Lavender Line History

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Coal office sign

History of the Lavender Line

Before Preservation

The Lavender Line forms part of a branch line from north of Lewes to Uckfield opened by the Lewes and Uckfield railway in 1858. This was taken over by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) in 1864. In 1868 the line was extended to Tunbridge Wells via Groombridge and the single-track route into Lewes was doubled and altered to enter Lewes from the east. This meant that Brighton to Tunbridge Wells services could be operated without reversal. In 1894 the line from Uckfield to Tunbridge Wells was doubled and the more direct route to London via Eridge and Oxted was built, however this saw little use until also doubled in 1914. The line became part of the Southern Railway in 1923 and was not included in the electrification schemes of the 1930s.

In the mid 1950s the timetable (little changed under the Southern or after the line was nationalised in 1948) was improved with peak hour direct trains to London and regular connections at other times. Some Brighton to London services were operated but the route was very slow and mainly served local needs. The Beeching report in 1963 listed the whole route from Oxted to Lewes as unremunerative and closure was first proposed in 1966. By 1964 a combination of the poor condition of the bridge over Cliffe High Street in Lewes and the intention to build a new road severing the route had already led to BR adding reinstatement of the route closed in 1868 to an act of parliament in the 1965/66 session at an estimated cost of £120,000 (around £2 million in 2023).

Despite protests (the line remained quite busy) closure between Uckfield and Lewes was approved in 1968 with closure intended on the 6th of January 1969. Delays in approving the replacement bus service meant the line did not close but the deteriorating state of the bridge and damage to the large bridge over the Ouse in Lewes caused an emergency timetable with a single line shuttle service from Barcombe Mills to Lewes to be introduced. Uckfield to Oxted and Tunbridge Wells was reprieved by means of a subsidy at this time. The last trains ran on February 23rd 1969 (not least due to the practical difficulties of passengers changing trains at the oil lit Barcombe Mills in the depths of winter) and an emergency bus service was introduced with Isfield and Barcombe Mills stations remaining open to sell tickets. At Isfield this was straightforward though the signal box was used as the booking office due to it being more convenient for the road. Barcombe Mills, however, was not suitable for a bus service and a minibus connection to the main road had to be run. Final closure of the stations took place on the 5th of May 1969. Coal traffic to Isfield had already ceased but the coal merchant continued to use the yard. The track was eventually lifted in the early 1970s and the site was left derelict.

In 1978 the waiting room from the down platform and the frame from the signal box were sold to the Bluebell Railway (which originally extended to join the line near Lewes), the waiting room being added to that at Sheffield Park.

Isfield in 1969

Just before closure (January 1969)

Private Preservation

Both Isfield and Barcombe Mills stations were put up for auction by BR in 1983 and Isfield was bought by David and Gwen Milham who lived in Isfield. Initially they intended to use the site to store the machinery for their landscaping business but gradually restoration of the station took place. The missing waiting room was rebuilt on the original foundations as a shop, the frame (though incomplete) was returned to the signal box and the platforms were cleared of undergrowth. A short length of track was laid and rolling stock including steam engines were purchased. Platform furniture was replaced and the Platform One offices were converted into a buffet by removing the original ticket window and the wall of the lady's waiting room to make a larger space with the lady's toilet becoming the kitchen. The porters' room further down Platform One became the lady's toilet. The station house was refurbished and extended to make the Milham family home and a modern locomotive shed was added as an extension to the machinery storage shed. The station was named 'The Lavender Line' since A.E. Lavender and Sons were the local coal merchants who had operated from the station yard, their former office still standing at the end of the goods dock.

This phase was complete by 1987 and the Milham family operated the line (then about 1/4 of a mile long) until putting it up for sale in 1991. The original asking price of about £1.3 million was not forthcoming and a later attempt to auction the site also failed. The collapse of Mr Milham's business eventually caused the railway to be sold to the embryo Preservation Society in 1992.

Isfield in 1969

Lavender Line Preservation Society

The Preservation Society was initially formed by volunteers who had helped during the Millham family's ownership. The full site was unaffordable to the volunteers so the station house was sold off separately and remains a private house, the rest of the site (not including the rolling stock) being bought by a Limited Company formed by the Preservation Society for approximately £125,000. The machinery shed was converted to house more rolling stock and a locomotive servicing pit was added. The then Railway Inspectorate had expressed concerns with the track layout (essentially three facing connections off the running line) and the station was relaid with track laid on the former up line to form a combination headshunt and siding. This work was completed in spring 1994 with public operations starting on 30th May that year. The former dock is also used as a headshunt in the other direction, this ensures that potential runaways can be diverted away from the running lines. The layout was later further developed with a run round loop formed by a second crossover in the Uckfield direction though this is not in regular use.

The line was progressively extended to the north, eventually reaching just under one mile and terminating at the first of two bridges over the river Uck which are not owned by the railway. This extension was delayed by over a year when the line washed out during the floods of October 2000. In 2012 a halt platform, named Worth Halt for the parish in which it lies, was opened at the end of the line. This allows an actual journey to be made with single ticket holders walking back via public footpaths.

Since then, despite the problems caused by Covid-19 meaning the railway was closed from April 2020 until December 2021, we continue to operate, currently at a reduced frequency (typically twice a month) due to shortages of volunteers and the high cost of fuel.

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