Oxted Line

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Oxted Line

Legend Brighton Main Line South Croydon Woodside and South Croydon Railway Brighton Main Line (to Hayes Line) Sanderstead Riddlesdown Riddlesdown Tunnel Riddlesdown Viaduct Upper Warlingham Woldingham Viaduct Woldingham Oxted Tunnel  (2,266 yards (2,072 m)) M25 Oxted Oxted Viaduct Limpsfield Tunnel (565 yards (517 m)) Hurst Green Hurst Green Jn Crowhurst Spur Monks Lane Halt  (Closed 1970's) (1907–1939) to Redhill to Tonbridge Edenbridge Tunnel  (319 yards (292 m)) Edenbridge Town Lingfield Hever Dormans Mark Beech Tunnel (1,341 yards (1,226 m)) to Three Bridges East Grinstead Original Station Bluebell Railway to Lewes Cowden Forest Row Hartfield Ashurst Withyham to Tunbridge Wells (Spa Valley Railway) Eridge Cuckoo Line Crowborough Buxted Uckfield Former Uckfield Station Wealden Line

The Oxted Lines, shown with other railway lines in South London, Surrey, Kent and East Sussex.

The Oxted Line is a railway line in southern England. It was originally operated jointly by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the South Eastern Railway. It is now part of the Southern franchise.

The line diverges from the London to Brighton main line at South Croydon. At Hurst Green it splits, one branch terminating at East Grinstead, the other at Uckfield.

Both branches formerly continued further:

• from East Grinstead trains continued to Haywards Heath, Lewes or Tunbridge Wells. Part of the route south of East Grinstead is preserved as the Bluebell Line.
• Ashurst and Eridge on the Uckfield line were junctions for Tunbridge Wells (see the Spa Valley Railway below), and Eridge also for Eastbourne.
• from Uckfield trains continued to Lewes and Brighton. A short stretch at Isfield (between Uckfield and Lewes) is preserved as the Lavender Line.

North of Sanderstead, at the former Selsdon railway station, there was until 1983 a connection with the former Woodside and South Croydon Joint line to Elmers End. Between Hurst Green and Lingfield there was a connection with the Redhill to Tonbridge Line .

At Eridge it is intended to restore the connection with the preserved Spa Valley Railway Tunbridge Wells and Eridge Line.

The line between Croydon and East Grinstead was opened as the Croydon, Oxted & East Grinstead Railway (a joint venture between the LBSCR and the SER) on 10 March 1884. In part it used trackbed constructed for, but never used by, the abortive Surrey and Sussex Junction Railway in the 1860s.

The East Grinstead branch was electrified in 1987 (750v DC third rail). The Uckfield branch is not electrified, and is worked by Class 171 diesel multiple units (which replaced the Class 205 and Class 207 DEMUs previously in use on the line).

[edit] Future

A £140,000, six-month study has been approved by the council and Network Rail looking into the possibility of reopening the line, as part of the National Rail Network, between Uckfield and Lewes. This was set up by the Wealden Line Campaign Group. ^[1]

[edit] Further reading

• Gould, David (2003). The Croydon, Oxted & East Grinstead Railway. The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-598-5. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Woodside & South Croydon Railway.
• Spa Valley Railway