Wealden Linkline

Official sites

Airdrie - Bathgate Rail Link - Network Rail site following this Scottish rail revival that provides a tantalising glimpse of what a Lewes - Uckfield rail scheme might be like

Commission for Integrated Transport - official government think-tank chaired by Professor David Begg

Crowborough Town Council - basic information and contact details

Department for Transport - latest incarnation of the government department with responsibility for transport policy

East Sussex County Council - outlines their transport policy aims in general terms. Also contains contact information

East Sussex Rural Transport Partnership - grouping designed to improve transport facilities for the county's rural residents -- though we believe its 'rural railway' approach to the Uckfield line is inappropriate

East West Rail - project to revive the mainly closed Oxford to Cambridge route, promoted by the East West Rail Consortium, which comprises local authorities and businesses. An interesting contrast with the Lewes - Uckfield project.

Lewes District Council - information about the council's functions along with a collection of local links

National Rail - useful starting point for planning rail journeys -- has links to individual train operating companies with maps showing their operating areas

Network Rail - Railtrack's successor

Office of the Rail Regulator - includes information about the Rail Passengers Committees, which exist to represent the interests of rail users

NEW Rail Alliance - "The new Rail Alliance business network has been launched with the specific charter of helping the industry make the most of a billion pound pool of opportunities over the next decade"

Rail Passengers' Council and Committees - the SRA sponsored rail watchdog

South East England Development Agency - government agency designed to promote development of the region's economy

South East England Regional Assembly - forum for examining regional policy that includes representation from local authorities

South East Forum for Sustainability - umbrella group bringing together conservation and transport organisations across the region

Southern Railway - new name for South Central, the train operating company for the Uckfield line

Stirling Alloa Kincardine - progress reports on another Scottish reopening scheme, from the Transport Scotland website.

Uckfield Town Council - basic information and contact details

Waverley Rail Project - detailed background and progress reports on yet another Scottish reopening scheme, this time to restore the northern end of the Edinburgh - Carlisle route, which closed in 1969

National campaign sites

Campaign for Better Transport - calling for better public transport nationwide, with a useful section on rail schemes

Friends of the Earth - covers a wide variety of environmental topics including transport

Save Our Railways - an independent "resource centre" run by unpaid volunteers to help you find the hundreds of railway sites available on the web today

Sussex campaign sites

Charles Hendry - Conservative MP for Wealden. A powerful advocate for the Wealden Line

Lewes Green Party - long-term supporters of the Wealden Line Campaign on environmental grounds

Marsh Link Action Group - campaign for better train services between Hastings and Ashford

Norman Baker - Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes. Has backed the campaign for many years

South Coast Against Roadbuilding - campaign against environmentally damaging road schemes

Wealden Liberal Democrats - party campaign site for the Wealden area

Other local campaigns

Cast Iron - community rail scheme to reopen the Cambridge - St Ives branch - killed in 2005 by the local county council in favour of a costly guided busway scheme. Now monitoring the misguided busway's progress

Portishead Railway Group - campaign to restore passenger trains to the Bristol - Portishead line, most of which has recently been reopened for freight traffic

Skipton East Lancs Railway Action Partnership - campaign to re-instate the trans-pennine Colne-Skipton route, linking the Aire Valley and Yorkshire to East Lancashire, Manchester, Preston and beyond

Save the Woodhead Tunnel - aiming to prevent the 1954-built tunnel under the Penines being wasted as a power cable conduit, when it could form part of a revived east-west route between Manchester and Sheffield

Tyne Crossings Alliance - grass roots opposition to plans for a new Tyne road tunnel

General railway resources

Christian Wolmar - website of a perceptive and well-informed transport journalist, with archive of his columns on the UK rail industry -- and exclusive online content

Disused Stations - fascinating and growing collection of images and information on the country's closed stations including routes covered by the Wealden Line Campaign

Kent Rail - excellent site focusing on Kent's railways, with a good - though depressing - section showing the destruction of Tunbridge Wells West station.

Railway Register - directory that aims to list all railway-related websites in Britain and Ireland

Rail UK - check out their 1980s section for some photos of the last days of the Eridge - Tunbridge Wells route

Preservation groups on the Wealden Line route

Lavender Line - based at Isfield station

Spa Valley Railway - operates on the two-mile section between Groombridge and Tunbridge Wells


Updated June 2008