Pictorial History


Click on photos to enlarge...
The Glory Years

	The date is 1886 - the man is Frank Farrant but we know no more. Frank and his penny farthing on the up platform at Isfield. It looks as if this was a genuine method of transport for the time and the location is unmistakable.

	This photo was taken in about 1910 and shows a group of unknown people posing on the Northbound platform at Isfield.

	This fine picture was taken on Uckfield station in either the late 1930s or possibly the early 1940s and is of Mr George W Kellow who was the station master of Uckfield and the surrounding stations from 1930 to 1945 (or 1946). The picture was kindly supplied by his grand-daughter.

	Reg Denham collects a ticket from a passenger at Isfield in the 1950s.

	This picture was taken at Isfield in 1953 and is the first we have of the signal men who staffed the station at that time. This picture is of signalman John Dadswell who sadly died quite recently. This and the next two photographs have been kindly supplied by Mr Dadswell's wife.

	This is the second of the three signalman from 1953 - Mr John Saunders.

	And this is the third of the three signalman from 1953 - Mr Reg Denman. The photo seems to be of the same person as in the shot three pictures above although the names we have been supplied with differ in their spelling a bit. Is that co-incidence? or are these the same people? - it seems probable - and if so which is the correct spelling?

	Light engine - Brighton built standard 4MT tank engine No. 80153 passes southwards through Isfield on 13th April 1958.

	Relegated to goods work - West Country 34013 "Okehampton" bursts southwards through Isfield in 1964.

	With the rail in the dock already lifted, and the dock being used a a coal bunker, an unknown Crompton heads south with a passenger train whilst a goods waits on the up line with another Crompton in control.

	"L" class 4-4-0 Number 31763 leaves northwards from Isfield.

	How it used to be. Isfield station looking northwards in 1965.

	Taken from a an un-identified unit as it is leaving Isfield for Brighton c1967

	One of the last trains on the line. An unidentified EMU probably being pushed by a Crompton at Isfield on 23rd February 1969, the day before the line finally closed.
The Forgotten Years
	In the 1970s and only a few years since closure, the station is already overgrown and looking as if it has not been in use for decades. The equipment from the Isfield signal box was later used in the signal box at Horstead Keynes on the nearby Bluebell Railway.

	Isfield down platform in the 1970s showing the old waiting room which was later taken to Sheffield Park and used to house for a model railway, Our current shop was built on almost the same site and in the style of the old waiting room.

	Following a rare snow shower and with snow still on the ground, the scene is looking northwards from the up platform at Christmas 1977.

	It is a wonder the signal box was not actually lost as the door was off and no preventive maintenance was carried out apart from boarding up the windows. In 1977 it was looking vary sad.

	A more familiar view but one which shows how quickly the decay advanced in the early 1980s.

	The Isfield up platform in April 1982 and nature has really taken over. This shot shows the original station house which was later extended.

	About as bad as it gets - Isfield in 1983. The now completely over-grown station sleeps and like Snow White waits to be re-awakened and brought back to life.


And into Private Hands
	And so preservation has started. Now in private hands the the line awakes like a phoenix from the ashes. Alas we have virtually no photos of these very early years of preservation - so if you know of where we can get images of this period, please contact us.

	Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 ST 945 "Annie" waits on the up line whilst 0-6-0 ST "Ugly" arrives hauling a public goods train in the mid 1980s. The line is by now well established again.

	The largest engine ever to have graced the Lavender Line since the Bullied Pacifics ran though Isfield arrives from Greece. Despite its tatty appearance it was in very good and complete condition. The loco is a Riddles ex WD 2-10-0.

	The same 2-10-0, now restored and renamed "Dame Vera Lynne" runs a public service at Isfield in the 1980s. The locomotive now resides at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

	Taken from an aircraft, this picture shows the layout of the line whilst in private hands in the 1980s. Note there are only rails entering the rear of the shed unlike the formation today.


Please click here to see the continuing history of the Lavender Line since taken over by the current preservation society in 1991.