page_title: Wealden Line
section_title: Post-closure
hierarchical_section_title: Wealden Line / Closure / Uckfield – Lewes / Post-closure
caption_attribution_description: English: Waiting for the Ghost TrainThe platforms of the original Uckfield station are still in place but are used only by the local wildlife. The station survived the axing of the line from here to Lewes in 1969 having survived Beeching but falling prey to Lewes' need to build a ring road around the town through railway land until 1991 when the irritation of having the station on the western side of a level crossing on the High Street forced British Rail to construct another on the eastern side. The buildings survived but were demolished in 2000 after an arson attack made them unsafe. The future of the site is still in limbo depending on how successful the campaign to resurrect the line from Uckfield to Lewes is. The council wish to build a car park on the site and if they succeed will end any hope of this.
context_page_description: The Wealden Line is a partly abandoned double track railway line in East Sussex and Kent that connected Lewes with Tunbridge Wells, a distance of 25.25 miles. The line takes its name from its route through the chalk hills of the North and South Downs of the Weald, England.
  The line is essentially composed of three sections: in the south, from Lewes to Uckfield closed on 4 May 1969; in the north, from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells West closed on 6 July 1985; in between, from Uckfield to Eridge remains open as part of the Oxted Line.
  The northern section has partly re-opened under the auspices of the Spa Valley Railway, whilst the Lavender Line has revived Isfield Station on the southern section with about one mile of track. There has been a concerted campaign since 1986 led by the Wealden Line Campaign to have the whole line re-opened to passengers, but a 2008 study concluded that it would be "economically unviable".
context_section_description: Within weeks of the line closing, an embankment carrying the line was cut through in preparation of the first stage of the Lewes Relief Road. The remaining bridges from Lewes station to Cliffe High Street and the viaduct over the River Ouse were also demolished. Construction of the Phoenix Causeway was completed in summer 1969, but stages two and three of the Lewes Relief Road project were scrapped; the Council chose instead to link up with the town's new bypass by building Cuilfail Tunnel, which opened in November 1980. A 2001 report by the Environment Agency noted the detrimental effect of the Phoenix Causeway on the town by blocking the floodplain, contributing greatly to the floods of October 2000. As the bypass cut across the railway alignment, the Council's County Engineer gave an undertaking on 11 December 1978 to "pay for the cost of a new bridge and other works over the Uckfield By-pass should the Lewes-Uckfield Railway Line ever be re-opened."
  John Peyton, the Conservative Minister for Transport Industries, confirmed on 5 February 1973 that the powers granted by the British Railways Act 1966 in respect of the Hamsey Loop had expired on 31 December 1972. East Sussex County Council agreed nevertheless to safeguard the trackbed against development. However, the Council declined British Rail's offer to acquire the alignment for £1 in the 1970s and much of the trackbed was consequently disposed of by British Rail in the 1980s for a few thousand pounds.
  In 1991, Uckfield station was resited on the eastern side of the level crossing over the High Street. The track across the road was removed by East Sussex County Council despite concerns that this action would create an obstacle to reopening the line in terms of the loss of any grandfather rights.
caption: Remains of original Uckfield station.
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