Hailsham railway station

Hailsham
General information
Location	Wealden
Owned by	Southern Railway Southern Region of British Railways
Managed by	London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Platforms	3
Key dates
14 May 1849	Station opened
1 September 1880	Station rebuilt
9 September 1968	Station closed to passengers

Hailsham Railway Station was on the Cuckoo Line between Polegate and Hellingly serving the town of Hailsham. Originally built in 1849 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. it was a terminus station serving both passengers and livestock for the nearby market. It remained a terminus until 1880 when it was connected with Eridge on a single line railway.

Decline and closure

On 14 June 1965 the station became a terminus again when the line northward closed to passenger traffic. Freight continued northwards as far as Heathfield until 26 April 1968 when a lorry damaged a bridge at Horsebridge, north of Hailsham. It was already been earmarked for closure on the 7 May, and as such it was not deemed economic to repair the bridge so line was subsequently never reopened to Heathfield. On 8 September 1968, the last passenger train left Hailsham at 10:30pm and the station and line then closed completely.

Present day

The station site was mostly cleared for a housing estate in 1980s and all that remains now is a concrete wall on the west side of the site that held the embankment up. Part of the site is now a public car park. A bridge north of the station site also survives although heavily modified and carries a road over the former trackbed which has now become the Cuckoo Trail public footpath. Polegate is the nearest station to Hailsham, some 4 miles distant on the Eastbourne to London line.

Line details

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Hellingly		British Rail Southern Region Cuckoo Line		Polegate

References

• The Cuckoo Line, A.C. Elliot - Wild Swan Publications