Burkitt Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Seeking to escape the wedding the other week, me and my dad went for a walk along the route of the former Cuckoo Line from Polegate as far as Hellingly, where we attempted to trace the route of the old hospital railway. The photos are either mine or his, posted with permission. The start of the Cuckoo Trail along the old trackbed in Polegate is marked by this sculpture. While most of the route of the railway survives, almost nothing remained of the structures along it - none of the signals and mileposts I've seen on other closed lines. While some of the original bridges have been preserved, others have been replaced since closure - some, intriguingly, rebuilt to double track width. At Hailsham, about three miles from Polegate, the path has been diverted around new development on the site of the railway. However, what appears to be the station master's house still exists close to where the station would have been. Other signs of the lost railway include the road name (Station Road), and two pubs - the Railway Tavern and the Terminus. A few miles further on Hellingly's station building remains completely intact, including its platform and canopy. It has been converted to a private house. At the north end of the station site a bridge carries the road over the old trackbed. In the former sidings there are the remains of a ground frame, rusting away. The hospital railway branched off the mainline at the south end of the station. Its first few hundred metres have disappeared into the fields, but its route through the village survives, still protected by its original iron fences. This part of the railway is inaccessible, and parts of it appear to be used as extra back garden by people living along the route. The fenced part of the railway ends where it crossed park road. From here on the trackbed makes its way across the edges of the massive housing project on the former hospital grounds. Entering the hospital site the route has been taken over as a trackway for road vehicles. On this stretch is the only remaining overhead line mast, which seems to have deteriorated further since the taking of the photo in Peter Harding's book on the line in 1988. The loco shed at the hospital survived until recently but has now been demolished. No other remnants of the railway still exist on the hospital site, which is at a rather strange moment of transformation. Several of the peripheral hospital buildings are still in use, some for outpatients and one as a secure residential unit. Parts of the central buildings and many of those that surrounded it stand derelict or part demolished, some surrounded by diggers when we visited and likely by now gone. Between the derelict buildings huge expanses of empty mud had been cleared. At the other end of the site, the first part of new housing estate was already complete and lived in. Its bland, off the shelf fake Victorian commuter houses made an odd contrast with the huge, grand, but sombre original buildings a few hundred metres away. Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted May 12, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 12, 2011 Deb and I did something similar - by car! - in 1976/7, but starting at the Rotherfield end. Sadly I'm not at all sure the pictures have survived. All the stations were still standing then, I think. A route I never quite managed to travel by train, more's the pity. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
burgundy Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Hellingly, as it was a few years ago. The Wealdsman Railtour was, I think, the last train on one part of the line, as it crossed with the regular diesel service at Hellingly. Sorry about the quality of the pictures, but that is what you got with a Brownie 127. Best wishes Eric Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brake Compo Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Thanks very much for this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanBG Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 The ruins of the hospital at the top are an extraordinary place. Alan BG (the dad in Paul's original post!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Parker Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Nice photos. I've visited the site 3 times and always managed to miss that overhead pole ! Bits of the shed do exist though - I was exhibiting my model of the line and someone presented me with some bits of bricks from it. These are now part of our essential exhibition kit Phil http://www.pagenumberone.co.uk/layouts/hospital/index.htm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted May 13, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 13, 2011 The ruins of the hospital at the top are an extraordinary place. Alan BG (the dad in Paul's original post!) Well done, Dad! Your son's contributions here are always positive - just like this one - and some of us are v grateful! Welcome! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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