Eridge railway station
Eridge railway station is on the Uckfield branch of the Oxted line in southern England and serves a rural district around Eridge in East Sussex. It is 35 miles 53 chains (57.39 km) from London Bridge. The station is managed by Southern. There are currently major improvement works replacing the wooden staircase with modern ones and improving access for the disabled.
Eridge  | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Place | Eridge |
| Local authority | Wealden |
| Grid reference | TQ542345 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | ERI |
| Managed by | Southern |
| Number of platforms | 3 |
| DfT category | E |
| Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2014/15 |  |
| 2015/16 | |
| 2016/17 | |
| 2017/18 |  |
| 2018/19 | |
| History | |
| Key dates | Opened 3 August 1868 |
| Pre-grouping | London, Brighton and South Coast Railway |
| Post-grouping | Southern Railway Southern Region of British Railways Network SouthEast |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Eridge from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
Train services from the station are provided by Southern. Also, heritage services connecting to Groombridge, High Rocks and Tunbridge Wells West are run by the Spa Valley Railway. There are good opportunities for walks from the station into the High Weald. The station has a small car park and there is a pub next to the station called the Huntsman.
Services
National Rail services at Eridge are operated by Southern using Class 171 DMUs. The current off-peak service in trains per hour is:[1]
- 1 tph to London Bridge via Oxted
- 1 tph to Uckfield
Services increase to 2 tph in each direction during the peak hours.
On Sundays, the northbound service runs as far as Oxted only.
Spa Valley Railway services operate between Eridge and Tunbridge Wells West on selected days to connect to Oxted Line services.[2]
| Preceding station | |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Oxted Line Uckfield Branch | ||||
 |
||||
| Groombridge | Spa Valley Railway | Terminus | ||
History
At the time the station was opened, the village of Eridge Green was owned by the nearby Eridge Park, seat of the Earls of Abergavenny.
The station used to be a junction for services running towards Tonbridge via Tunbridge Wells West (closed 1985), to Eastbourne (via Heathfield and Hailsham) Cuckoo Line closed 1965 and to East Grinstead (closed 1967).
When the Uckfield line was singled in January 1990 all trains used the former up line and only the former up island platform was used by British Rail. The former down island platform was then abandoned but was restored by the Spa Valley Railway, a preserved railway company, who reopened the railway between Eridge and Tunbridge Wells West on 25 March 2011, with trains using the former down line for about 1 mile (1.6 km) north to Birchden Junction where the parallel single lines diverge.
There is a campaign, by the Wealden Line to attempt to re-open the railway between Uckfield and Lewes as a part of the National Rail network.
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rotherfield & Mark Cross | British Rail Southern Region Cuckoo Line |
Groombridge |
References
- "Timetable 29: Uckfield and East Grinstead to London" (PDF). Southern, December 2019.
- Spa Valley Railway