page_title: Robertsbridge railway station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Robertsbridge railway station / History
caption_attribution_description: Railway Junctions in Chichester, Haughley, Headcorn &amp; Robertsbridge pre grouping
context_page_description: Robertsbridge railway station is on the Hastings line in the south of England and serves the village of Robertsbridge, East Sussex. It is 49 miles 47 chains down the line from London Charing Cross. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Southeastern.
context_section_description: Robertsbridge was temporarily the terminus of the South Eastern Railway's (SER) "Hastings Line" from Tunbridge Wells. This section was opened on 1 September 1851, with the 5.99 mile (9.64 km) stretch to Battle following four months later. A connection was then made with the existing route to Hastings on 1 February 1852; the line connecting St Leonards (West Marina) with Hastings having been opened by the SER on 13 February 1851, and which initially gave the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway access to the latter town. A large station building was provided on the Down side, along with a signal box at the south end of the Down platform.
  Robertsbridge became a junction in 1900 with the opening of the Rother Valley Light Railway to Tenterden. The line was extended to Headcorn in 1905, and was renamed the Kent and East Sussex Railway. In 1954 all regular passenger services were withdrawn and the line beyond Tenterden Town was completely closed. The line to Tenterden continued to be used by freight services and occasional special passenger trains (e.g. hop pickers trains) until closed by British Railways on 12 June 1961. About half a mile length of line remained in use as a siding to serve Hodsons Mill on the outskirts of Robertsbridge until 1970.The bay platform, on the Down (eastern) side of the station, is still in place and used for engineers trains. A railway preservation society, the Rother Valley Railway, have built a new separate station named Robertsbridge Junction on the east side of the car park, and have rebuilt the line from here to Northbridge Street. The first train on this rebuilt section ran in September 2013. They have plans to rebuild the rest of the route eastwards to join up with the Kent and East Sussex Railway and restore services along the line. (Steam trains already run on another section of the line, between Tenterden Town and Bodiam, 3½ miles from Robertsbridge.)
caption: A 1906 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (lower right) railways in the vicinity of Robertsbridge. SER in pink; KESR in blue.
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