Hartington Road Halt opened on 1 January 1906 with access from both Hartington Road itself and Upper Wellington Road (a
cul-de-sac in the
Elm Grove district) by means of
cinder paths. The opening of the
halt coincided with the
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's (LB&SCR) use of single-class (Third Class only) petrol
railmotor vehicles on the branch line, in place of conventional trains which carried First, Second and Third Class accommodation. Reports in various newspapers in December 1905 recorded the halt as having already been built. It was further stated that all trains on the branch line (29 per day, with three fewer on Sundays) would stop there and that tickets had to be bought from the conductor of the railmotor. Both the introduction of railmotors and the opening of the halt were an attempt to counter competition from trams:
Brighton Corporation Tramways had operated a popular route along the nearby
Lewes Road since November 1901. Hartington Road Halt was opened specifically to serve
the adjacent cemeteries as well as residents of Hartington Road and neighbouring streets. beyond the latter it was a further three minutes to and eight to . The single platform was on the west (Up) side of the line immediately south of the bridge over Hartington Road. It was long, wide and above the ground and had a gas lamp and a
name-board, but no shelter. A short distance to the south, after passing through a cutting, the line entered Kemp Town Tunnel. where the branch left the
Brighton–Lewes line. The day after the halt opened, it was discovered that it had accidentally been opened illegally without authorisation from the
Board of Trade, which at the time had to be informed of all railway station and halt openings so that they could be inspected. The Board only found out when a copy of the December 1905 newspaper article from
The Times was sent to them along with a copy of the new railmotor timetable. On 2 January 1906 the Board wrote to the LB&SCR demanding an explanation as to why they had not been told about the new halt and had not been asked to inspect it. The LB&SCR's company secretary sent a "somewhat embarrassing" reply The branch line itself closed to passengers on 1 January 1933;
Brighton Borough Council bought the line and its infrastructure and demolished it: Hartington Road Halt had already been cleared soon after it closed, but the adjacent bridge was demolished in December 1973. Flats were built there, and the site of Hartington Road Halt is now crossed by a footpath between the flats and
William Clarke Park, which was built in the cutting between the road and Kemp Town Tunnel. == Notes ==