Uckfield Model Railway Club

THE FICTION

When the Ouse Valley Line was proposed as a link from the London to Brighton line, across country to Uckfield, one of the local landowners (Sir William Franks) who resided at Buckham Hill House would allow the railway through his land only on the condition that the Railway Company built a station and a siding to accommodate his commercial interests in the local brewery and his farm produce. His good friend, Lord Stephens of Cuckmere Haven owned the Isfield Paper Mill and he foresaw the enormous advantages that a railway could offer for the carriage of heavy loads of paper.

So the Railway Company gave in and what we see today is the result of steady development of the railway in conjunction with increased production and expansion of the brewery aided by the success of the mill.

THE FACTS

The Ouse Valley Line was proposed to run from north of Haywards Heath eastwards to Uckfield and eventually to Hastings. It would have passed through Buckham Hill just west of Uckfield. Some groundwork was completed and it is still visible west of the Uckfield bypass but the project was abandoned before any track was laid.

There was a paper mill at Isfield (not the feed mill that still stands as a private house) but records show that it closed about 15 September 1857 (see the article in The Sussex Advertiser of that date). The mill was sold by auction on 28 September 1857 along with 10 cottages etc. There is now no trace of any of the buildings. In reality, the mill, had it not closed, would probably have used Isfield station when the railway arrived in 1858. There were breweries in Uckfield and, of course, Harveys is still in Lewes. With so many local breweries, we felt we just had to have one.

THE MODEL

With typical modellers’ licence the track plan is far more extensive than we believe would have happened had our fiction been real life but it does allow interesting train movements for public entertainment. The initial phase was as a terminus but the track plan has now developed into a through station. We have had to dig the tunnel through the hill towards Uckfield although, for the moment, we do not have any plans to build as far as the town. But, with railway modellers, you never know.....

More Pictures

Ex S.E. & C.R. P Class 1178	The Romany encampment
Construction traffic from the tunnel	Shunting the small yard
The Signal Box	At the platform
The main Brewery building	The Brewery stable block

(Click here to download larger images of the pictures)