Newhaven Marine to close

[Zomboid]

Different headcode in the last one (on the driver's left rather than right in all the others), was it even going to Newhaven?

Edited January 21, 2020 by Zomboid

[Nearholmer]

That last one isn’t the Tattenham Corner Branch is it? Smitham station, looking in the London direction?

 

If it is, I suggest a race special - the loco is so bulled-up I thought it might be a Royal at first.

[Oldddudders]

7 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

That last one isn’t the Tattenham Corner Branch is it? Smitham station, looking in the London direction?

 

If it is, I suggest a race special - the loco is so bulled-up I thought it might be a Royal at first.

I think I spy a colour light signal with a feather, which would not be right. 

[Nearholmer]

Yes, and the caption says that’s Wivelsfield - should have read that first! 

 

Surely isn’t an ordinary train, though.

 

I don’t have any idea what the head code means. The nearest I can see on Semgonline is a 1936 version where this indicates London Bridge to Eastbourne/Hastings via Redhill. Anyone else?

Edited January 21, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Joseph_Pestell]

No, as OldDudders says there would not be a feather on any signal on the Tattenham Corner branch. But a race special looks quite a likely option. Plenty of possible Sussex destinations for that.

[Darius43]

If it was at Wivelsfield it could be heading to Plumpton for the races.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Edited January 21, 2020 by Darius43

[Oldddudders]

Glyndebourne?

[John M Upton]

This was my poor attempt at photographing the former Marine station earlier with 66107 parked in it:

[EmporiaSub]

On 20/01/2020 at 13:52, The Stationmaster said:

Was the departure time a booked 'moveable feast' as happened with some other boat train times?

 

And surely anybody wanting to go to Spain or southern France with a vehicle nowadays would use one of the numerous routes operated by Brittany Ferries - there are routes to four different French ports from Portsmouth alone.

A very moveable feast.....

Sometimes the morning Down service was detached at Haywards Heath from the rear of the 8.40 Victoria to Brighton!

[phil_sutters]

Nowadays the ferries go at regular times. The port is dredged to allow sailings at whatever the state of the tide. I haven't checked the sailing times recently, but there are usually two sailings each way per day in winter and 3 per day in summer. The crossing takes around 4 hours. Most passengers travel by car, with only a few dozen foot or cycle passengers. There is a steady flow of HGVs, which adds to the nearby waste facility traffic, to the detriment of the level crossing beside the Town station, . The crossing gets repaired three or four times a year at least. They don't seem to be able to get a durable enough surface. Recently they used the crossing barriers to stop the traffic for about 15 minutes while they poured and levelled tarmac around the worn areas. Then the barriers went up and the traffic, including our double-decker bus, went straight over it. The photo shows it a couple of months ago.

[C126]

Please forgive my 'late arrival at the Wake', but thanks to you all for the information posted here.  I was especially interested in why the ferry route seems not to be financially viable; I did not know it was Newhaven port's lack of capacity, if I understand correctly.  I was dragged to France on holiday many times by this route, which if giving me a dislike of holidays abroad did instill a love of S.N.C.F., boat trains and the 'discovery' of the Night Ferry, etc.  It was good to see a picture with the London & Paris Hotel still standing in it.  I caught the last Manchester-Newhaven Marine train, and when returning from trips north, would ride through to 'Marine', instead of alighting at my station.  I will spare you the rest of my reminscences.  Many thanks for the contributions, and the pictures of the place now.

[brushman47544]

On 19/01/2020 at 23:25, hmrspaul said:

Shameful loss of a really useful route into France; Newhaven to Dieppe was the quickest way to the south of France, saved having to drive around Paris etc. Didn't bother me so much after we moved north as I started using the French car trains - another loss I believe. The Chunnel has many advantages but Spain and southern France are a long drive from Calais in comparison with Dieppe.

 

Paul

Fortunately as others have said the ferry service isn’t ending. I used this route, including the boat trains from Victoria, every summer from about 1964/5 until about 1973/4. Very convenient for us living in Surrey and with my aunt and uncle living about 30 minutes along the coast south from Dieppe. Pretty reliable with the Valencay  and Villandry and later the Senlac replacing the Falaise. A great shame that boat trains can longer be justified not just here but other routes too. 

Edited January 25, 2020 by brushman47544

[EddieB]

On 20/01/2020 at 21:30, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

There is (or was) a junction like that in Le Mans as well.

Another in Strasbourg aussi.

 

They must have made them as a batch.

Edited January 25, 2020 by EddieB

[corneliuslundie]

Came across this on my hard disk. Appropriate.

Jonathan

[John M Upton]

I had the obligatory school day trip to Dieppe in the summer of 1987.  There were two ships on the route then, the one on the outward trip had just been drafted in from somewhere else as all the interior signs were in Norwegian!

 

I work trains regularly through to Seaford these days, the old customs and excise building is now a crumbling broken window ivy covered ruin, Harbour station  is basically two platforms and a footbridge, Town station isn't much better and the whole area just looks derelict.

 

There is some sort of construction work going on to put in a new bridge over the river and Seaford single line, not sure what that is for though.

[Darius43]

15 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

There is some sort of construction work going on to put in a new bridge over the river and Seaford single line, not sure what that is for though.

The bridge is part of the Newhaven Port Access Road project and spans the Seaford Line and Mill Creek (rather than the river Ouse) as shown on this site plan.

 

The reason is to provide a dedicated port access road rather than the current route through residential areas.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Edited January 25, 2020 by Darius43

[phil_sutters]

A couple more photos - one to illustrate the confined space in the harbour, where the ferries operate. They are sister ships of 142.45m o/a length and 24.2m width.

The second is a general overview of the main quays in the southern end of the port. There is a further quay upstream beyond the swing-bridge. The Marine station is the long white building at the centre of the photo. While the main industry related to the port is the export of scrap metal, there are a growing number of commercial developments beyond the scrap heap. The new road and the bridge site are beyond the existing warehouses on, what was in this photo, fields. There are a few residential roads in the area between Newhaven Harbour station, which just beyond the turquoise ferry ramp, and the Town station, which is near the swing bridge,  just off the left of the photo, but most of the area is commercial and light industrial.

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by phil_sutters

[phil_sutters]

Photos of the new bridge with the supports nearly ready and the six sections of steel spans being prepared. The bridge will cross the railway and the adjacent creek and serve new developments in the area to the East Of East Quay.

[MarkC]

By coincidence, I'm presently in a drydock in Odense, Denmark. 2 docks across from me is the "Seven Sisters", having her annual refit before another summer running from Newhaven to Dieppe...

 

Mark

[John M Upton]

When was the Seaford branch singled from Newhaven Harbour onwards?

[Nearholmer]

A long time ago - I remember it being that was in the late 70s, and if I had to guess I’d say c1975/6.

[phil_sutters]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

A long time ago - I remember it being that was in the late 70s, and if I had to guess I’d say c1975/6.

Wiki... says 1975. I think the station layout was pared back in stages over the years, so I don't know whether the current single siding from just east of Newhaven harbour was created then or if there was the odd siding left for a while. I have seen a photo taken in 1975, with a second track to the south of the existing line in the station. Curiously Seaford's only remaining platform is still platform 2. When I first moved here in 2009 that was fenced of at about 1/3 of its length and could accommodate the 4-coach 377s then in use and even more comfortably the 313, which Boris kindly sent us and which are our current mainstay. With the growth of the numbers of football supporters wanting to get to the Amex stadium at Falmer, 2x4 377s were bought into use on match days and the full length was reinstated, suitably refurbished  - and still the platform remained No.2. It is a long platform with 12 coach capacity. Seaford had large military camps to the north east and the extra length helped with troop movements.

[Darius43]

1 hour ago, phil_sutters said:

Wiki... says 1975. I think the station layout was pared back in stages over the years, so I don't know whether the current single siding from just east of Newhaven harbour was created then or if there was the odd siding left for a while. I have seen a photo taken in 1975, with a second track to the south of the existing line in the station. Curiously Seaford's only remaining platform is still platform 2. When I first moved here in 2009 that was fenced of at about 1/3 of its length and could accommodate the 4-coach 377s then in use and even more comfortably the 313, which Boris kindly sent us and which are our current mainstay. With the growth of the numbers of football supporters wanting to get to the Amex stadium at Falmer, 2x4 377s were bought into use on match days and the full length was reinstated, suitably refurbished  - and still the platform remained No.2. It is a long platform with 12 coach capacity. Seaford had large military camps to the north east and the extra length helped with troop movements.

 

I remember Seaford station having a very long platform with tracks either side (platforms 1 and 2) with a third stabling bay to the south side..  All three  tracks were filled with stabled EMUs on Sundays.  This was in the 1970s and early 1980s when my Uncle and Grandparents lived in Seaford.

 

This website has some good photos (if you scroll down a bit).

 

https://thesussexmotivepowerdepots.yolasite.com/seaford.php

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Edited February 2, 2020 by Darius43

[phil_sutters]

57 minutes ago, Darius43 said:

 

I remember Seaford station having a very long platform with tracks either side (platforms 1 and 2) with a third stabling bay to the south side..  All three  tracks were filled with stabled EMUs on Sundays.  This was in the 1970s and early 1980s when my Uncle and Grandparents lived in Seaford.

 

This website has some good photos (if you scroll down a bit).

 

https://thesussexmotivepowerdepots.yolasite.com/seaford.php

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Thanks for the link. Some interesting stuff in there.

[Nearholmer]

So, my date was about right.

 

The reason the fact that the line was single sticks in my mind is that that create electrical challenges, which necessitated special electrical protection relays to make sure that faukts caused the circuit breakers to trip, and IIRC long lengths of old CR laid in the 4ft as supplementary return conductors.