East Coastway Line

East Coastway is the name used by the train operating company, Southern (formerly South Central Trains), for the routes it operates along the south coast of Sussex and Kent to the east of Brighton, England. Those to the West of Brighton are named the West Coastway Line. The trains running under the East Coastway name serve stations between Brighton, Lewes, Eastbourne, Hastings and Ashford, together with the branch line to Seaford, whilst the long closed branch to Kemptown (an area of Brighton) used to diverge just east of London Road Station.

The Brighton Main Line route to Eastbourne and Hastings, via Plumpton & Cooksbridge, shares the East Coastway line east of Lewes station, thus for completeness, the line from Lewes to Keymer Jnc. (were it joins the Brighton Main Line) has been included on the route map. Not included here, but having their own articles, are the Newhaven & Seaford Branch and Kemp Town Branch.

The Route

* Brighton: trains to and from Lewes mostly use the eastern platforms here."London Road viaduct 28 arches."
* London Road (Brighton)"Ditchling Road Tunnel 63 yd (58m)"
Here lay the junction for the Kemp Town branch now closed
* Moulsecoomb opened 12 May 1980
* Falmer"Falmer Tunnel 490yd (441m)"
* Lewes: has been the junction for other routes; only two remain open: Here lies the junction with the Keymer Jnc. to Lewes line

Lewes station was also the junction for two branch lines to the north: one for Eridge via Uckfield; the other to East Grinstead and beyond. Both leaving Lewes via the Wealden Line, splitting at Culver Junction.

Here lies the Southerham Junction for the Newhaven & Seaford branch:At one time, to the north side of the line lay interchange sidings for the then near-by cement works [plates 72 & 73 plus map, Brighton to Eastbourne by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Middleton Press 1985 ISBN 0 906520 16 9] .

Continuing the main route:
* Glynde:
Here lay interchange sidings for two industrial branch lines; one to a Clay pit and the other to a Chalk pit.
* Berwick
* Polegate: This is both the current location of the station (opened 1986) and site of the original 1846 station.

The former line to Eridge via Hailsham (Cuckoo Line) diverged at this point. The junction originally faced west, but in 1871 its alignment was changed to face east to allow through running into Eastbourne. The branch was closed to passengers in 1965 and to freight in 1968.

* Polegate (closed) Site of the second and largest Polegate station, 1871 - 1986, opened when the junction was re-aligned.

Eastwards, beyond the site of the station, was a triangular junction allowing direct access to Hastings. This is now closed, and all trains run into Eastbourne and reverse to continue their journey. On the top part of the triangle was once:

* Stonecross Halt - now closedThe line to Eastbourne continues southwards:Here lies Willingdon Junction.
* Hampden Park
* Eastbourne: a terminus.:From here trains reverse through Hampden Park, and continue east at Willingdon Junction.Continuing east at Willingdon Junction;
* Pevensey
* Pevensey Bay this station was originally opened as a halt
* Normans Bay this station was originally opened as a halt
* Cooden Beach
* Collington this station was originally opened as a halt, being named in turn Collington Wood Halt; West Bexhill Halt; and Collington Halt
* Bexhill
* St Leonards (West Marina) closed 1967"Tunnel"
* St Leonards (Warrior Square)"Tunnel"
* Hastings
** Trains from London continue beyond Hastings to Ore where there are extensive carriage sidings, although the remainder of the line to Ashford is named the Marshlink Line.

History

Most of the lines operating within East Coastway were originally built by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway; the line between St Leonards Warrior Square and Ashford by the South Eastern Railway, although this later section (east of Ore) was not originally part of the East Coastway line services.

All the lines, as far as Ore (although not the Kemp Town branch), were electrified using the (750 V DC third rail) system by the Southern Railway during the inter-war years.

Lewes Station

Lewes station has a quite complex history, as follows; [maps opposite plate 50, Brighton to Eastbourne by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Middleton Press 1985 ISBN 0 906520 16 9] [London, Brighton & South Coast Railway Album, Klaus Marx, Ian Allan, 1982, ISBN 0 7110 1187 7]
* 8 June 1846: Line from Brighton opened. :A terminus was provided for services arriving from Brighton (1846 - 1857)
* 27 June 1846: Line is extended from Lewes to Hastings.:A platform is provided, called 'Ham (or Southover)', slightly west of the divergence for the Hastings line (1846 - 1848)
* 2 October 1847: Keymer Jnc. to Lewes line opened.:Platforms (going by the name of 'Pinwell) are built opposite the Terminus, west of the Hasting line divergence serving trains to and from the Hasting direction (1847 - 1857)
* 1857: A new station is built at the divergence of the keymer line:This was the first station at this site, the station building being of a Swiss chalet style [page 22, London, Brighton & South Coast Railway Album, Klaus Marx, Ian Allan, 1982, ISBN 0 7110 1187 7] (1857 - 1889)
* 1 October 1886: a new junction for the realigned Wealden Line opened.:The alignment of this line appears to have passed through the location of the original terminus; the station goods yard also being at this location. Prior to this date the Wealdon line joined the keymer line at a junction someplace between the north portal of Lewes tunnel and Cooksbridge station [Undated map from The Railway Magazine, reproduced in Brighton to Eastbourne by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Middleton Press 1985 ISBN 0 906520 16 9] (see the Wealden Line article for details).
* 17 June 1889 Current station opened.:The 1857 station is totally rebuilt and the track layout changed, this new station is still in use today.::On 5 November 1960, Lewes suffered severe flooding, legend has it that the Borough Surveyor requested that the London Platforms be blown up to allow flood water to escape via the railway track-bed, the British Railways district Engineer declined to co-operate. [plate 65, Brighton to Eastbourne by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Middleton Press 1985 ISBN 0 906520 16 9] In the 1960s, the original 1846 terminus building, fronting the public street (Friars Walk), was demolished. [plate 48, Brighton to Eastbourne by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Middleton Press 1985 ISBN 0 906520 16 9]

World War Two

Brighton

During a daylight air raid on 25 May 1943 a German bomber dropped five bombs that hit the upper goods yard north of Brighton station and part of the viaduct carrying the East Coastway line, along with other damage the bombs demolished two arches of the viaduct and killed one railway employee. Temporary repairs to the viaduct were soon made and by the year's end the damaged brickwork was restored [ plates 13 through 16, Brighton to Eastbourne by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Middleton Press 1985 ISBN 0 906520 16 9] .

Eastbourne

In March 1944 the station platforms were badly damage during a German air raid, ripping up track and bring down platform canopies. In 1942 railway employees were killed during an ARP exercise [plate 112, Brighton to Eastbourne by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Middleton Press 1985 ISBN 0 906520 16 9] .

The 1911 locomotive shed was severely damaged, being left virtually roofless, by numerous air raids [page 27, An Historical Survey of Southern Sheds, by Chris Hawkins & George Reeve; OPC, 1979 ISBN 0 86093 020 3] .

External links

* [http://www.southernrailway.com/route_info/route_info.shtml Southern trains network routes]

References