Bluebell Railway - Past Present and Future

Past Present and Future

After a number of visits, a group met in Ardingly on the 15th of March 1959 and formed the then "Lewes and East Grinstead Railway Preservation Society". During that first meeting, £940 was raised to start the Society. The Society elected John Leeroy as the first chairman of the Railway, and also the name was changed to the "Bluebell Railway Preservation Society". At the time, the newly formed committee decided that the stretch of track between Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes could be run as a tourist attraction with vintage locomotives and stock by unpaid amateur staff. However, BR (British Railways) still ran an electrified line from Horsted Keynes to Ardingly, forcing the trust to construct a halt some 100 yards short of the station.

The Bluebell Railway Preservation Society completed an extension from Horsted Keynes to Kingscote in 1994, re-laying track through Sharpthorne Tunnel (731 yards / 668 metres, the longest on a UK heritage railway), and is reinstating the remaining two miles from Kingscote to East Grinstead.

Work has started northwards towards East Grinstead, where the line will connect with the national network. A problem is the former landfill site that fills a 30-foot (9.1 m) deep cutting. Some of the excavated clay has being taken south by rail to fill the site of a removed viaduct and embankment on the old Ardingly spur. In January 2008 agreement was given to start clearing foliage on the section of the tip between Imberhorne Lane and Hill Place bridges. Work on removing some of the 300,000 cubic metres (392,385 cu yd) of rubbish by lorries started on 25 November 2008. In 2009 a trial removal of spoil by rail was carried out and this has continued periodically during 2011 as funds become available; completion is anticipated in March 2013. In autumn 2008 work started on site clearance at East Grinstead for construction of the new station about 100 yards (91 m) south of the national rail station. On 4 September 2010, the East Grinstead station opened with trains running over the Imberhorne Viaduct to Imberhorne, north of the cutting, and back until the extension is completed.

The Bluebell Railway has bought the abandoned trackbed between Horsted Keynes and Ardingly. It plans to reconnect it with National Rail and access the London to Brighton line at Copyhold Junction. Ardingly is a rail-freight terminal leased by Hanson Aggregates, with roadstone freight trains operated by DB Schenker (formerly EWS). This makes extension towards the main line unlikely; Hanson has renewed a contract to supply roadstone at the site. The site is also safeguarded by West Sussex County Council for rail freight. Bluebell's priority is to extend towards East Grinstead.

Lewes railway station has the convergence of three lines from towns of the East Sussex coast; it formerly had three lines running north to reach London via Croydon, the straightest, middle one of which was the Bluebell Railway; Lewes now has one line the east one which quickly joins the London to Brighton Line at Burgess Hill. Supporters and committee members have expressed and still do express speculation about re-building the line south by three more stations as before to Lewes; but the re-excavation of infill under the former road bridges just south of Sheffield Park and Barcombe stations, the problem of in-filling since of the cutting and former route under the A272 road, and housing built on the site of Newick and Chailey station makes this unlikely. The remaining undeveloped line from Lewes to Sheffield Park has been safeguarded as a bridleway and footpath.

The stations have been restored to show different periods of the railway's life. Sheffield Park has been restored to a Victorian ambience, as it would have appeared during the time of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (up to 1922); Horsted Keynes emulates the Southern Railway (1922–1948); and Kingscote echoes the British Railways of the 1950s.

Between Horsted Keynes and Kingscote the line passes through the site of West Hoathly station, at the north end of Sharpthorne Tunnel. West Hoathly buildings and footbridge were demolished between 1964 and 1967 but remains of the platforms and goods dock are still visible.