Hellingly Hospital Railway

Electric locomotive and freight cars on the Hellingly Hospital Railway in 1906. At the time of the 1959 closure of the line this was the oldest operational electric locomotive in the British Isles.

The Hellingly Hospital Railway was a light railway owned and operated by East Sussex County Council, serving Hellingly Hospital near Hailsham, via a spur from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway’s Cuckoo Line at Hellingly railway station.

The railway was constructed in 1899, and first opened to passengers on 20 July 1903, following the decision to electrify the railway in 1902. After the railway grouping of 1923 passenger numbers declined to the point where hospital authorities no longer deemed passenger usage of the line to be economic, and withdrew the service. The railway closed to freight in 1959, following the hospital's decision to convert its coal boilers to oil, which rendered the railway unnecessary.

The route took a mostly direct path from Hellingly Station to Hellingly Hospital, passing sidings known as Farm Siding and Park House Siding respectively. Much of the railway has since been converted to footpath, while many of the buildings formerly served by the line are now abandoned.

Construction and opening

Hellingly Station in the early 20th century, showing the overhead power line serving the Hospital Railway, and the wooden platform prior to its shortening.

In 1897, East Sussex County Council purchased from the Earl of Chichester a 400-acre (160 ha) site at Park Farm, approximately three miles north of Hailsham, to be the site of a new county lunatic asylum. Construction of the hospital began in 1900, to the design of George Thomas Hine, who had previously designed the nearby Haywards Heath Asylum. The materials for the construction of the asylum were transported to the site by means of a 1+1⁄4 mile (2 km) standard gauge private siding from the goods yard at Hellingly railway station on the Cuckoo Line. The connection was built by the asylum's construction firm, Joseph Howe & Company, and was authorised by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway on the condition that the East Sussex Council paid the entire estimated cost of £1,700.

A small wooden platform was built at Hellingly railway station, opposite the main line platform. This had no connection to the station buildings and was used for transfer between trains only, and kept chained off when not in use. Coal yards and sidings were also built at Hellingly station. The hospital opened to patients, and the railway to passengers, on 20 July 1903.

Route

Route of the Hellingly Hospital Railway.

The railway left the Cuckoo Line at Hellingly Station. Although the railway joined the Cuckoo Line at both the northern and southern ends of the platform, virtually no through trains ever ran. Because the line to the hospital ran northbound but connected to the mainline south of the platforms, passenger services to and from the hospital needed to reverse to the south of Hellingly station.

On leaving Hellingly, the railway passed over two partially gated level crossings at Park Road and New Road, and then came to a single siding known as Farm Siding on the west of the line. This was used for agricultural produce in the early years of the railway, but fell out of use in later years. Approximately halfway between Hellingly and the hospital, the line entered the hospital grounds, passing Park House Siding on the east of the line, which served the Park House annexe of the hospital.

As it approached the hospital, the line split, with a southern fork leading to a siding to the northwest of the hospital, and the other line turning sharply right through almost 180° and splitting again, with one fork running into a large workshop and the other leading to a short platform. This was initially used for passenger traffic, but after the suspension of passenger traffic was converted into a coal dock.

There were no signals or automatic points on the line. When approaching the level crossings, the driver's mate would run ahead of the locomotive or railcar and stop traffic with a red flag; likewise, the driver's mate would operate the points by hand.

Motive power

Joseph Howe & Company used an 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive during the construction of the hospital. The locomotive was purchased new in 1900, and sold in 1903 following the completion of the hospital and electrification of the line.

In 1902, the decision was taken to electrify the railway using power generated from the hospital's own power plant which was also connected to the National Grid. The line was electrified at 500V DC using a single overhead line.

Engineers Robert W. Blackwell & Co provided a small 0-4-0 electric locomotive capable of pulling two loaded coal wagons. It is not known where the locomotive was manufactured, as Robert W. Blackwell & Co have no record of its manufacture; due to the design of the controls, it appears to have been imported from Germany. A small railcar with space for 12 passengers was also provided. The locomotive and the railcar were each fitted with a single trolley pole.

The passenger car was used for the duration of passenger services on the line, and the locomotive from the electrification of the line until its closure in 1959. At the time of the line's closure, the locomotive was the oldest operational electric locomotive in the British Isles.

Operations

Layout of LBSCR (dotted) and HHR (solid) lines & platforms at Hellingly station.

Passenger numbers using the railway gradually declined. Following the railway grouping of 1923, the LBSCR became a part of the newly-formed Southern Railway and the agreements between the hospital (renamed the East Sussex Mental Hospital in 1919) and the LBSCR updated. The wooden platform at Hellingly station was drastically shortened.

Because service levels depended on patient numbers and the hospital's coal and food requirements, the line never operated to a timetable.

By 1931, passenger numbers had fallen to such an extent that the hospital authorities no longer deemed passenger usage of the line to be economic, and the passenger service was withdrawn. The passenger car was moved to the hospital grounds, fitted with an awning, and became the hospital's sports pavilion. The wooden platform at Hellingly station was removed in 1932, and the platform at the hospital end converted into a coal bay.

There were only two minor accidents throughout the existence of the line; a car which collided with the locomotive whilst driving through the hospital grounds, and a wagon whose brakes failed whilst stabled at Farm Siding, which rolled down the line to Hellingly station.

On 22 November 1939, plans were put in place for a re-opening of passenger services on the line to allow ambulance trains to reach the hospital, and authorisation was given for their operation. However, the line was never used for patient transport, as although Park House was used as a hospital by the Canadian Army, patients were discharged by ambulance trains at Hellingly station and transported to Park House by road.

Closure

In the late 1950s, the hospital—under the authority of the Hailsham Hospitals Management Committee since the 1948 establishment of the National Health Service—decided to convert the hospital's boilers from coal to oil. Following the conversion of the boilers, the railway was no longer needed to transport coal. The last load was delivered on 10 March 1959, and the empty coal wagon returned to Hellingly on 25 March 1959.

Under the terms of the agreement between the hospital authorities, the LBSCR, and its successors, the hospital authorities were obliged to keep the railway in good repair for LBSCR/Southern/British Railways wagons to be permitted to use it. With a greatly reduced need for goods traffic to the hospital following the conversion of the boilers, it was decided that the railway was not worth the expense of continued maintenance and necessary upgrading, and the line was officially closed on 25 March 1959 following the departure of the last coal wagon.

The line was used for irregular occasional excursions of railway enthusiasts for a short period, using the electric locomotive and a brake van borrowed from British Railways. The exact date of the last running over the line is not recorded; the last recorded use of the line was an excursion organised by the Norbury Transport and Model Railway Club on 4 April 1959, but it is known that further excursions were run on the line prior to the track being lifted. In the early 1960s a railway society in Yorkshire proposed to buy the track as a preserved railway. However, given that the psychiatric hospital was still open, the request was not considered practical, and the track was lifted in the early 1960s with the fittings and locomotive disposed of by H.Ripley and Sons of Hailsham.

Present day

The Cuckoo Line closed shortly after the Hospital Railway, and Hellingly station closed to passengers on 14 June 1965, and to goods traffic on 26 April 1968. The station building (complete with platform) at Hellingly is now a private residence, and in 1990 the Cuckoo Line trackbed was converted to the Cuckoo Trail long-distance footpath. Much of the former route of the Hospital Railway is also now a footpath.

Although Hellingly Hospital itself remains open, services are drastically reduced. The main building and Park House are both abandoned and derelict. However, other parts of the complex remain open and continue to deliver mental health services. Traces of the railway can still be seen today, notably a single remaining cast iron pole which formerly held the overhead cable, the railway's engine shed, and a short remaining section of track. As of February 2007 it was planned to convert the entire hospital site into a housing complex consisting of 239 dwellings.

External links

• Model of the Hellingly Hospital Railway, Built by Phil Parker
• Photographs of the remains of the Hellingly Hospital Railway
• Hellingly Hospital today at Abandoned Britain