Lavender Line
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The Lavender Line is a heritage railway based at Isfield station, near Uckfield in East Sussex.
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[edit] History
The Lavender Line formed part of the Lewes to Uckfield Railway when it was opened on the 18 October 1858. Within 12 months of its opening, the branch had been integrated into the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway to safeguard the company’s interests east of its London to Brighton main line. Ten years from its opening, Isfield saw through workings from Brighton to Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge, via a new Uckfield–Groombridge link. This scheme necessitated track diversion work north of Lewes, to obviate trains having to reverse, and the branch therefore assumed a new course, entering Lewes from the East via a tunnel and not from the North as it had previously done. The mileage of the line also changed as a result of this alteration, and with the nought milepost now at Brighton, Isfield's location now became 13 miles 1,070 yards (21.9 km).
[edit] Bluebell Line
The Bluebell Railway originally branched off the Lavender Line at Culver Junction, near Culver Farm between Lewes and Barcombe Mills. This junction closed in 1958 with the closure of the East Grinstead to Lewes line.
[edit] Closure
By the 1930s a decline in traffic was very much in evidence, with fewer trains venturing south of East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells, and others terminating at Uckfield after dividing at Eridge. The retimetabling of trains reduced usage to virtually zero, and the civil engineer declared a viaduct just south of Isfield to be unsafe. Thus it was on Sunday February 23, 1969 the railway between Uckfield and Lewes closed, and the track was lifted by British Rail. The sale of the track bed was postponed in the wake of several re-opening schemes, all of which came to nothing - which is why it took 15 years for the railway to become available to private buyers.
[edit] Restoration
On 16 June 1983 the Isfield railway station was purchased at auction by a Mr Dave and Mrs Gwen Milham with restoration of the Station in mind. The rebuilding began immediately, including the laying of new track, the renovation of the signal box, and renewal of the all yellow perimeter fence. The booking hall was renovated, the station awning renewed, and all platform signs replaced. The original platform waiting room had been purchased from Isfield by the Bluebell Railway in 1978, and resituated at Sheffield Park station. Two months were spent constructing an exact replica, completed in January 1984. In forces with the Bluebell Railway, Mr Milham purchased track material from British Rail, made available from work being done at Croydon. The station was named 'The Lavender Line' with a historical connection in mind: A.E. Lavender and Sons were the local coal merchants who had operated from the station yard. Two engines where first purchased for use at the station. 'Annie', a Barclay 0-4-0 saddle tank previously in service at Bury Transport Museum, and 'Ugly', RSH 0-6-0 saddle tank number 64, purchased while on loan at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. A third engine was purchased, a 2-10-0 built by the North British Locomotive Company, which had to be shipped from Greece to the United Kingdom. The engine was re-christened the Dame Vera Lynn by Dame Vera Lynn herself at the station on August 6, 1986. The engine proved too large for the tracks, and was sold to Clifford Brown, a British born American businessman living in Virginia, USA. Mr Brown send the engine to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway were it presently resides. The main restoration that took place at the station was completed by the spring of 1987. This included a track stretching three quarters of a mile (and no further due to a weak bridge crossing the Uck River), a new 100 ft by 60 ft engine shed, and the complete renovation of the station house. Costs by this point had escalated to in excess of three quarters of a million pounds. The station won various awards for the restoration, and became a popular local attraction, as well as a location for film and television shots requiring a period railway station.
[edit] The present
Ownership of the station passed from the Milham family in 1991 and is presently run by The Lavender Line Preservation Society. Since its restoration in the 1980s the station has remained a popular attraction for the local area, and remains a well-celebrated example of a restored period railway station.
[edit] The future
A group of people (The Wealden Line Campaign) are currently campaigning to re-open the Lewes-Uckfield line as part of the National Rail Network, would directly affect the operations of the Lavender Line.
[edit] Roadworks
Parts of the original railway line, including the tunnel at Lewes have been taken over for new roads, which would make the restoration of the railway line even harder, although the original route into Lewes, without the tunnel, could still be used.
