Northiam railway station is on the

Kent and East Sussex Railway The Kent and East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) refers to both a historical private railway company in Kent and East Sussex in England, as well as a heritage railway currently running on part of the route of the historical company. Historical company ...

. It is located to the west of the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

on the

A28 road The A28 is a trunk road in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in south east England, connecting Margate, Canterbury, Ashford and Hastings. Starting at the seaside resort of Margate at the north-east point of Kent, the A28 runs inland and we ...

linking the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

ish village of

Newenden Newenden is a small village and civil parish in area and population in the Ashford District of Kent, England. Geography The village is clustered together along the south slope and at the foot of the end of a tall escarpment by the River Rother ...

and the East Sussex village of

Northiam Northiam is a village and civil parish in the Rother district, in East Sussex, England, 13 miles (21 km) north of Hastings in the valley of the River Rother. The A28 road to Canterbury and Hastings passes through it. Governance Northiam ...

. Having served the area for over sixty years, the station closed with the line in 1961, but was later reopened in 1990 by the

heritage organisation.

History

Northiam was one of the original stations on the line opened by the Rother Valley Railway between Rolvenden and

Robertsbridge Robertsbridge is a village in the civil parish of Salehurst and Robertsbridge, and the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of Hastings and 13 miles (21 km) south-east of Royal Tunbridge ...

in 1900. All the original three stations were slightly removed from the villages which they were purporting to serve; Northiam, which was in fact closer to Newenden, lay to the north of Northiam village. As with all K&ESR stations except , Northiam had a simple wooden-frame,

corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a ...

clad station building. A long curving

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

ran between two platform faces; Northiam was the only station south of Tenterden to be afforded such facilities, possibly on account of its location half-way between and Tenterden. Two sidings led into a small

goods yard A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are l ...

and cattle dock to the south of the station. This saw use when, during the early part of the 20th century, Howse & Co. held fortnightly livestock sales in a nearby field. Two simple wooden bungalows were later erected in Northiam's goods yard as staff accommodation. By the 1950s, the second platform had fallen into disuse and British Railways had installed

catch points Catch points and trap points are types of turnout which act as railway safety devices. Both work by guiding railway carriages and trucks from a dangerous route onto a separate, safer track. Catch points are used to derail vehicles which are ou ...

to the goods yard sidings to prevent wagons rolling on to the main line. Regular passenger services on the line last ran on Saturday 2 January 1954, the line between Tenterden and Robertsbridge remaining open for goods traffic until 12 June 1961.

Present day

Passenger services returned to Northiam on 19 May 1990 when the Kent and East Sussex Railway Preservation Society extended its operating line to the station. The project had required extensive repairs to the bridge over the River Rother on the Kent/East Sussex county boundary which, at , is the longest bridge on the line. The extension project featured in a 1989 episode of ''

Challenge Anneka ''Challenge Anneka'' is a British Reality television, reality programme that aired on BBC One, BBC1 from 8 September 1989 to 15 October 1995 and was hosted by Anneka Rice. It was announced in 2006 that the series was returning, but this time o ...

'', the challenge being to restore the extant station building and lay sufficient track to allow a train to enter within 48 hours. The deadline was met and at 6.15pm on Sunday 23 July 1989,

SECR P class The South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) P class is a class of 0-6-0T steam locomotive designed by Harry Wainwright. They were inspired by, and loosely based on, the more successful LB&SCR A1 class "Terriers" and eight were built in 1909 a ...

locomotive no. 1556 was the first locomotive to return to Northiam station. The episode was broadcast on 20 October 1989. The extension was officially inspected on 14 May 1990 after completion of the track layout, installation of a water crane, surfacing of the platforms, rebuilding of the level crossing and erection of a new toilet block.Garrett, S., p. 99. The first services ran on 19 May 1990, and on 4 June 1990 the station was officially reopened by the Duke of Gloucester. The Northiam extension led to a record number of passengers using the line—81,934—the highest since 1913. Initially only the Up platform was brought into use, it having been decided to reinstate the unrestored Down platform once the extension to Bodiam had been completed.

Services

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northiam Railway Station Heritage railway stations in East Sussex Former Kent and East Sussex Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1900 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1954 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1990

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...