If only they'd electrified the Henfield line

This March marks the 50th anniversary of the closure of the Shoreham, Henfield and Horsham railway by the Minister of Transport and the British Railways Board.

The closure took place in compliance with Doctor Beeching’s 1963 report ‘The Reshaping of British Railways’.

Had the British Railways Board chosen to follow the 1947 plan of their predecessor, the original Southern Railway, the Henfield line, would have been electified and provided an alternative route from Brighton to London 18 miles shorter than that via Littlehampton.

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Sadly, British Railways seem to have abandoned that elecfrification scheme sometime in 1962.

As if to emphasise the unfortunate situation for Sussex Coast passengers Network Rail closed the lines between Three Bridges, Haywards Heath and Brighton, and Haywards Heath to Lewes to enable maintenance work on both Saturday and Palm Sunday, March 19 and 20.

J A Jaeger

Bulkington Avenue

Worthing

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