Cuckoo Line

50°49′52″N 0°15′11″E / 50.831°N 0.253°E / 50.831; 0.253

Cuckoo Line
Overview
StatusDisused
OwnerLB&SCR;
Southern Railway
British Railways
LocaleEast Sussex and Kent.
Termini
Stations8
Service
TypeBranch Line
SystemNational Rail Network
ServicesEastbourne to Tonbridge
Depot(s)Eastbourne Depot;
Tunbridge Wells West
History
Opened1880
Closed1965-1968
Technical
Number of tracksSingle
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map

Wells Tunnel
Tunbridge Wells National Rail
Grove Hill Tunnel
Grove Junction
Grove Tunnel
Tunbridge Wells West Spa Valley Railway
High Rocks Spa Valley Railway
Groombridge Spa Valley Railway
Birchden Junction
Eridge National Rail Spa Valley Railway
Redgate Mill Junction
Rotherfield and Mark Cross
Argos Hill Tunnel
Mayfield Tunnel
Mayfield
Heathfield Tunnel (
265 yd
242 m
)
Heathfield
Horam
Hellingly
Hailsham
Polegate
(original station)

The Cuckoo Line[1][2] is an informal name for the now defunct railway service which linked Polegate and Eridge[3] in East Sussex, England, from 1880 to 1968. It was nicknamed the Cuckoo Line by drivers, from a tradition observed at the annual fair at Heathfield, a station on the route. At the fair, which was held each April, a lady would release a cuckoo from a basket, it being supposedly the 'first cuckoo of spring'.[4] The railway line served the following Sussex communities: Polegate, Hailsham, Hellingly, Horam for Waldron, Heathfield, Mayfield, Rotherfield and Eridge. Services continued through Eridge and onward via Groombridge to Tunbridge Wells.

The Hailsham-Eridge section closed in 1965, the Polegate-Hailsham branch surviving until 1968. Eridge-Tunbridge Wells closed in 1985, and this line has been resurrected as the Spa Valley Railway.

  1. ^ Baker, S.K. (1980). Rail Atlas of Britain (3rd ed.). Oxford Publishing Company. p. 12. ISBN 0-86093-106-4.
  2. ^ Conolly, W. Philip (1976) [1958]. British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer. Ian Allan Ltd. p. 5. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3.
  3. ^ "Cuckoo Line", GeoHack 50°50′13″N 0°27′36″E / 50.837°N 0.460°E / 50.837; 0.460[user-generated source?]
  4. ^ "The Cuckoo Line". Villagenet. 2000. Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 23 June 2007.