The Cuckoo Railway Line: Then and Now
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- Опубліковано 21 бер 2010
- A video I've put together using some fantastic footage from the 1960s where I've tried to show the current day scenes of the original film of the Cuckoo Line, a railway that ran from Polegate to Eridge and was axed as a result of the Beeching closures of the 1960s. In some cases this is impossible due to the removal of the trackbed, the growth of trees or the current location being on private land but hopefully my results give a good indication. The video starts from Polegate and works its way north to Redgate Mill Junction where the line to Eridge is joined. Many thanks to SouthernRailwayFilms for the use of the original footage.
Music is the property of the fabulous Athlete. No infringement intended. - Наука та технологія
This is a gem of a film,
very nice to see this
Paul Mathews, at least you're keeping a visual record of these old stations and lines so the memories will live on. For this you deserve heartiest and heartfelt congratulations.
So sad, a terrible loss, I remember walking Part of the Line just North of Hailsham in 1968 just after the Branch closed. Thanks for sharing.
Thamk you! What a wonderful little film!
This is one line that if left alone by Beeching might now be doing very nicely. There have been huge changes in population and income in recent decades in the area served.
That’s excellent Paul
What a superbly compiled film, thanks Paul. I need say no more to what the other posters have stated other than the demise of the Railway network is indicative of modern greed. I work in a business that puts more and more cars on the road each year, while the Railways continue to be run poorly and expensive to use.
Thanks for reminding us of better days.
I actually rode on the (steam) train from Tunbridge wells down this line to Eastbourne in the 1962/1963 winter (worst winter of the century) when the roads were all closed and the only way to get through was the railway. Which incredibly was still running!
Thank you for doing this video, I am fascinated in where the old lines went as I have a book I brought a long time back on the Lost Railways of Sussex, I used Google Maps to find the old right of way from Polgate to Heathfield, we stumbled into Mayfield once when driving back to Eastbourne and I realized then that in the undergrowth there once was a railway, yes its a pity that the line closed like it did, again no fore thought or future proofing as this would have now made the little towns on its line more accessable to rail travel as it should be. I don,t live in the UK but New Zealand, this country is not pro rail so some lines are closed or little used. Upon our next visit to the UK we will make sure to at least walk the Cuckoo line and also visit the Lavendar line
That first shot of the polegate station, the pub it used to be closed down and has now been demolished for flats
Great video. I live in Hailsham and regularly cycle the Cuckoo trail. The line would thrive i am sure if it was still around today. With the mass building and expansion of Hailsham and surrounding towns on which the line used to serve....
Fabulous film/interpretation of what there is now on the Cuckoo Line, plus very suitable and brilliant choice of music to accompany it!!! I travelled the line a few times in the 50s then saw it slowly die in the 60s and saved a few bits and pieces as nostalgic keepsakes!!! Well done, lovely stuff!!!
Excellent film, many memories of travelling from Hampden Park to Maidstone to visit relatives frequently. I remember the beautifull flowers and ferns along the route, and the flowers on the station platforms. The Beeching cuts made it impossible to get home sometimes, we had to run from Central to West in Tunbridge Wells to catch the last train, change at Heathfield, then it all stopped, a crying shame.Cuckoos hooting in spring. A lost world, the innocence of childhood.
Many of the old boys at Eastbourne Depot worked up and down this line, and all missed it. The usual traction latterly were the very characterful Southern Region DEMU trains, often a three-car non-gangwayed set. These sets were built for this sort of service, but heaven knows why they weren't gangwayed. Could've saved BR Southern a fortune in lost money. After all, the Hastings sets were gangwayed.I worked at the depot maintaining the trains, not back then, sadly. Heathfield could've been retained as a staffed station, as it might get busy. As you say, a lost world. Glad I'm now retired.
Lovely film with great choice of song. My dream when I was younger was the Cuckoo Line would one day reopen. Impossible now but at least this is a memorial.
Thank you for that, I was a month old when the last passenger service ran so never knew it as open. Eridge - Heathfield could be a possibility for reopening but the short-sightedness and wanton destruction of the 1960s has pretty much made that an impossibility.
Most enjoyable video with very evocative music--well done.
It has a special meaning for me as my childhood was spent living in Horam and I spent many happy hours on the Station platform watching the steam driven trains ,both passenger and goods.stopping and passing through. When leaving Horam station the line was single track and the engine driver picked up a baton to give him right of way .and handed it on at the end of the single track .I also went on this line from school between Eastbourne and Horam with my luggage sent on P.L.A .
Happy days. So sad to see what the line and stations have become.
Superbly well done with intermingling of old and new footage. Brilliant! Thanks.
Thank you, great film, never should have been closed. Would be a busy line now, with so many House's being built in Hailsham and Heathfield. Will we never learn, act in haste repent for ever!
As a resident of Polegate for the last 22 years this was very interesting
Lovely video, a big thank you from a Hailsham resident.
I have no personal memories of the railway line as it closed 6 years before I was born and I moved to Hailsham in 1990, but the history of it always fascinates me.
Such a shame that this line and of course so many others succumbed to Beeching's cutbacks.
This line would have done me nicely - I live in Polegate (and always have!! ) and work in Tunbridge Wells - would be nice to be able to take a direct train route but there you go!!!! My Dad also used to take the train along this route back in the day to go to school in Hailsham and he has many a tale to be told from those journeys
There is so much change that it is hard to visualize how things used to look. But clues remain, from structures too big and expensive to demolish or those that currently have a limited unintended use. For example, the pathway under the right hand side of the viaduct because there was tracks on the left side. This reminds me of a long closed store where the lettering on the exterior had been removed years ago yet the buildup of city grime and pollution left a perfect outline of the letters as if it were a ghost image and refused to die. Excellent video and the music was spot-on.
As a kid, used to play in what was left of the lower platforms at Heathfield where the industrial estate now is. There used to be a big water tower by the tunnel entrance. Even went through the tunnel a few times and the other way, to Horam and the station there - no paved cycle paths then!
As happened in my country, Argentina, the state and history of railway systems uses to show the greatness or decline of a nation. Damage made for those kind of ideologies and it's plans put to action is so hard to revert!!
What a son of a Beeching!....
Great material!
Greetings
Very moving piece - thank you. Great editing. Have cycled some of the Cuckoo Trail, but remember well the closure in the 60s.
Such an emotive video and the best comparison video I’ve seen of the trains. My mum used to ride on one of those trains 🌸
Excellent video showing then and now on the old cuckoo line, very enjoyable indeed! Thanks for sharing :D
excellent video 👍it brings a tear to my eye😥 when i see this and other videos of railway lines that where busy with trains and what it is like now these should never have closed wish there wasn't a beeching then none of this would have happened
Great video.
That's progress for you - dig up the railways and turn them into car parks and skate parks.
Thanks for that. I used to live in Hailsham until 1977. Disused railway line was central to my childhood.
You have done a great job. I live near the old track bed of the old GNR route out of Derby and I wish we could have put together a video as you have done, but there is no old footage as far as I know. Well done.
Very nice. i always wondered what the cuckoo like used to look like. I remember playing on it before it all got tarmacked.
Love the film and the choice of music. Nice touch with the report blowing in the wind at the end.
Is that music by a band called athlete?
Superb video, thanks for posting.
This is put together really well, Watching this in Ireland where the same thing happen, Lots of Lovely lines just went to rot. Thanks for sharing this.
beautiful
Growing up in Uckfield, I was aware of the old Cuckoo line, Even when living in Horam, but working in Uckfield, I'd still not walked it, only when I started working in Hailsham, did I use it in the summer to commute. Moved back to Uckfield and I worked for the recovery company shown in Heathfield, until I moved out of the area.
Very very good , so sad to see how the line is today
Extremely evocative and so nicely put together. Got me thinking about my old man and his days firing locos on the Southern Railway. Thanks.
Thanks Paul for posting a video of some of this countries past that we should be proud of....only the chosen few saw the pound signs instead of the great loss that many isolated village communities would have to put up with.
i love the music track that accompanied this video which fitted the mood brilliantly but i must say that the final panning shot down to dr beechings book of railway butchery blowing in the wind was extremely poignant.
Thanks for the comment Antony, wow, I did this 12 years ago now, sadly the old Polegate station building was swept away for new flats. Glad I got to see it before it went
The same effect occured in Australia in the 1970s and with the end of steam locos in service for passenger and goods duties.
excellent footage and thanks.
The milk churns shown on Horam Station platform are in connection with the Express Dairy depot just behind the Station. The milk was collected locally, processed in the Dairy and loaded into special milk container wagons. The Dairy had its own railway siding connecting to the main line. All this has long since gone.
The covered "barn" on the S. side of Vines Cross road remains . It was converted to a workshop/offices in 1970. 2 brothers Don and Stan? Tapp - builders who employed local labour ( I was one of those) ran D+J Contractors there. Later it was Wicker chainsaw and garden machinery, then a car lot. The Express Dairy opposite had gone in '70 and there was a glue factory? there. Now a Nursing home built on the site.
@@mystified1429 What you say is most interesting but I left Horam in about 1957 and lived in Eastbourne and London thereafter. I had friends who lived near the Express Dairy and I used to pass the Dairy frequently.
Many thanks - very well put together. I enjoyed watching this, as I had to assess the Cuckoo Line footpath a few years ago for people of all abilities. It's really interesting to see how it was in the 60's.
Brilliant vid thanks for sharing
Wonderful, thankyou🏴👍
I used to live half a mile away from the old rotherfield station ,hard to believe that it actually carried trains and was a busy line, always used to hear steam trains at night long after it closed alot of people said it was the ghosts of people killed on the line.
Very belated, however, what a brilliant video, thank you. Sadly so much has gone....recently even the old station at Polegate has been ripped down for a block of flats.
great video...always wondered wat it was like in its hey day
Wonderful video.
Walking the Cuckoo trail tomorrow , thanks for the video :)
Mark Dearling Enjoy the trail, it's a lovely walk - would be better with trains on it though...
Yes it was , nice Ghostly stations at the upper Heathfield end, much like West Grinstead on the Downslink path. Nice day, nice walk and a reminder of the glory of the English countryside :)
Better than a flat boring grey PATH for dog walkers?
Fantastic film thank you!!
i love this video so much :)
superb video , very emotional :)
Fabulous film thanks
When the Mayfield bypass opened you cold see the old station very well unfortunately some clown thought it would be a good idea to plant trees in front of it , now its just an overgrown mess .Good video
It's someone house !
Good video of now and then
@FalconGhia Great message!!
thank you, is all i can say...
And in the end it was all about MONEY. Fifty years on,and most of the closed routes,could all be making MONEY now. I love railways in general,in my sixties,and still feel angry at what that butcher Beeching did to our railways heritage.I,long with perhaps many thousands of other people for a return of our once great railway system.Thanks you posting this,brought back happier days.
shame on Beeching. And now we find out that although the "unprofitable" routes were not making the money they thought they could save, these same routes were feeders for the bigger ones that - had they have remained - would have done. So cutting them led to even bigger losses, arguably, and the decline of the railway system that otherwise could have turned around.
If Hailsham to Polegate had been kept, and a railcar service instigated , the Eastbourne Arndale centre would have been so easy to access.
My local station closed in 1972 (Todd lane junction) Preston, it was a small station in the middle of nowhere and duplicated another line, fair doos...But now housing follows the whole length of the trackbed, the line would no doubt have a use, if they hadn't demolished all the bridges to make sure. Short term gain with no forethought I know it's been said a thousand times.
Its amazing the influence the roads and vehicle making lobby were able to extend on government - so shortsighted the decisions to close lines then build over them - so many parts of the UK would benefit from light railway connection now
Well what an eye opener, what a shame.
Very good vidio
Who sings that wonderful piece of music?
God thats a sad, and desperately evocative piece of work. Englands green and pleasant land becomes tarmac, concrete and white van land. If we could only step through the door into those images and back onto the platform again. To stand in the summer evening sun, listening to a Standard 4 blasting up the bank towards Mayfield, and smell the mixture of nettles, creosote, cowparsley and coal smoke. And not a white van in sight. Thank God for the Bluebell line!
Sadly even the Polegate station building has now gone
To Pete the music is from coldplay
What a sad state of affairs.... pedalled to Heathfield from Polgate to get a wormer for him to the left . The pedestrian s are terrified of the bikes going at high speed heads down unlike old tortoise me. The maintenance required must be a lot more costly than running a really usefully Railway as it would be today.
should never have been allowed if l had my way l would reopen or rebuild every stretch of railway closed and that includes the Great Central and the original Great Western route from Paddington to Birmingham and Birkenhead however many billions it cost, to many cars on the roads anyway
YES SO MANY RESPONSIBLE FOR RAIL CLOSURES HOULD HAVE BEEN LOCKED UP AND FINED. BILLIONS CAN BE SPENT ON ROADS, SO CAN BE ON RAILWAYS. WE ARE RUN BY CRIMINSALS AND CLOEWNS, USING ILLEGAL PRACTICES. IT IS ONE RULE FOR THE RICH WITH EXPENSIVE CARS AND BIG MANSIONS AND ANOTHER FOR THE NOT SO WELL ENOUGH WHO NEED AFFORDBLE BUSES, TRAINS AND HOMES. THE BIGGEST GAP TWIXT RICH AND POOR IS IN THE UK
Was the Cuckoo Line an extension of the line from the Tunbridge Wells West line? I don't know if that's correct
No it was a line to connect Eastbourne to London but it's northern terminus was at Tunbridge wells.
Disused Railways Ah, thanks
Come to think of it, a service with the "new" Vivarail D-train might've been the thing ! But alas, we'll never know. glad I'm retired.
The old Polegate station is no more it's been demolished and is now housing.
One of The biggest public transport disasters that ever happened, they had such narrow minded thinking. They took away the Railways and gave us traffic chaos.
Remind me of General Motors buying up and then shutting down trolley lines and then shutting them down to sell buses.
Yes, the fate of the Los Angeles Red Cars is a very close parallel to what happened in Britain.
Magnifica paginetta che evoca la triste istoria delle ferrovie d'epoca. Avrei suggerito come musica uno struggente Adagio di Vivaldi. ♡
What a shame. This could have been such a lovely heritage railway. Would still look lovely now with steam engines running on it.
Dont forget the new high speed railway they are building!
What's the song name and band?
Athlete- street map
Thank you :-)
I'd love to agree but doubt if any of those lines will ever reopen. Govt not interested in railway reopenings south of the border and nimby's would delay the process for years. Lewes - Uckfield is a no-brainer but it's not viable according to the last study. I'm not certain but I BELIEVE one of the factors that weigh against rail reopenings is the Treasury's loss of revenue from fuel duty due to fewer car journeys as a result. Sounds insane so it's probably true.
Uckfield - Lewes, is one of the few lines, which closed around the same time, but wasn't part of Beeching's cuts. I think the 4 biggest factors would be crossing the Uckfield Uckfield High Street (reason for the new station north of the HIgh Street), crossing the bypass, Lavender Line at Isfield and once in Lewes, the Pheonix Industrial Estate was built on the old track bed, I believe this was the only actual part of track bed built on.
Although I've not used it or paid much attention to it, I'm not sure if the station car park, which is on the site of the old station in Uckfield covers any of the track bed (between old station closing and demolition, it was great for rabbits down the far end, take to a butcher on Framfield road, who would give us £1 per rabbit), but all the factory units on the industrial estate had to be built a minimum distance from the southern embankment, in case the line was ever reopened, as I say, the problems of crossing the High Street and Bypass, both very busy roads, so level crossing wouldn't be practical, too expensive to build road bridges (plus High Street one would require total redesign of that part of town), The bridges over the river are still all standing, and farmers maintain them sufficiently to drive tractors over between fields.
Lavender Line at Isfield is next obstical, as it would probably be impractcal trying to run mainline trains alongside a heritage trust over a short distance with few sidings to allow faster and priority trains past. From memory, although the old Barcombe station is private residence, I believe it may still have the platform, but the trackbed form part of the garden, from what I've understood from the main enthusiasts in Uckfield wanting to get the line reopened, the track bed has never been allowed to be developed in any way, other than forming part of the gardens of some properties along the line. I don't even think farmers are allowed to do anything other than use the old track bed as access between fields and last time I looked, you could still follow the track bed from Uckfield, all the way to Lewes, where the Pheonix Industrial Estate was built, so either a diversion to join the Haywards Heath branch to the BLM would have to be built, or some of the industrial estate would have to go.
As you say though, as nice as it would be (no best part of 2hr by bus from Uckfield to Brighton, or a little less if bus to Lewes and Train to brighton), to have the line reopened, as it would relieve some pressure from the BLM, however, as you say, feasibility studies dismissed it and it would quite likely make an already crowded Uckfield line, even more crowded ... at least those getting on at Uckfield in the morning wil get a seat at the moment.
@@asp383 You're wrong about the phoenix - the line ran next to it on a bridge over the ouse . I used to go from Uckfield to Lewes daily to school - from 1965 until line closed then by bus. Uckfield was becoming commuterland since 1964 when Manor Park was built. It's never looked back. lol.
Dr Beeching should have been stuffed and mounted. Total lack of forward thinking as is the case still with governments. They still think road is best well we'll see when in a few years people will struggle to get out of their own drives. Rail will rise again but hopefully not in the waste of time HS2
Peak Oil!
Progress my f@@kin arse.
What a great video, for one man to destroy something that would be used by 1000's today. Take traffic off the roads and connect so many local towns, has to be one of Sussex worst parliamentary disasters
I came when train on screen
Should never have closed ! Singled and electrified with the stations unstaffed yes ! Closure no !
Carstairs Junction
i thought British people love to preserve old heritage , but how pity. one thing i never understood , why every government is enemy of railways?
Because in the early 1960s the railways were running at a deficit of over£100 million. The BTC could not pay the interest of the loan outstanding, as the railways were loosing business to the roads.
The British people do love their heritage but the politicians don't. Railways are seen as old fashioned and outmoded. A closed line close to this railway should be reopened but the "business case" won't support it. Yet they are just about to build a single carriageway road near me that will cost £30m a mile. Madness.
Sadly, Beeching was only doing what his analytical scientific brain was used to doing - solving the problem of railways loosing money. Solution: Close most of them down. Nobody asked the question does it matter if a social service looses money? Sadly it was the government of the day who should be blamed most. They focused on Beeching's closure plans and took no notice of his plans to invest in the remainder of the network.
Not strictly true. The 1968 Transport Act tried to rectify this by grant aiding lines that were unremunerative but of a social need. It was Castle that bought this legislation in and it did save a number of lines, although some did close as a result of loosing their grants when the government of the day changed the rules when giving grants.
Old Polegate Station building demolished in June 2017.
In it's place will be yet another convenience store with dwellings above it..........
That's very sad, more of our railway heritage swept away!
Its sad that the goverment call building new roads 'investment' and building new railways or upgrades as 'subsidy, sadly they make alot of money from fuel duty that goes into the goverments pocket. i would get the train to work if they hadnt ripped up the old line near standrews, but to be fair the train was slower than the bus due to the winding route the line took because of landowners refusing to allow the line through their grounds
So sad that all those lines closed ☹️ My childhood railway closed too Lowton St Marys on the Manchester Central to Wigan Central. Happy day’s. Should reopen them and scrap HS2 now 😆 It’s a wast of money 💴 and it’s not even conected to HS1 joke 😝 In Spain High speed rail isn’t working properly according to the Murcia new? Just like guided bus lanes!! What on earth do politicians think of putting theses mad schemes together 😩 They should look at what the Victorians did? Rant over after watching sad archive railway films 😢
no one ever knows there were railways stations everywhere people think wigan central is just a bar in town
@@tracya4087 I think Wigan Central and its line were created to give a railway company access to the town when that company couldn't have access to the other railway facilities that were already there. The rest of the Wigan Central line didn't generate much traffic, although it did give access to a racecourse and a latter-day oil terminal.
Richard Beeching - a name that should be reviled and despised by every Britisher who ever rode on Britain's rail network. Beeching's name should live in infamy just below that of Britain's worst-ever Prime Minister, Margaret "Attila The Hen" Thatcher! Here in Australia, the names Mike Baird and Gladys Berejiklian shall also be held in utter contempt for their act of OUTRIGHT TREASON in closing the Newcastle, Civic & Wickham railway stations and ripping up the rail lines. Those named in this post are or were traitors to their respective nations. Time was when the act of treason was punishable by the death sentence.
The entire political establishment of the time, Conservative and Labour, bears (or bore, since almost all of them are now dead) some of the responsibility for the disastrous evisceration of our railway network, even if the principal villains were Beeching and Ernest Marples.
It should never have been allowed to happen in the first place (so talk of treason is really beside the point), but the fact that it did shows the impotence of ordinary people in the UK once the elite have determined on a particular course.
May Beeching rot in hell.