Oxted line

Overview The Oxted line is a railway line in southern England. It links central London and the borough of Croydon with the towns of Oxted, East Grinstead, Edenbridge, Crowborough and Uckfield. The route passes through the counties of Greater London, Surrey, Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex. Four stations are in the London fare zones: South Croydon station is in Zone 5; , and are in Zone 6. The name "Oxted Line" was first used in 1989 by Network SouthEast, the then operator of the route. The Oxted line diverges from the Brighton Main Line at South Croydon Junction, immediately to the south of South Croydon station, and climbs along the eastern side of the Caterham valley, initially parallel to the Caterham line. At Hurst Green Junction, south of Hurst Green station, the line line splits into two, with an electrified branch running to and an unelectrified branch running to . Both routes previously continued south beyond their current termini to , but these lines were closed in the mid-20th century. Although the South Croydon–East Grinstead section is double track throughout, the Uckfield branch was mostly converted to single track south of in 1990. Three distinct services operate on the Oxted line: • –East Grinstead operated by Southern using Class 377 electric multiple units; • –Uckfield operated by Southern using Class 171 diesel multiple units; • Thameslink services to-and-from East Grinstead during weekday peak hours only, operated by Class 700 electric multiple units. With the exception of the Thameslink services, Oxted line trains do not call at South Croydon. North of , trains to London Victoria call only at , whereas those operated by Class 171 and 700 units run fast to London Bridge. In general, trains to-and-from Uckfield do not call at Sanderstead, Riddlesdown, Upper Warlingham and . South Croydon–East Grinstead unit crosses Cooks Pond Viaduct between and . The South Croydon–East Grinstead section of the Oxted line is in length and has 10 stations in total. South Croydon station has five platforms, of which only three are accessible for Oxted Line trains; Oxted station has three platforms, one of which is a south-facing bay; all other stations (Sanderstead, Riddlesdown, Upper Warlingham, Woldingham, Hurst Green, , and East Grinstead) have two platforms each. All stations are managed by Southern. This section of the line serves Lingfield Park Racecourse, around from Lingfield station, and interchange is available with the Bluebell Railway, a heritage railway, at East Grinstead. The South Croydon–East Grinstead section of the Oxted line is electrified using the 750 V DC third-rail system and is double track throughout. North of Upper Warlingham, the signalling is controlled by Three Bridges Area Signalling Centre, but the rest of the line is controlled from Oxted Signal Box. The maximum line speed is and trains typically reach East Croydon from East Grinstead in around 35–40 minutes. The maximum gradient on this section is 1 in 67, south of Dormans. and passenger services are operated using Class 171 diesel multiple units. This part of the Oxted line is unelectrified and signalling is controlled from Oxted Signal Box. North of Hever is double track, but to the south the line has been singled, although trains may pass at Ashurst and Crowborough stations. The maximum speed is and trains typically reach Hurst Green from Uckfield in around 40 minutes. The steepest gradient, 1 in 66, is at Burnt Oak Bridge, to the north of Buxted. There are three tunnels on the Hurst Green Junction–Uckfield section of the line. The double-track Edenbridge Tunnel (sometimes known as Little Browns Tunnel) is long and opens out in the middle to allow the Redhill–Tonbridge line to cross over on a bridge. The other two tunnels are the Mark Beech Tunnel (built for double track but containing only a single track) and the Crowborough Tunnel. ==History==

1860s opened as "Rotherfield" on 3 August 1868. The first part of the Oxted line to be completed was the section from Eridge to Uckfield. It was built to join the existing East Grinstead–Tunbridge Wells line at (opened on 1 October 1866) to the Uckfield–Lewes line (opened on 11 October 1858). It was proposed by the Brighton, Uckfield & Tunbridge Wells Railway and was supported by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), which owned the other two lines. The new link not only enabled trains from east Kent to reach , but was also intended to block a rival scheme from the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, which would have followed a similar route. The Brighton, Uckfield & Tunbridge Wells Railway was authorised by Parliament in 1861 and construction had begun by 1863. The LB&SCR purchased the line before completion and opened the section from Groombridge to Uckfield on 3 August 1868. The railway was initially built with a single track, although the bridges and Crowborough Tunnel were engineered to allow a second to be laid at a later date. The first passing loop was installed at Crowborough in 1879 and doubling from Eridge to Uckfield was completed in 1894. before work was halted by the LB&SCR in 1869 The LB&SCR also supported the Surrey and Sussex Junction Railway (SSJR), which proposed a line linking the Brighton Main Line at South Croydon to the East Grinstead–Tunbridge Wells line at Groombridge. The new line was authorised by the Surrey and Sussex Junction Railway Act on 6 July 1865. Work began the following year, but progress was slow due to the financial panic of 1866 caused by the failure of Overend, Gurney and Company. In 1869, there was a riot at Edenbridge in opposition to the Belgian navvies who were being employed in preference to local labourers. In 1869, the LB&SCR obtained an act of Parliament to allow it to acquire the partially built SSJR line. Construction ceased immediately and the company paid a fine of £32,250 (equivalent to £ million in ) to allow it to abandon the project. By the time the works were halted, the viaduct at Woldingham had been completed and substantial progress had been made on the tunnels at Riddlesdown, Oxted and Limpsfield. Nevertheless, the LB&SCR estimated that a further £1.5–£2 million (£–£ million in ) would be required to finish the line. 1870s and 1880s Under the '''''' (41 & 42 Vict. c. lxxii), the northern part of the SSJR scheme was resurrected. The act authorised the construction of a double track railway from South Croydon to East Grinstead. The line was to use the partially built track bed as far south as Limpsfield Tunnel, from where it would continue to meet the Lewes and East Grinstead Railway, authorised the previous August. The new line would be jointly owned and operated by the LB&SCR and South Eastern Railway (SER) between South Croydon and Crowhurst Junction, from where a spur would lead to the SER Redhill–Tonbridge line. The section south of Crowhurst Junction to East Grinstead would be solely owned by the LB&SCR. : The "high level" platforms on the Three Bridges–Tunbridge Wells line (lower left to top right) cross the "low level" platforms on the Oxted line (upper left to bottom centre). Work on the new line began in 1881. Under the terms of their ownership agreement, the SER was responsible for providing stations at Upper Warlingham and Oxted, while the LB&SCR built those at Lingfield and Dormans. At East Grinstead, two new "low level" platforms were constructed below and at right angles to the "high level" station on the Three Bridges–Tunbridge Wells line. The LB&SCR had hoped to open the South Croydon–East Grinstead line on 1 March 1884, but public services were delayed until 10 March for strengthening work on Riddlesdown Viaduct. The spur at Crowhurst was opened on 1 August, allowing the SER to run trains between Oxted and Tonbridge via . The first new station on the line was at Woldingham, which opened as "Marden Park" on 11 June 1885. The cost of building the station was part-funded by a local landowner. The final part of the Oxted line to be constructed was the Hurst Green Junction–Eridge section. It was proposed by the Oxted and Groombridge Railway (O&GR) company and was authorised by the ' (44 & 45 Vict. c. clxxxix). Three years later, under the ' (47 & 48 Vict. c. xcvii), the LB&SCR was authorised to acquire the O&GR. Points were laid at Hurst Green Junction on 14 November 1887 and the new line opened on 2 January the following year. As part of the works, a single track link, known as the Withyham Spur, was constructed to allow trains from Oxted to access Uckfield without a reversal at Groombridge. The link was primarily used for light locomotive and empty stock moves, and was not regularly used by passenger services until the First World War. Two railways connecting to the Oxted line were completed in the 1880s. The first was the Eridge– line, commonly called the Cuckoo Line, which was opened in stages between 1849 and 1880. The second was the Woodside and South Croydon Joint Railway, opened on 2 January 1888. Built by the LB&SCR and SER, it ran from the Mid-Kent line at to a junction with the Oxted line at , a four-platform station serving both lines. Late 19th and early 20th centuries The arrival of the railway stimulated development in the Lingfield area of south-east Surrey in the late 19th century. Development at Dormans Park began in 1887 and, by 1891, a hotel and around 40 high-class "bungalow residences" had been built, set in grounds that included cricket and polo fields, a golf course and a fishing lake. Lingfield Park Racecourse, around from Lingfield station, opened in November 1890 and four years later, in May 1894, the station was enlarged with an additional bay platform for the use of racegoers. The first to be shut was the Eridge– section of the Cuckoo Line on 14 June 1965, followed by the Three Bridges–Ashurst Junction line on 2 January 1967. Following local campaigns, the other routes were given a reprieve, with the exception of the Uckfield–Lewes line, which closed in May 1969. The withdrawal of passenger services on the line between Eridge and Tunbridge Wells was announced in September 1982, although trains continued to operate until 6 July 1985. Since December 1996, part of the track bed has been used for the Spa Valley Railway. Although the Hurst Green Junction–Uckfield section of the Oxted line was not threatened with closure again, Sunday services were withdrawn in June 1981. From 1982, the railways in Surrey, Kent and Sussex came under the control of the London and South East sector of BR, which was rebranded to Network SouthEast in June 1986. As part of an initiative to provide passenger routes with individual identities, Nework SouthEast introduced the name "Oxted Line" in 1989. "2-EPB" electric multiple units at Sanderstead station in May 1983 In the early 1980s, BR reached agreement with the railway trade unions to remove asbestos from the Class 205 and Class 207 diesel multiple units that worked passenger services on the Oxted line. The cost of refurbishing the trains was estimated at £4 million (equivalent to £ million in ) and BR instead decided to electrify the South Croydon–East Grinstead section, at a cost of £7 million (£ million in ), and to dispose of most of the contaminated units. and the new timetable included an all-day, half-hourly service between London and East Grinstead for the first time. The new electric services proved popular with the public, and passenger numbers increased by around 12% in the first year of operation. in April 1990: The new colour-light signal (left) has been installed on the track bed of the former northbound line. In contrast, the Hurst Green Junction–Uckfield section was not electrified. After the East Grinstead electrification scheme had been completed, most trains from Uckfield terminated at Oxted and only four per day continued to London. Much of the branch south of Hever was converted to single track in 1990, although the associated resignalling reduced journey times by around five minutes. A Sunday service was reintroduced in May of that year, with an all-stations shuttle between Oxted and Crowborough every two hours. In the same month, the original Uckfield station was closed and its single-platform replacement, on the east side of the High Street, was opened. On 1 April 1994, the Oxted line came under the Network South Central shadow franchise in preparation for privatisation. Privatisation (1996–present) Connex was awarded a seven-year franchise to operate passenger trains on the Oxted Line as Connex South Central, starting on 12 April 1996. Following concerns over the company's management and performance, the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority decided to re-tender the franchise in 2000. In October that year, the competition was won by Govia, which took over the running of trains in August 2001, having bought out the final two years of Connex's contract for £30 million (equivalent to £M in ). Govia's ten-year franchise formally began in May 2003, when it introduced the "Southern" brand name. The agreement required the company to introduce an hourly service service between London Bridge and Uckfield by mid-2004, to retire the final slam-door trains and to invest £853 million (£ billion in ) in new rolling stock. Class 171 units were introduced to Uckfield services in December 2003, allowing the Class 207 and Class 205 units to be withdrawn by the end of 2004. station at on 27 March 2013, with a Class 377 stabled on the National Rail tracks behind In the early 2010s, interchanges between the Oxted line and two heritage railways were created. In March 2011, the Spa Valley Railway was extended from Groombridge to the disused island platform at Eridge. A year later, in March 2012, the Bluebell Railway opened its extension to a new station at East Grinstead. Improvement works at other stations in the same decade included the lengthening of platforms between Edenbridge Town and Uckfield in preparation for the introduction of 10-coach trains. Peak-hour Thameslink services, operated by 12-coach Class 700 units, began running to-and-from East Grinstead in May 2018. Station improvements in the 2020s have included the installation of new footbridges at Eridge in 2020, East Grinstead in 2022 and Crowborough in 2023. A two-year project to repair and refurbish Oxted Viaduct was completed in July 2022. ==Passenger rolling stock==

The first steam locomotives known to have worked on the Oxted line, 2-2-2 tender engines built by Cravens, were in use in the late 1880s. A D2 class is known to have hauled freight trains in 1888 and G class locomotives, designed by William Stroudley, worked passenger services from the mid-1890s to 1909. In the first decade of the 20th century, I1 class tank engines, particularly suited to the steep gradients on the line, were introduced. Some members of the I1 class were rebuilt into the I1x class in the late 1920s and worked on the Oxted line until the start of the Second World War. Trains run by the South Eastern Railway via the Crowhurst Spur, were typically hauled by E1 class 2-4-0 and F class 4-4-0 locomotives, as well as Q class tank engines. After the formation of the Southern Railway in 1923, passenger services were hauled by B1, D, E and E1 class locomotives. Autotrains were introduced to local stopping services in the late 1910s. These push-pull trains consisted of a tank engine coupled to a balloon trailer, a type of passenger carriage. The train would be driven from the locomotive in one direction and, in the other, from a driving position at the front of the carriage. Initially the autotrains were worked by D1 class locomotives, but these tank engines were replaced by D3, H and M7 class locomotives after the Second World War. tank engine near in 1960 From the mid-1940s onwards, express services were worked by K class, N class and Merchant Navy class tender engines. In the early 1950s, Fairburn 2-6-4T tank engines were introduced to the Oxted line, but were criticised by railway staff for being underpowered for the steep gradients. They were replaced in 1958 by Standard Class 3 and 4 tank engines. unit at in 1975 diesel multiple units began working on the Oxted line on 18 June 1962, initially operating the busiest passenger services during peak hours. Steam-hauled passenger trains were withdrawn on 6 January 1964, but there were too few Class 207s to run the full timetable and so Class 33 locomotives were used to haul trains until 1983. s took over the vast majority of services on the electrified part of the Oxted line in December 2004, and the final service operated by a Class 423 unit ran on 27 September 2005. In May 2018, units began operating Thameslink services to-and-from East Grinstead at peak times. ==Freight services==

locomotive at Selsdon Oil Depot in 1980 Goods trains began running on the Oxted line when the South Croydon–East Grinstead section opened in 1884. Facilities for handling freight were provided at Upper Warlingham (then Warlingham), Oxted and Lingfield, and trains could access the lower and upper yards at East Grinstead from the outset. Additional sidings were provided in the 1890s at Woldingham, Lingfield and Oxted, where a goods shed was built in 1902–03. Tanker train deliveries to the Anglo-American Oil Company depot at Selsdon took place between 1894 and 1993. The Oxted Greystone Lime Company was founded shortly before the opening of the South Croydon–East Grinstead section in 1884. From 1886, a standard-gauge, single-track branch ran from the Oxted line to three sidings at the base of the quarry, where lime could be transferred from the internal system. Shipments via the railway ended around the start of the Second World War, but the standard-gauge branch was maintained until the rails were lifted in 1969. The majority of the narrow-gauge system was closed in 1953, but a length of around was retained until the 1970s to feed the lime kilns. at Oxted station in 2004 The Oxted Gas Works, opened in 1885 and closed in June 1933, were served by sidings from the Oxted line. By 1920, the works were consuming around of coal every year, all delivered by rail. The sidings were lifted in May 1986, as part of the Sanderstead–East Grinstead electrification works. Crowhurst brickworks (also known as Lingfield brickworks) opened with the Oxted line in 1884. Coal was delivered to a purpose-built siding until the 1950s, when the brick kilns were converted to use gas. In the 1960s, some of the claypits were used for landfill, and domestic waste was delivered to the site by rail. The brickworks closed in 1980. A banana ripening shed opened at Lingfield in 1958 and fruit was delivered by rail in refrigerated vans until 1971. The sidings serving the ripening facility were removed in the mid-1970s. The withdrawal of station freight facilities began in the mid-1950s, with the yard at Hever closing in 1955. The goods yard at Woldingham shut on 4 May 1959 and those at the south end of Mark Beech Tunnel, at Cowden and at Ashurst closed the following year. Also in 1960, rail deliveries to a factory between Selsdon and Sanderstead ceased, although the points to the sidings were not removed until 1969. Freight facilities were withdrawn at East Grinstead in 1967 and at Crowborough in 1968. ==Proposals==

diesel multiple unit at the buffer stop at the current Uckfield station, opened on 13 May 1991 Electrification of the Hurst Green Junction–Uckfield section of the Oxted line, currently operated by Class 171 diesel multiple units, was identified as a priority by Network Rail in 2022. The "East Sussex Rail Strategy and Action Plan", published in November 2013, favoured electrification as well as redoubling the single-line sections. It suggested that these infrastructure improvements would reduce journey times and allow a more efficient use of rolling stock, which could lead to an increase in service frequencies. The Surrey Rail Strategy, published in March 2021 under the title "A new rail strategy for Surrey", was also supportive of electrification, noting that it would increase capacity and reduce carbon emissions. An independent report, authored by Chris Gibb and published in March 2017, estimated that electrification of the line between Hurst Green Junction and Uckfield would cost £75–95 million (equivalent to £–£ million in ), and indicated that the existing infrastructure could support a half-hourly service without the need for redoubling. In March 2024, Govia Thameslink Railway suggested that battery-powered trains could be suitable for the route. There have been several proposals to reopen the Uckfield–Lewes line, including as part of a longer-distance high-speed route dubbed "Brighton Main Line 2", intended to relieve the direct rail route between London and Sussex via . Although the track bed has been protected from development since May 1980, the rail infrastructure operators and the British government have repeatedly refused to authorise the schemes. The report published by Chris Gibb in March 2017 indicated that there would be no business case for rebuilding the Uckfield–Lewes line unless there was strong housing growth in the area. Furthermore, Gibb suggested that works to increase the capacity of the Brighton Main Line should be prioritised ahead of the construction of a new high-speed link. ==Accidents and incidents==

• 1 August 1882: Two trains, one transporting navvies and the other carrying ballast, collided in Riddlesdown Tunnel while the line was still being constructed. Ten workers were seriously injured. • 3 January 1909: A locomotive collided with a broken-down passenger train, which it had been sent to assist, between Crowborough and Buxted. Eight people were injured. • 5 April 1916: A passenger train derailed between Crowborough and Buxted. Seven people were injured, including the driver and fireman. • 7 December 1948: A driver was injured in Mark Beech Tunnel when part of his locomotive's boiler failed. • 21 April 1988: A track maintenance worker was killed and a second was injured when they were hit by a train in a tunnel near Crowborough. • 15 October 1994, Cowden rail crash: Two trains collided on the single-line section south of Cowden station after one passed a red signal. Five people were killed, including the drivers of both trains and a guard. • 13 February 2020: A landslip near Lingfield closed the Oxted line between Hurst Green and East Grinstead for six weeks. Passenger services resumed on 30 March 2020. ==Notes==