Barcombe Mills - August 1976Barcombe Mills - August 1976After the closure of the line, the main station buildings (on the left) lay abandoned for some years before becoming a restaurant during the 1980s.
Despite the weeds and the disappearance of the signalbox in this view, the otherwise intact facilities still gave the impression that the rails might soon return and reconnect Crowborough and Uckfield with Lewes, Brighton and Eastbourne...
Indeed, not long after this photo was taken, the station became the highly appropriate venue for the first meeting of LURA, the Lewes Uckfield Railway Association, a forerunner of the Wealden Line Campaign. At the meeting, a representative from BR warned against excessive optimism as it might cost "as much as £1m" to reopen the line...
Sadly this cut-price opportunity too was missed, and over 30 years after closure, local people are still waiting for a rail revival.