Robertsbridge railway station

Robertsbridge
The station in 2007
General information
Location	Robertsbridge, Rother England
Grid reference	TQ733235
Managed by	Southeastern
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	RBR
Classification	DfT category E
Key dates
1 September 1851	Opened
Passengers
2018/19	0.321 million
2019/20	0.302 million
2020/21	75,452
2021/22	0.214 million
2022/23	0.226 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Robertsbridge railway station is on the Hastings line in the south of England and serves the village of Robertsbridge, East Sussex. It is 49 miles 47 chains (79.8 km) down the line from London Charing Cross. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Southeastern.

History

Robertsbridge was temporarily the terminus of the South Eastern Railway's (SER) "Hastings Line" from Tunbridge Wells. This section was opened on 1 September 1851, with the 5.99 mile (9.64 km)^[1] stretch to Battle following four months later. A connection was then made with the existing route to Hastings on 1 February 1852;^[2] the line connecting St Leonards (West Marina) with Hastings having been opened by the SER on 13 February 1851, and which initially gave the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway access to the latter town.^[3] A large station building was provided on the Down side, along with a signal box at the south end of the Down platform.

Robertsbridge became a junction in 1900 with the opening of the Rother Valley Light Railway to Tenterden. The line was extended to Headcorn in 1905, and was renamed the Kent and East Sussex Railway. In 1954 all regular passenger services were withdrawn and the line beyond Tenterden Town was completely closed. The line to Tenterden continued to be used by freight services and occasional special passenger trains (e.g. hop pickers trains) until closed by British Railways on 12 June 1961. About half a mile length of line remained in use as a siding to serve Hodsons Mill on the outskirts of Robertsbridge until 1970.The bay platform, on the Down (eastern) side of the station, is still in place and used for engineers trains. A railway preservation society, the Rother Valley Railway, have built a new separate station named Robertsbridge Junction on the east side of the car park, and have rebuilt the line from here to Northbridge Street. The first train on this rebuilt section ran in September 2013. They have plans to rebuild the rest of the route eastwards to join up with the Kent and East Sussex Railway and restore services along the line. (Steam trains already run on another section of the line, between Tenterden Town and Bodiam, 3½ miles from Robertsbridge.)

Services

All services at Robertsbridge are operated by Southeastern using Class 375 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[4]

• 1 tph to London Charing Cross
• 1 tph to Hastings

Additional services, including trains to and from and London Cannon Street and Ore call at the station in the peak hours.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Etchingham		Southeastern Hastings Line		Battle
	Disused railways
Salehurst Halt		British Rail Southern Region Kent and East Sussex Railway		Terminus
Etchingham		Southern Railway Hastings Line		Mountfield Halt

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robertsbridge railway station.

• Train times and station information for Robertsbridge railway station from National Rail

50°59′06″N 0°28′08″E / 50.985°N 0.469°E / 50.985; 0.469

This page was last edited on 5 April 2024, at 22:54