3a The Ouse
Valley Railway.
Another railway in the Uckfield area was
the abandoned Ouse Valley Railway. This was a pawn in Victorian railway politics
designed to block rival plans to capture a slice of the lucrative London to
Brighton traffic, but with no hope of it ever being profitable. A London
Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) act of 1864 sanctioned the
building of a line from the south end of Balcombe viaduct, on the main fine, to
Uckfield, then the terminus of the branch from Lewes, and on to Hailsham then
also the terminus of a branch from Polegate. A further act extending the line to
St Leonards was passed the following year. Work commenced on the first section
of line from Balcombe to Uckfield in May 1866, just a few days after the
collapse of the great railway banking house of Overend and Guerney. This caused
the railway boom of the early 1860s to burst and work on the line was stopped in
February 1867, never to restart. Because the line traversed a still sparsely
populated area remains can still be found. On the east side of a skew bridge
south of Balcombe viaduct at TQ325273 can be seen the brick abutments where the bridge
was to be widened for the junction of the Ouse Valley line. Embankments can be
found either side of the road at TQ334268 from Borde Hill Gardens to Haywards
Heath Golf Club. Near Kenwards Farm at TQ344266 can be seen the eastern cutting
which was to have led to a short tunnel, which now forms an ornamental lake. At
Lindfield, off Spring Lane at TQ348264 can be found another stretch of
embankment near to the proposed site of Lindfield station at TQ351261. Nearer
Uckfield are more embankments and abutments around TQ456206. I understand that
the embankment with a complete brick bridge at TQ456205 was destroyed for the
construction of the Uckfield bypass in the 1990s.
Uckfield Station was demolished on 9th
December 2000 because of fire damage and vandalism.
