Bexhill West is a closed station in
Bexhill-on-Sea
Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...
in
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...
. It was the terminus of the
Bexhill West branch of the
Hastings Line. It was opened by the
South Eastern and Chatham Railway
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easter ...
and was operated by the
Southern Region of British Railways
The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the sout ...
on closing. The station building still survives as an antiques house. The trackbed and site of the now demolished platforms are now occupied by commercial industrial buildings.
History
A
branch line
A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line.
Industrial spur
An industri ...
was ceremonially opened between
Crowhurst and
Bexhill on 31 May 1902 by the nominally independent Crowhurst, Sidley & Bexhill Railway Company which had been promoted by the
Earl De La Warr
Earl De La Warr ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1761 for John West, 7th Baron De La Warr.
The Earl holds the subsidiary titles of Viscount Cantelupe (1761) in the Peerage of Great Britain, Baron De La Warr ( ...
together with other local businessmen and landowners. The line had the backing of the
South Eastern Railway which ran services to the nearby and
St Leonards St Leonards may refer to:
Places Australia
*St Leonards, New South Wales
**St Leonards railway station
*St Leonards, Tasmania, suburb of Launceston
*St Leonards, Victoria
Canada
*St. Leonard's, Newfoundland and Labrador
New Zealand
* St L ...
stations. The branch would offer a quicker route to Bexhill than that already provided by the
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...
whose own
Bexhill station on the
Hastings to Brighton line had opened more than fifty years earlier. The new Bexhill terminus would be from , while the LB&SCR's station was from
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
. The branch was absorbed by the
South Eastern and Chatham Railway
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easter ...
in 1905.
The new Bexhill station was situated in a valley on the west side of Bexhill which had not yet been developed. It was approached by a new road named "Terminus Road" to distinguish it from the "Station Road" which served the LB&SCR's station. A lavish station building was constructed which reflected the SER's ambitions for the line. Designed by
C.S. Barry and C.E. Mercer, it was built of yellow and red brick and
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...
dressing.
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
was used on the roof which is crowned by a
clocktower
Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildin ...
, and the main entrance features a block-moulded
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
which was carved in situ. The symmetrical building comprised a large and airy booking hall, ticket and parcels offices, a waiting room and ladies toilet, as well as the stationmaster's and inspector's offices. At a right angle to the building stands a smaller block which contained a refreshment room, gents' toilet, porters' and lamp rooms. Two and
island platform
An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...
s were provided, those to the east (nos. 1 and 2) covered by a glass canopy extending to a distance of and also covering the concourse between the tracks and building. The uncovered platforms 3 and 4 were rarely used; platform 4 never in fact received any track and platform 3 was soon covered by grass. The station buildings were lit by electricity, whereas the platforms by gas. A goods depot was opened on London Road opposite the York Hotel, where a brick shed measuring by was erected.
Despite the shorter route to London and the impressive station buildings, passengers continued to prefer the LB&SCR's more centrally-located station. In 1917, the
Railway Executive Committee
The Railway Executive Committee (REC) was a government body which controlled the operation of Britain's railways during World War I and World War II. It should not be confused with the Railway Executive which was a division of the British Transpor ...
ordered the closure of the branch from January 1917. Although goods services began again from November 1917, full passenger services were not restored until March 1919. The
1923 grouping
The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...
led to the SE&CR becoming part of the
Southern Railway which renamed the LB&SCR station "Bexhill Central" whilst the SER's station became simply "Bexhill" and finally "Bexhill West" in November 1929. The Southern arranged for most
main line
Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to:
Transportation
Railway
* Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system
* Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
services through to include three
corridor coach
A corridor coach is a type of railway passenger coach divided into compartments and having a corridor down one side of the coach to allow free movement along the train and between compartments.
These were first introduced, in Britain at least, ar ...
es for Bexhill West to avoid the need to change trains, but this still failed to tempt passengers on to the branch. In 1930, consultants engaged by Bexhill Town Council recommended the construction of a link line between the two lines, but nothing came of this nor of the proposal in 1937 to
electrify the line at the same time as the
Hastings Line. Although now very much referred to as a branch, the line temporarily took on main line status when services on the Hastings Line were temporarily diverted to Bexhill West between 27 November 1949 and 5 June 1950 while Bo-peep tunnel was closed for partial reconstruction. Emergency bus services ran from Crowhurst to St Leonards, Hastings and Bexhill West. Services on the East Coastway Line terminated at . The line's
push-pull trains were replaced in June 1958 by two-car
diesel-electric units which connected with the London to Hastings diesel-electric units at Crowhurst. Sunday services were withdrawn from January 1960. The line's demise was confirmed by its inclusion in the
Beeching Report Beeching is an English surname. Either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames' ...
, and it finally closed to all traffic from 15 June 1964.
Present day
The track was lifted in 1965 and the bridge over Down Road and Little Common Road demolished in 1967. Bexhill West station building has survived and is now occupied by Sivyers Antique Emporium and Auction, along with Brief Encounters Cafe. The adjoining former refreshment rooms are now a pub and restaurant, and the
engine shed
The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...
forms part of the light industrial estate now occupying the former trackbed to the rear of the station along Beeching Road.
[White, H.P. (1986), p. 175.] The platforms have been demolished.
The building was
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
at Grade II by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
on 27 February 2013.
This status is given to "nationally important buildings of special interest".
Photographs
Image:Station House, 16 Terminus Road, Bexhill.jpg, Former refreshment rooms, now a pub/restaurant.
Image:Bexhill West Station 2.jpg, Surviving section of canopy to the rear of the station.
Image:Bexhill West 1 railway station 1795816 66872882.jpg, Bexhill West station concourse in 1962.
Image:Bexhill West 2 railway station 1795811 e45a538e.jpg, View westward on Terminus Road in 1962.
File:Bexhill West railway station (1964).jpg, Main building 1964.
File:Clock, West Station, 16 Terminus Road, Bexhill(3).jpg, The clock tower.
File:Clock, West Station, 16 Terminus Road, Bexhill (inside) (4).jpg, Recently restored clock mechanism.
References
External links
Disused stations - Bexhill West
{{Closed stations East Sussex , state=collapsed
Disused railway stations in East Sussex
Former South Eastern Railway (UK) stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1902
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1917
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1919
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964
Beeching closures in England
Grade II listed buildings in East Sussex
Grade II listed railway stations
Bexhill-on-Sea