Place Newick 1 August 1882 Opened | Grid reference TQ400210 Platforms in use 2 | |
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Area Lewes District, East Sussex Pre-grouping London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Post-grouping Southern Railway
Southern Region of British Railways Similar Barcombe railway station, Heathfield (Sussex) railway st, Horam railway station, Barcombe Mills railway st, Sheffield Park railway st | ||
Newick and Chailey was a railway station located about halfway between the villages of Newick and Chailey in East Sussex, England. It was part of the East Grinstead to Lewes line, more popularly known as the Bluebell Railway.
Contents
Facilities
The station was located on the single line, but consisted of two side platforms on a loop line. There were substantial station buildings on each platform with a pedestrian footbridge connecting the two. The old Up platform had a restaurant facility and toilets until rationalisation in the 1930s which removed all the buildings on this platform and the footbridge span.
Closure
Following the withdrawal of the services on the line in 1955, a Chailey resident, Margery Bessemer, forced its re-opening in 1956 for a short period when she discovered that the original Acts of Parliament which authorised the line's construction imposed a statutory obligation on British Railways to continue running services. British Railways responded by running the most meagre timetable possible, the so-called "Sulky Service". Parliament did eventually repeal the original Acts and the line closed in 1958.
The track was removed in 1960 and the station buildings were demolished in the mid 1960s. The site of the station platforms in a cutting was subsequently infilled and covered by housing. Their site is identified in a road still today called Lower Station Road. Despite the reopening of part of the line by the Bluebell Railway, an extension south now seems improbable, although the possibility has not been ruled out.