Eridge is a stop on the Uckfield Branch of the Oxted Line in Sussex between Ashurst and Crowborough. It is also a terminus of the Spa Valley Railway.
Southern 171 730 pauses at Eridge
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Oxted Line - Uckfield Branch) &
Preserved Railway (Spa Valley Railway)
Station code:
ERI
Opened:
1868
Platforms:
3
The station was opened in 1868 by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway. The station named after the nearby Eridge Park where Eridge Castle is located [1], there being little habitation nearby. The station was a junction for services running to Tonbridge (via Tunbridge Wells West), Eastbourne and East Grinstead though lines to these destinations were closed in the 1960s and 1980s. The station had a pair of island platforms.
The line through to Uckfield survived and is now served by Southern though was singled in 1990 meaning that only one platform was now in use. In 2011 the line from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells West was re-opened by the Spa Valley Railway. Network and preserved rail now run side by side. The Spa Valley Railway uses the island platform opposite the network one.
The main station building is on a road bridge that crosses the line with footbridges down to the platforms. Both sides of the station retain canopies and original features, though the Spa Valley side is in better condition!
View down the network platform, the Spa Valley island platform is on the left
Ring Haw brings a train into the Spa Valley platform
View down the Spa Valley platform
Station frontage
Footbridge down to the platforms
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Branch Lines to Tunbridge Wells (Middleton Press, 1986) Fig. 100
Crowborough is a stop on the Oxted Line in Sussex between Eridge and Buxted.
Southern 171 723 departs Crowborough
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Oxted Line)
Station code:
COH
Opened:
1868
Platforms:
2
The station was opened in 1868 as Rotherfield by the Brighton, Uckfield and Tunbridge Wells Railway. The station was renamed Crowborough in 1880 [1] (Rotherfield was given to a new station which was much closer to the actual village of Rotherfield!)
The station was rebuilt in 1905 by which time the station was known as Crowborough and Jarvis Brook. The station name was changed back to just Crowborough in 1980. The station was close to Crowborough Brickworks with a goods yard next to station which served the works. The works closed in 1980 [2].
The station is served by a train per hour in each direction between London Bridge and Uckfield.
Southern 171 802 arrives with a London Bridge bound service
Main station building
View down the platform towards Buxted
A view towards Eridge, the footbridge can be seen in the background
Southern 171 723 arrives
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Branch Lines to Tunbridge Wells (Middleton Press, 1988) Fig. 53 [2] Ian Dean, Andrew Neale & David Smith, Industrial Railways of the South-East (Middleton Press, 1984) Fig. 13
