several stages.

References

  1. J T Howard Turner (1977). The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Volume 1 Origins and Foundation. ISBN   0-7134-0275-X.
  2. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Sparkford, ISBN   1-85260-508-1, p. 228.
  3. H P White (1976). Forgotten Railways: South East England. ISBN   0-7153-7286-6.
  4. "Sussex Branch Lines - Two Branches and a Siding" . Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  5. Harding, Peter A. The Dyke Branch Line. ISBN   0-9523458-5-4.
  6. Clark, Paul (1976). The Railways of Devil's Dyke. Crown Press Keighley Ltd. ISBN   0-902844-35-0.
  7. Devil's Dyke
  8. Urban 75
  9. My Brighton & Hove
  10. Casserley, H. C. (28 January 2007). "Sentinel railcar at The Dyke Station in 1933". (photo). Subterranea Britannica (Disused Stations). Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  11. Bradley 1975 , p. 72
  12. Dyke Railway Trail

Bibliography