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Rye railway station (East Sussex): Difference between revisions

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== Location ==
== Location ==
The station sits to the north of the town centre, between two level crossings.{{sfn|Course|1974|p=68}} There are two platforms towards Ashford and Hastings respectively. The line is dual track here in order to provide a passing loop for trains; elsewhere the Marshlink line is single track between {{rws|Ore}} and {{rws|Appledore}}. The staggered platforms are linked by footbridge.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/RYE/details.html|title=Station facilities for Rye (Sussex)|website=National Rail|accessdate=4 October 2019}}</ref>
The station is located to the north of the town centre, between two level crossings.{{sfn|Course|1974|p=68}} It has two platforms, one for trains to Ashford and the other for Hastings. The line is double track through the station providing a passing loop for trains on the Marshlink line which is single track between {{rws|Ore}} and {{rws|Appledore}}. The staggered platforms are linked by footbridge.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/RYE/details.html|title=Station facilities for Rye (Sussex)|website=National Rail|accessdate=4 October 2019}}</ref>


[[Stagecoach Group]] bus routes 70, 100, 101, 102, 292, 293, 312, 313, 326, 342 and 553 serve the station.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bustimes.org/localities/rye|title=Rye|website=bustimes.org|accessdate=4 October 2019}}</ref>
[[Stagecoach Group]] bus routes 70, 100, 101, 102, 292, 293, 312, 313, 326, 342 and 553 pass the station.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bustimes.org/localities/rye|title=Rye|website=bustimes.org|accessdate=4 October 2019}}</ref>


== History ==
== History ==

Revision as of 11:19, 8 October 2019

Rye
General information
LocationRother
Managed bySouthern
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeRYE
History
Opened13 February 1851

Rye railway station is a Grade II listed station, serving Rye, East Sussex. It is on the Marshlink line between Hastings and Ashford International and is the principal station between those two terminals. The station also provides a passing place between two single track sections. Services are provided by Southern, usually between Eastbourne and Ashford with an additional shuttle from Rye to the latter at peak times.

A station was first planned at Rye in the early 1840s, though via a different route to what was opened. It was built by the South Eastern Railway as the central station on the line from Hastings to Ashford, opening in 1851. Despite recommendation for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report, it has remained open because of poor quality road connections. The station building was designed by William Trees; it was Grade II listed in 1980, while an 1894 signal box was listed in 2013.

Location

The station is located to the north of the town centre, between two level crossings.[2] It has two platforms, one for trains to Ashford and the other for Hastings. The line is double track through the station providing a passing loop for trains on the Marshlink line which is single track between Ore and Appledore. The staggered platforms are linked by footbridge.[3]

Stagecoach Group bus routes 70, 100, 101, 102, 292, 293, 312, 313, 326, 342 and 553 pass the station.[4]

History

Background

View of Platform 1 (Ashford-bound) from the footbridge

A station was first proposed at Rye in April 1840, when the Tenterden, Rye & Hastings Branch Railway planned a route from the South Eastern main line near Smarden to Hastings via Tenterden and Rye. Since Rye did not have harbour duties, it was seen as a suitable port for goods traffic. The following year, it was estimated a single track line from the South Eastern main line to Hastings via Rye could be built for £250,000. The company attempted to negotiate construction with the South Eastern Railway (SER), but the latter thought the route was a poor choice and preferred to reach Hastings from Tunbridge Wells via Penshurst instead.[5]

In 1844, the SER became concerned that the Brighton, Lewes & Hastings Railway (BLHR) would attempt to extend their line beyond Hastings to Rye and Ashford. Eventually, a compromise was reached whereby the BLHR were granted permission to build the line, but with an option for the SER to take over if necessary.[6] At this time, the River Rother to the east of Rye was still navigable, and required a moveable crossing. Peter W. Barlow designed a swing-bridge carrying the line over the river.[6][2] Both this bridge and that over the River Tillingham to the west required approach ramps on an otherwise flat stretch of railway.[2]

The SER's contract stipulated that the company should contribute £10,000 towards improving Rye Harbour, and Robert Stephenson recommended a branch line to serve goods traffic. This was constructed west of the station and the River Tillingham, running down to the harbour pier on the opposite side of the river to the town. The branch line never carried passengers and has since been demolished.[7][8]

Opening

The first train to Rye ran on 28 October 1850, before the line had been fully completed. The Mayor of London travelled on the line from London Bridge towards Rye via Ashford, giving a short speech at the station. It finally opened on 13 February 1851, along with new stations at Ham Street, Appledore and Winchelsea.[9][10] A coal stage at the station opened in 1854, and new goods sidings were added in 1874.[11]

In 1859, a proposal was made to link Rye with Folkestone via Lydd and Dymchurch. The SER declined to finance the line.[12] In 1864, the Weald of Kent Railway proposed to build a line from Paddock Wood to Appledore (and hence to Rye) via Tenterden. The scheme was cancelled two years later.[13]

Post-opening

Marshlink Line trains are booked to pass at Rye

The swing bridge to the east of the station over the River Rother was replaced by a fixed bridge in 1903.[2] A footbridge was installed across the staggered platforms at the station in 1960, in preparation for the Kent electrification scheme Phase 2 of the British Railways Modernisation Plan, which provisionally included the line through Rye.[14]

The station, along with the rest of the Hastings to Ashford line, was recommended to be closed in the 1963 Beeching Report, but because of poor road connections, it remained open. Owing to the prolonged threat of closure, the station remained unmodernised and gaslit well into the 1970s.[15] On 1 October 1979, the Marshlink line either side of Rye was reduced to single track, leaving a passing loop at the station. Though done for economic reasons, this reduction has since been criticised as it has turned Rye station into a bottleneck.[16]

The station was Grade II listed in April 1980.[1] The goods shed, which had been closed in 1963, was demolished in 1984.[17]

Buildings

The station's signal box, opposite Platform 2 (Hastings-bound)

The station building began construction in 1847. It was designed by William Tress in symettric Italianate style built of red brick, with a slate roof set of gateless gate pillars. The premises has two storeys with an attic.[18][1] As Rye was planned to be a more significant stop than Appledore or Winchelsea, it was designed to be bigger than those. Tress also designed a goods shed in a similar style, that was located alongside the main station building.[2]

Several SER stations were hastily retrofitted with signals on the line in the early 1890s.[19] The signal box at Rye was constructed in 1894 using a Saxby & Farmer Type 12 design. The building survives to the present day, though the original 30-lever manual signals were replaced by colour light on 1 October 1979.[20] The signal box retains its original 1888 pattern Duplex frame. The ground floor is constructed of Flemish bond brown brick, while the first floor is made of timber with weatherboard cladding, with a slate roof. The signal box was Grade II listed in 2013 as it is one of only two signal boxes of its type still standing in good condition.[19] In 2019, it was repainted and refurbished.[21]

Services

Class 171 DMU number 171729 on a Brighton service

The typical off-peak service is one train per hour to Eastbourne via Hastings and one train per hour to Ashford International. At peak times an Ashford to Rye shuttle also operates, so that between 6am and 9am two extra trains operate towards Ashford International and the wider network of services available there, along with three in the reverse direction. In the evening two additional services between Rye and Ashford operate between 5:30pm and 7pm.[22]

As of May 2018, the fast service to Brighton has been discontinued. Since then, trains have only run as far as Eastbourne.[23][24]

There have been several proposals to integrate the Marshlink line with High Speed 1 at Ashford, which would allow a direct connection between Rye and St Pancras.[25] In 2018, Network Rail announced a fast service from St Pancras to Hastings would stop at Rye, and could be implemented by 2024.[26]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Winchelsea   Southern
Marshlink Line 		  Appledore (Kent)

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c "Rye Railway Station". Historic England. 11 April 1980. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e Course 1974, p. 68.
  3. ^ "Station facilities for Rye (Sussex)". National Rail. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  4. ^ "Rye". bustimes.org. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  5. ^ Gray 1990, pp. 192–193.
  6. ^ a b Gray 1990, pp. 208–209.
  7. ^ Gray 1990, p. 206.
  8. ^ Course 1974, p. 69.
  9. ^ Course 1974, p. 66.
  10. ^ Gray 1990, pp. 210–211.
  11. ^ Gray 1990, p. 212.
  12. ^ Gray 1990, p. 227.
  13. ^ Gray 1990, pp. 223–224.
  14. ^ Mitchell & Smith 1987, 50.
  15. ^ Sissons 2008, p. 408.
  16. ^ Toynbee, Mark. "A Brief History of the Marshlink line". Marshlink Action Group. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  17. ^ Mitchell & Smith 1987, 42.
  18. ^ Mitchell & Smith 1987, 52.
  19. ^ a b "Rye Signal Box". Historic England. 18 July 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  20. ^ Mitchell & Smith 1987, 49.
  21. ^ "Signal box gets makeover". Rye News. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  22. ^ "Train Timetable - Ashford International to Hastings and Eastbourne" (PDF). Southern Railway. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  23. ^ "Plans to axe unpopular two-carriage Eastbourne train service". Eastbourne Herald. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  24. ^ "Lewes 'losing out' under new rail timetable". Sussex Express. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  25. ^ "All aboard the High Speed?". Rye News. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  26. ^ "Plan for high-speed trains from Ashford to Hastings". Kent Online. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2019.

Sources

  • Course, Edwin (1974). The Railways of Southern England : Secondary and branch lines. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-2835-X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Gray, Adrian (1990). South Eastern Railway. Middleton Press. ISBN 978-0-906520-85-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1987). South Coast Railways - Hastings to Ashford and the New Romney Branch. Middleton Press. ISBN 0-906520-37-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Sissons, Rob (2008). Single track obsession : a book of extraordinary railway journeys. Victoria, BC: Trafford. ISBN 978-1-4251-6239-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

50°57′07″N 0°43′52″E / 50.952°N 0.731°E / 50.952; 0.731

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