Isfield railway station

Isfield
Location
Place	Isfield
Area	Wealden, East Sussex
Grid reference	TQ452172
Operations
Original company	Lewes and Uckfield Railway
Pre-grouping	London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway Southern Region of British Railways
Platforms	2
History
18 October 1858	Opened
23 Feb 1969	last train ran
6 May 1969	Officially closed
16 June 1983	Sold by British Rail
Stations on heritage railways in the United Kingdom
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Isfield is a preserved railway station on the closed section of the Wealden Line which served the East Sussex village of Isfield near Uckfield. Originally opened in 1858, the station closed in 1969 and was sold into private hands in 1983 to subsequently become the current centrepiece of the Lavender Line, a heritage railway.

Serving a relatively rural area, Isfield was a quiet station on the busy through-route from Brighton and Tunbridge Wells. Architecturally, it was a mirror image of Barcombe Mills station; equipped with two platforms, the main station buildings were on the Up side, whilst a small wooden waiting shelter was provided for the Down platform. There was no footbridge between the platforms, but passengers could easily cross by the level crossing just to the west of the station.

During the First World War milk churns were brought by rail to the station, a handbell being rung from the signalbox to warn of the approach of a train. The trains also carried German Prisoners of War to the village for forestry work in the area around Plashett Wood; at the end of the day, the prisoners were marched back to the station where a train would take them back to their camp.

Although the last train ran on 23 February 1969, the station remained open to issue bus tickets until the buses themselves were withdrawn on 6 May.

Following its closure in 1969, Isfield Station remained neglected and overgrown, envelopped by a shroud of trees and grass. After fourteen years of disuse, it was auctioned on 14 June 1983 by British Rail and sold for £60,500 to Dave and Gwen Milham who operated a landscaping business in the area and had attended the auction merely out of curiosity. A first inspection of the station site revealed a 3-foot (0.91 m) high carpet of grass on the platforms and trees up to 20-foot (6.1 m) high flourishing on the down line. The Saxby & Farmer signalbox was structurally sound, as was the main booking hall area which nevertheless needed new ceilings and windows, and part of the slate roof had to be relaid. However, in less than 18 months the station had been transformed back into a period working station bearing the green and yellow colours of the Southern Railway which had taken over the Wealden Line in 1922.

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Wikipedia