Cooksbridge railway station explained

Cooksbridge
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:Cooksbridge, Lewes District, East Sussex
Country:England
Coordinates:50.904°N -0.009°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:Southern
Platforms:2
Code:CBR
Classification:DfT category F2
Original:London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Pregroup:London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Postgroup:Southern Railway
Years:1 October 1847
Events:Opened as Cook's Bridge
Years1:May 1885
Events1:Renamed Cooksbridge
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Cooksbridge railway station serves the village of Cooksbridge in East Sussex, England. It is on the East Coastway Line, 47chain31chain from via . Train services are provided by Southern.

The station is unstaffed. A PERTIS ticket machine was installed in 2008 on both the London-bound and the Lewes-bound platform.

History

Cooksbridge lies on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway "cut-off" line between Keymer Junction, near Wivelsfield on the Brighton Main Line, and Lewes. The erstwhile Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway were authorised to build the line in 1845; the LBSCR purchased it and opened the link on 1 October 1847.[1] The station opened as Cook's Bridge[2] on the same date.[3] The first station master was Richard Strevett who stayed until promoted to Hailsham on 17 August 1861. This replacement (George Bennett) lasted only a few weeks, arriving on 16 August 1861 and returning to his old job (porter at Brighton) on 6 September 1861. His replacement, Alfred Paver, was appointed on 13 September 1861.[4]

The initial services were very sparse. The May 1848 timetable shows Up Trains to London at 8.30am and 5.50pm and a London arrivals at 9am. (Afternoon passengers were directed to travel via Lewes on the 5.50pm train).[5]

During May 2020, Platform 1 was extended to accommodate 8 coach trains, as opposed to a previous 6.[6]

Services

All services at Cooksbridge are operated by Southern using EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

On Sundays, the service is still hourly, but with Eastbourne trains continuing to Ore via Hastings

Prior to December 2019, the station was served by a limited weekday service only with no weekend services. In December 2019, a regular hourly service was introduced on weekdays and Saturdays, followed by an hourly Sunday service in May 2020.[7]

References

  1. Official notice published in News: The Sussex Advertiser . 28 September 1847 .
  2. Book: Butt, R.V.J. . The Directory of Railway Stations . 1995 . Patrick Stephens Ltd . Yeovil . 1-85260-508-1 . R508 . 68 .
  3. Book: Dendy Marshall . C.F. . Kidner . R.W. . History of the Southern Railway . 2nd . 1963 . 1937 . . Shepperton . 0-7110-0059-X . 515 .
  4. The employment records of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway held in the National Archives.
  5. News: The Sussex Advertiser . 30 May 1848 .
  6. Web site: Cooksbridge Station Sees Improvements. 2020-05-09. Rail Record. en-GB. 2020-05-09.
  7. Web site: Network Rail improvement works at Cooksbridge – May 2020. www.hamsey.net. 2020-05-09.