Eridge railway station is on the branch of the

Oxted line The Oxted line is a railway in southern England and part of the Southern franchise. The railway splits into two branches towards the south and has direct trains throughout to London termini. It was opened jointly by the London, Brighton and ...

in southern England and serves a rural district around

Eridge Rotherfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. It is one of the largest parishes in East Sussex. There are three villages in the parish: Rotherfield, Mark Cross and Eridge. The River Rother, which ...

in East Sussex. It is from . The station is managed by

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

. Train services from the station are provided by Southern. Also, heritage services connecting to

Groombridge Groombridge is a village of about 1,600 people. It straddles the border between Kent and East Sussex, in England. The nearest large town is Royal Tunbridge Wells, about away by road. The main part of the village ("New Groombridge") lies in t ...

High Rocks High Rocks is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Tunbridge Wells in East Sussex and Kent. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. Prehistory The location was formed when a melting ice sheet at the end of the last ic ...

and

Tunbridge Wells West Tunbridge Wells West is a railway station located in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent. It is one of two railway stations in Tunbridge Wells constructed by rival companies. The other, Tunbridge Wells railway station, Tunbridge Wells Central was opene ...

are run by the

Spa Valley Railway The Spa Valley Railway (SVR) is a standard gauge heritage railway that runs from Tunbridge Wells West railway station in Tunbridge Wells to High Rocks, Groombridge, and Eridge, where it links with the Oxted Line. It crosses Kent and Ea ...

. The station has a small car park and there is a pub next to the station called ''the Huntsman''.

Services

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the p ...

services at Eridge are operated by

using

DMUs A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to via * 1 tph to Services increase to 2 tph in each direction during the peak hours. On Sundays, the northbound service runs as far as Oxted only.

services operate between Eridge and on selected days to connect to Oxted Line services.

History

The station was opened by the Brighton, Uckfield and Tunbridge Wells Railway on 3 August 1868. At the time the station was opened, the village of

Eridge Green Eridge Green is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-east of Crowborough in East Sussex. It is part of the Eridge Rocks nature reserve, which is managed by Sussex Wildlife Trust. This is ancient woodland on clay with outcro ...

was owned by the nearby

Eridge Park Eridge Park () is a village and historic park located north of the parish of Rotherfield, to the north-east of Crowborough in East Sussex, England. The adjoining home of the same name is the seat of the Marquess of Abergavenny. The area is a b ...

, seat of the

Earls of Abergavenny Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

. The station used to be a junction for services running towards

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

via

(closed 1985) and

Cuckoo Line The Cuckoo Line is an informal name for the now defunct railway service which linked Polegate and Eridge in East Sussex, England, from 1880 to 1968. It was nicknamed the Cuckoo Line by drivers, from a tradition observed at the annual fair at ...

to Eastbourne (via Heathfield and Hailsham) closed 1965. When the Uckfield line was singled in January 1990 all trains used the former up line and only the former up island platform was used by British Rail. The former down island platform was then abandoned but was restored by the

, a preserved railway company, who reopened the railway between Eridge and Tunbridge Wells West on 25 March 2011, with trains using the former down line for about north to Birchden Junction where the parallel single lines diverge. In June 2021, work began to provide step-free access to both the National Rail platform and the Spa Valley Railway platforms at the station. The work was formally completed on 16th February 2022. The

Wealden Line Campaign Wealden may refer to: * Wealden District, a local government district in the county of East Sussex, England * Wealden Group, a group of rock strata in southern England, occasionally also referred to as the Wealden Supergroup * Wealden iron indus ...

are attempting to re-open the railway between Uckfield and Lewes and Eridge to Tunbridge Wells lines as a part of the National Rail network.

References

External links

Spa Valley RailwayWealden Line Campaign
{{TSGN and SE Stations, Oxted=y, FCC None=y, SE None=y Railway stations in East Sussex Heritage railway stations in East Sussex Former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1868 Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Rotherfield