Plumpton railway station

Plumpton National Rail
Location
Place Plumpton Green
Local authority Lewes (district)
Coordinates 50°55′44″N 0°03′36″W / 50.929°N 0.060°W / 50.929; -0.060Coordinates: 50°55′44″N 0°03′36″W / 50.929°N 0.060°W / 50.929; -0.060
Grid reference TQ364161
Operations
Station code PMP
Managed by Southern
Number of platforms 2
DfT category E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2012/13 Increase 0.138 million
2013/14 Decrease 0.133 million
2014/15 Increase 0.138 million
2015/16 Increase 0.146 million
2016/17 Decrease 0.109 million
History
Original company London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Pre-grouping London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Post-grouping Southern Railway
June 1863 Station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Plumpton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Plumpton railway station serves the village of Plumpton in East Sussex, England. It is 44 miles 42 chains (71.7 km) from London Bridge via Redhill.

Train services are provided by Southern. The station neighbours Plumpton Racecourse, which had its own platform at the end of the village station.

History

Plumpton lies on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway "cut-off" line between Keymer Junction, near Wivelsfield on the Brighton Main Line, and Lewes. The erstwhile Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway were authorised to build the line in 1845; the LBSCR purchased it and opened the link on 1 October 1847. However, there was no immediate demand for services and the station did not open until June 1863.[1]

The road crossing was established in 1849 and was hand operated until the establishment of the signal box in 1891. That signal box, now defunct (after being reduced to a crossing box under the supervision of Three Bridges PSB[2]) after the crossing was given obstacle detection systems. It still remains and is a Grade II Listed Building.[3]

Crossing Closure Controversy

Network Rail closed the level crossing in September 2015 so that the wooden, wheel worked gates (the last in East Sussex) on the crossing could be replaced. However, Lewes District Council rejected the plans to replace the gates as it would have caused "substantial harm to the significance of the signal box".[4] Network Rail said that they could not open the crossing as the work was not completed. This effectively split the village in two, with some motorists having to take a six or seven mile detour. However the upgrade took place and the level crossing was reopened in February 2016.[5]

Services

Services are supplied by Southern and are mainly hourly in each direction with the strengthening to half-hourly in the peak. During the day time there is 1 tph to Ore and London Victoria.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Wivelsfield   Southern
East Coastway Line		   Cooksbridge

References

  1. ↑ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 186. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  2. ↑ Rhodes, Michael (2015). Resignalling Britain. Horncastle: Mortons Media. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-909128-64-4.
  3. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1238580)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "Network Rail apology over Plumpton level crossing closure". BBC News. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  5. ↑ "Level crossing dividing Plumpton village reopens". BBC News. 8 February 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.