Lingfield Station
Subsequently a junction was created south of Hurst Green (then a simple railway halt taking a maximum of two carriages),
and a line was constructed from the Hurst Green junction south through Edenbridge (called Edenbridge Town from 1 May 1896), Hever, Cowden and Ashurst
to join with the existing line from East Grinstead through Withyham to Tunbridge Wells. This line opened to passengers on 1 October 1888
and is covered in the Uckfield line collection.
Separate collections cover (a) Oxted Station and Oxted Viaduct;
(b) Hurst Green Station, Hurst Green Halt (Closed),
Hurst Green Junction and Limpsfield Tunnel;
(c) Crowhurst Junction and Crowhurst Brick and Tile Works sidings (both closed);
(d) Lingfield Station;
(e) Dormans Station and Cooks Pond Viaduct; and
(f) East Grinstead Station and St Margarets Junction.
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1310 arrives at Lingfield with the 16:09 service from Victoria on Saturday 7 February 1970, passing the large number of sidings then provided. In the foreground the goods dock is looking a little overgrown, and to the left vans provided for the banana traffic await their next duty. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
A little further north, the low sun catches the 17:34 from London Bridge as it passes under the Lingfield Down Home signal on Wednesday 3 September 1969. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
Lingfield station building pictured on 16 November 1968. The photorgapher was standing at the southern end of the Up sidings, with the goods yard behind the camera. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
Lingfield Station forecourt on Thursday 05.05.1983. There is a white explanatory notice telling passengers how to enter the station when the booking hall is closed, and instructs them to obtain a ticket on the train. Like most stations in the area, a Royal Mail post box has been let into the wall. A red telephone box allows commuters to call home. Nick Bailey retains all rights to this image.
Lingfield Station forecourt a few weeks later, on Thursday 26.05.1983. A train has just discharged passengers and there is a queue for the telephone box. How did society function without mobile phones? Nick Bailey retains all rights to this image.
Lingfield Station forecourt, looking east in 2008. The station is of the same basic design as Dormans Station, but a mirror image, with the station house on the left. The station opened in 1884. The building is in "Southern" colours, a ticket machine has appeared, and there is a more modern telephone box. 11.05.2008
Moving the camera slightly to the left, this view shows the station house and part of the car park. A 1912 map shows a double sided goods dock, with one track adjacent to the northern end of the current northbound platform, with the buffers at the northern end of the current bike sheds. A longer siding extended the length of the car park (roughly along the line of the current hedge on the left of the picture). 11.05.2008
Looking north towards Lingfield Station car park. This facility might seem to be a generous size, but it actually occupies the site of several sidings in the goods yard, which were also used for the many special trains which in former years served the adjacent Lingfield Race Course. 11.05.2008
A view from the footbridge at Lingfield Station looking south. The southbound platform on the left became an island platform in 1894 to allow additional trains to serve Lingfield Race Course, which was opened in 1890. The station has subsequently reverted to a simple two track layout but, unlike other stations in the area, has retained it's traditional canopy on the northbound platform. If you are waiting for a southbound train you have to make do with a bus shelter. 11.05.2008
The same shot of the northbound platform at Lingfield Station almost exactly two years later, on Wednesday 18.06.1986. The photographer has caught the station in transition, with supports for the new conductor rail in position, but the rail not yet laid. The end is nigh for the diesel service and the signal box. Two of the lamp standards are in Network South East red, but the NSE painters have yet to attack the rest of the station. Nick Bailey retains all rights to this image.
Looking north from the southbound platform towards the northbound platform on 11.05.2008. The station is in "Southern" colours and the toilets have closed (there's a surprise).
A closer view of the northbound station buildings. 11.05.2008
The reverse of the previous picture, looking south at the main station buildings on the northbound platform. 11.05.2008
Lingfield Station used to have two footbridges to cater for the heavy passenger traffic going to the race course, but only one remains. This view looks south under the bridge, with the station painted in "Southern" colours. The station was generally in very good condition but a bush seemed to be flourishing on the top left of the footbridge! 11.05.2008
This old low resolution view north from the northbound platform in 1998 shows a rather dilapidated Whistle sign on the site of the former signal box. A line ran behind the signal box into a goods dock at the northern end of the northbound platform. 27.09.1998
Lingfield Signal Box pictured on Sunday 10 November 1968. The box stood at the northern end of the northbound platform. The goods dock with grassed top can be seen behind the box. Someone is on the track to the right; high visibility clothing did not feature heavily in those years. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
Inside the signal box on 9 March 1970 with the old Harper's block instrument on the left and the new standard 3-position one next to it. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
Lingfield Signal Box Diagram pictured in October 1968. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
Taken from the signal box steps, 1117 is seen on the 11:31 from East Grinstead on Saturday 5 October 1968. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
Lingfield signal box and the northbound Starting signal pictured on Wednesday 18.06.1986. Nick Bailey retains all rights to this image.
Looking from the northern end of the northbound platform, this low resolution picture from 1998 catches the station in a very acceptable green, with yellow Connex signs. The good standard of decoration was in stark contrast to many of the stations in the area in those years. Most remained in dilapidated Network South East colours and were, at best, untidy. The southbound canopy has long gone and the inadequate open shelter on the platform has since been replaced with something slightly larger. 27.09.1998
Another view taken in 2008 looking south under the footbridge from the northern end of Lingfield Station. Dock sidings were formerly behind the fence on the right, and two tracks ran alongside the left hand side of the southbound platform, one of which was a siding. The fence on the left now blocks the disused platform edge. 11.05.2008
Looking north from the footbridge at Lingfield Station. A signal box once stood on the left, at the end of the northbound platform. 11.05.2008
Looking north from Lingfield Station footbridge with a longer lens. A housing estate can be seen on the west side of the line and occupies the site of huge banana ripening sheds that received regular railway goods traffic from Avonmouth Docks until 1 October 1971. 11.05.2008
This excellent view from Eric Kemp looks south across the yard on Sunday 22 March 1970 with engineering department wagons in the down siding. The goods shed was still in place but had only been used as a store for "unwanted material" for several years. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
The Lingfield North Ground Frame diagram, dated 1952, showing that there were then Starting signals on the dock platforms and facing point locks for starting race trains. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
Looking north from the northern end of Lingfield Station with a long lens. A siding originally ran north on the right hand (east) side of the existing two tracks, extending for some distance beyond the station. A further track ran on the left (west) side of the existing tracks giving access to the Up sidings and banana ripening sheds respectively. Park Farm pedestrian crossing is in the distance. 11.05.2008
An older picture, but this is the reverse of the previous image, being a general view of Lingfield from Park Farm crossing on 20 April 1969. There is a loading gauge in the centre of the picture, the points in the goods yard are hand operated, and there is a glimpse of a line of vans for the banana traffic on the right. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
D6559 (recently repainted into blue) and Stewarts Lane crane DS81, in attendance at Lingfield due to a wagon derailment at Crowhurst brick sidings on 24 September 1969. The locomotive did not make it into preservation. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
Looking north from the down siding on Sunday 29 March 1970. The wagons on the left are in the down engineers siding (formerly the down loop line). The down loop line had by then been disconnected at the northern end, with access from the south, although the points were normally clipped and padlocked out of use except for works trains or emergency use. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
6572 on a goods working to Norwood on Saturday 5 April 1969. It departed at 09:09 with 15 empty Banana vans. It was not preserved, but D6570 and D6571 were saved. The former is now at the Bluebell Railway. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
A view north from the southern end of Lingfield Station. A footbridge previously stood at this end of the station to provide additional access to the race course for railway passengers, but it was removed as the importance of the railway's race course traffic declined. 11.05.2008
Looking north along the southbound platform. A fence now blocks the right hand platform edge, but in previous years there was another southbound through platform here (the down loop) plus a siding to the right (east) side. On race days engines could use this loop to run round trains in the platform, or the whole stock could be pushed back into a long siding that extended north from the station on the eastern side. The trees in the picture now hide the former track bed. 11.05.2008
Someone had clearly decided to bolster profits from the on-train catering, as not one but two six-car Buffet units, 1036 and 1033, arrive at Lingfield with the 12:02 Race Special from Victoria on Saturday 17 May 1969. The lines to the east of the platform were still in situ on the right. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
Slightly further south this view looks north towards the main station building, with a sign denoting the race course entrance on the left. 11.05.2008
An old low resolution picture from 1998 looks north along the northbound platform from the southern end of the station. Note the older colour scheme. 27.09.1998
Lingfield station on Saturday 5 October 1968. Eric Kemp is standing under the covered way that led from the Up platform towards the racecourse (behind the camera) and looking towards the stairs of the Race Day footbridge which then stood at the southern end of the station. This footbridge was subsequently removed for use by the Bluebell Railway at Sheffield Park station. Note the sign indicating the then diverse southbound service which served East Grinstead, Tunbridge Wells and Brighton. So much has been lost. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
The covered way to the race course is on the right as D6571 passes through on 14 July with the 20:35 from East Grinstead. The train consists of parcels vans carrying flower traffic. D6571 is now preserved at the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway. Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.
Looking south from the end of the southbound platform. There is an exit to the race course from the end of the platform, and a separate foot crossing is situated just beyond the end of the platform. 11.05.2008
A 1998 shot showing one of the access points to the race course and the authorised foot crossing at the southern end of Lingfield Station. 27.09.1998
