Ashurst - June 2003

Platforms partially covered with grass underline this station's status as one of the quietest places on an under-used line.

However, during the spring and summer of 2003, rail enthusiasts recording the last months of the old class 205 and 207 units often made the station appear much busier than it really was.

Until its demolition in the early 1980s, there was a station building here that was similar in style to those at Cowden and Hever. It stood on the down platform just north of the footbridge from which this view was taken.

Two miles or so to the south of this station was the four-way Ashurst junction, with links to Three Bridges and Groombridge. The Ashurst Junction to East Grinstead route was closed in January 1967, and the short connection to Groombridge Junction followed in January 1969.

This latter stretch of track had allowed direct trains to run from Tunbridge Wells West to Victoria -- a service that would be useful today with current levels of overcrowding on the Tunbridge Wells - Charing Cross route. (Grid Ref. TQ 508 388)