Newhaven - shades of Madder Valley?

[dibber25]

Having recently examined a track plan of John Ahern's Madderport, I couldn't help thinking that Newhaven offers some similar modelling possibilities, with three small stations with very little track between them.

Pic 1 - What a wonderful image of Britain anyone arriving at Newhaven Harbour station would get!

Pic 2 - Newhaven Marine is off to the right, just behind the signalbox. This picture is taken from the footbridge of Newhaven Harbour station.

Pic 3 - Beyond the strange black bird, is a Southern (ground frame or weighbridge?)hut and wagon bodies. There once must have been a couple of tracks here.

Pic 4 - Looking along the quay with much evidence of railway, including bits of rail and an obviously 'railway' goods shed. The whole area seems now to be disused and in an advanced state of falling down.

CHRIS LEIGH

[John M Upton]

Despite there being 'Harbour' and 'Marine' stations, for the paltry ferry service you actually need to get off at 'Town'!!

 

Since the decline of the Ferry Service that once used to be so frequent, Newhaven has gone into a very serious spiral of decline and this is reflected in the semi-abandoned looking nature of the line side buildings as you approach. Depressing really.

 

Newhaven Marine station seems to be little more than a shell with the frame of its platform canopy remaining plus two faded NSE era signs on the walls. Oddly when I was doing my 313 training run there last week, there were two guys up a scaffolding tower in the pouring rain and howling wind stripping rusty paint (more rust than paint) off the canopy framework which rather seemed to be a case of re-varnishing deckchairs on the Titanic to me!

 

Somewhere around Newhaven, the old loco shed still exists all be it now in industrial use, not sure exactly where it is though as Newhaven and the dismal mysteries of the Seaford branch are well and truly off my usual turf.

[Andy Y]

Interesting to see those pics Chris as I didn't have chance for a nose round when I went past there myself last week. Nearby Seaford station hit me round the face as exactly the sort of style of station building K2yhaven will be getting.

[Kris]

Nice set of pictures. Good for modelling modern urban grot and with the closeness of those stations, it could be a recipe for an old style point to point shed layout.

[ThePipersSon]

Great pictures.

 

Newhaven Marine was featured in the radio 4 program 'The Ghost Trains of Old England' last week.

 

To quote the blurb - "Most bizarre is the case of Newhaven Marine, a station which is technically open, and is served by one train a day. But the station is behind a locked fence and passengers are forbidden to get on the train, which does not appear on any timetable. The company offers to provide a taxi service to any passenger "in possession of a valid ticket". But it is impossible to buy a ticket.".

 

It was an entertaining program which highlighted the fact that it was cheaper to let this happen, than actually close a station.

[Oldddudders]

Come, come, chaps. RMWeb already has a delightful rendition of Newhaven Harbour. More will be welcome, but this sets a pretty high standard IMHO.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/6570-newhaven-harbour-c-1974/page__p__54950__hl__newhaven__fromsearch__1#entry54950

[Coombe Barton]

... sort of style of station building K2yhaven will be getting.

So are we seeing Keyhaven or K2yhaven this weekend at Wycrail?

[Andy Y]

So are we seeing Keyhaven or K2yhaven this weekend at Wycrail?

 

It's K1yhaven's final outing before the developers move in.

 

 

 

[dibber25]

Seaford station is very nice and will make a great model. As would the decaying relic that was (presumably) the former Newhaven Harbour station. Looking at that I got pangs of desire for another station restoration but that one looks like it will suffer the bulldozers eventually. Very sad!

I went down there yesterday to get some more pictures of Bishopstone, which I'm halfway through building in 'OO'. Now that really IS something special - Southern art deco from 1938 - but small and manageable. It has an octagonal booking hall with a glass ceiling and with two WW2 pillboxes on the roof! Couldn't resist building a model.

It has advanced a bit more since this photo, the first of the pillboxes is in place and work on the interior is in progress as this may well be visible through the glass roof.

CHRIS LEIGH

[John M Upton]

Yes indeed, Bishopstone's station building really is an extraordinary example of Southern Railway 1930's Art Deco style finest, wasted on this little forgotten little backwater of the former empire.

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

I actually stood on Newhaven Marine station some years back when the Sussex Slammer ran to it. It was a twelve coach train and there was room to spare. You could get out and stretch you legs on the platform but that was about it.

[dibber25]

It fascinates me that the military went to great lengths to disguise the pillboxes by 'hiding' them in the station architecture, when the shape and position of the station building would lead any unsuspecting invader to think it was......a fort !!!

CHRIS LEIGH

[pete_mcfarlane]

Here are a few photos I took in 2008 of Bishopstone stataion, and the remains of the village of Tidemills (between Newhaven and Bishopstone). You can see the remains of one of the many branches in a couple of the photos (the track is half tarmaced over and I walked along it for several minutes before I twigged what it was). In the background of penultimate picture is the remains of Bishopstone Beach Halt.

 

The odd looking footbridge in my last photo is the one in the top left of Chris Leigh's pic 2.

[dibber25]

I'm intrigued! What were the 'many branches'? Were they all along the foreshore? and if so, what were they used for and what would have worked them?

I seem to recall a 'P' class 0-6-0T or a 'Terrier' being used at Newhaven, on the quay, in the 1950s.

I suppose its too much to hope that there might be a 'Branch Line to Seaford' book in the Middleton Press series.

Its interesting to see how the condition of Bishopstone station has gone down hill since your pics were taken. It is listed at Grade 2 by English Heritage and is currently on their Buildings at Risk register, due to 'water penetration' and the fact that it is unsupervised but has public access (a bad combination).

That footbridge in the picture above is a standard SR concrete structure which has a BR-esque re-inforcement underneath! I was heading in that direction to take a photo of it when I got stopped by Port Security. I hadn't realised that I'd gone somewhere I shouldn't, but he did let me photograph the Saxby & Farmer signalbox before I left.

CHRIS LEIGH

[lmsforever]

Went from here in the sixties on a trip to France it was all run down then so not a lot of change ,nice pics .

[Bernard Lamb]

Sad to see the state that Newhaven has got into.

I used to use the ferry quite frequently around 20 years ago.

Dieppe is so much nicer than Calais as an introduction to France.

Bernard

[pete_mcfarlane]

I'm intrigued! What were the 'many branches'? Were they all along the foreshore? and if so, what were they used for and what would have worked them?

I seem to recall a 'P' class 0-6-0T or a 'Terrier' being used at Newhaven, on the quay, in the 1950s.

I suppose its too much to hope that there might be a 'Branch Line to Seaford' book in the Middleton Press series.

Its interesting to see how the condition of Bishopstone station has gone down hill since your pics were taken. It is listed at Grade 2 by English Heritage and is currently on their Buildings at Risk register, due to 'water penetration' and the fact that it is unsupervised but has public access (a bad combination).

 

The book to get is called "The Newhaven and Seaford branch" from the Oakwood press, which has a few tantalising details of these lines and includes maps. I have it, but can't find it tonight to quote exact details....

 

There is some useful information on Wikipedia including a photo of a section of inset track (the photo of the windmill which is also in the Oakwood book). Link here My link.

 

There also a little bit on the siding in the page on Bishopstone Beach halt and some more stuff on Disused stations and Sussex Express. The talk about the Nehaven harbour Company locomtive, which I think was a Terrier by this stage.

 

The 1899 Ordnance survey map shows the tide mills as served by and branch off the Seaford line. This has gone in the 1927 map. There's also a separate line from Newhaven along the seafront, which I think is the one I photographed. Have a look at www.oldmaps.co.uk

 

I find these line fascinating and they should make the basis for quite a good model.

 

 

[Pacific231G]

 

 

Sad to see the state that Newhaven has got into.
I used to use the ferry quite frequently around 20 years ago.
Dieppe is so much nicer than Calais as an introduction to France.
Bernard

Agreed. I made my first trip to Paris from there though never used the boat train on the British side. Local train from Brighton to Newhaven Harbour and then shades of the Weymouth tramway on the Paris "Rapide" from Dieppe Maritime to Ville. We used to go to Dieppe itself quite often after that and you could walk straight out of the gare maritime and into one of the quayside cafés and be tucking into Moules Frites and a pichet of red wine before the Paris train had even left. All trace of Dieppe's Gare Maritime has been swept away and it looks like Newhaven Marine isn't far behind.

[trisonic]

I love threads like this (from my vantage point in New York) - they bring back memories that I've thought were long gone. This one involved a school trip c.1962 which involved going by train from Shenfield in Essex to Innsbruck in Austria, 19 hours of great fun!

Thank you, Pete.

[number6]

I'm with OldDudders here: Colin Parks' Newhaven Harbour is very special - you'll have to do better than that! Operationally the yards, ballast dump on the beach and docks are perhaps more interesting operationally than the three stations close together, and thats what Colin obviously went for.

 

Prototype for everything: I saw an 09 about halfway between the photographer and Bishopstone on this line in the early 70s. It was leaning to the left quite a bit... I guessed the crew were trying to get as near as possible to Seaford without walking.

 

Superb place, long may it remain rundown because any parts that have been spruced up are now very Poole - give me Neu'aven and Seaf'd any day.

[dibber25]

Wish I'd known this area when it was operational. The closest I got was a trip from Brighton to Dieppe on the Seajet (remember that - a Boeing Jetfoil)for an article for Modern Transport magazine. I recall watching the Newhaven ferry (good old Sealink!) turn in its own length in Dieppe harbour.

CHRIS LEIGH

[number6]

The ferries were pushed around on a windy day by this tug Meeching

[pete_mcfarlane]

The ferries were pushed around on a windy day by this tug Meeching

 

I like the way the BR logo is the wrong way round on the tug!

[Coombe Barton]

I like the way the BR logo is the wrong way round on the tug!

The comments about the pic says this was usual for Sealink.

[trisonic]

Wasn't it because the shipping lanes insist that ships pass on the right?

That's what I always assumed.......

 

Best, Pete.