Bishopstone railway station

Bishopstone railway station is on the western side of the town of Seaford, East Sussex, England. It is situated close to the coast, and about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the downland rural village of Bishopstone after which it is named. Train services from the station are provided by Southern, and the station is on the Seaford Branch of the East Coastway Line, 58 miles 3 chains (93.4 km) measured from London Bridge.[1]

Bishopstone
National Rail
The platform at Bishopstone, looking west
General information
LocationSeaford, Lewes
England
Grid referenceTV469998
Managed bySouthern
Platforms1
Other information
Station codeBIP
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Post-groupingSouthern Railway
Key dates
26 September 1938Opened
1975Reduced to single track
Passengers
2017/18Increase 33,686
2018/19Increase 39,422
2019/20Increase 41,660
2020/21Decrease 15,878
2021/22Increase 36,450
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Before this station opened the first Bishopstone station was 0.6 miles (1 km) further west at Tide Mills. That was closed in 1938 when the current station opened, but was subsequently reopened under the name of Bishopstone Beach Halt, and survived as such until 1942.

Buildings and structures

The station building
View westward, towards Newhaven and Lewes in 1967

The present station was designed by the architect James Robb Scott and opened on 26 September 1938, the same day that the original Bishopstone station at Tide Mills was first closed. The Art Deco design is said to be inspired by that of Arnos Grove tube station, which was designed by Charles Holden, and was intended to be the centrepiece of a proposed residential development that never took place due to the outbreak of the Second World War.[2]

The main building of the station is symmetrical, with an octagonal central booking hall and two extended wings. One of these wings formerly contained the ticket office and parcels office, and the other contained a waiting room and toilets. As-built, the station had two side platforms in a cutting, accessed by stairs from a footbridge linking to the main station building.[2]

In 1940 a pair of pillboxes was built on the roof of the main station building, flanking its octagonal tower. Despite the times, considerable effort was made to blend these into the original structure, and they are thus well camouflaged.[2]

The last member of staff, station manager Una Shearing, was withdrawn in 1988. The old booking office and parcel office was restored in 2022 in phase 1 of a restoration project with the support of Friends of Bishopstone Station. This is now run by the Friends as The Old Parcel Room Community hub. The remaining station facilities will be restored in phase 2 of the project. The main access to the trains is still accessed via the octagonal booking hall, which is top lit by glass pavement lights supported by a concrete grid. The line was singled in 1975 and all trains now use the former up platform.

Bishopstone Station is a grade II listed building, which is on English Heritage's at-risk register.[2]

Services

313208 at Bishopstone with a Southern service bound for Brighton

All services at Bishopstone are operated by Southern using Class 377 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[3]

Connections with services to Gatwick Airport and London Victoria can be made by changing at Lewes.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Newhaven Harbour
or
Newhaven Town
  Southern
  Seaford
  Historical railways  
Line open, station closed
Southern Railway
Line and station open

Incidents

On 3 July 1940 Luftwaffe fighter aircraft machine-gunned and bombed a train near Bishopstone Station. The train driver was killed and several passengers were wounded.[4]

References

  1. Yonge, John (November 2008) [1994]. Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 5: Southern & TfL (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 17A. ISBN 978-0-9549866-4-3.
  2. Leigh, Chris (12 January 2011). "Above their station: Bishopstone". Rail Magazine. No. 661. Bauer Media Group. pp. 61–62.
  3. Table 189 National Rail timetable, December 2022
  4. Gordon, Kevin (18 May 2006), "The train now standing at Bishopstone Beach . . .", Sussex Express

50.780°N 0.083°E / 50.780; 0.083

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