Lewes station platform changes and history.

[stadler]

Lewes saw a lot of changes to the platforms and layout especially around the 70s and i wanted to ask if anyone could remember more information about these changes.

When was the track on the platforms between P2 and P3 removed? Also when was the track filled in to enable passengers to walk over it?

There used to be two other platforms between P2 and P3 which shared the same track (just like P6 and P7 at Guildford station) and this was a Brighton to Lewes line track. I used to work as a guard on trains around the Lewes area and lived in the area as a kid. When i was a kid the track was still there and i used trains from those platforms many times. My vague memory seems to be that the track was removed towards the beginning of my guard career. Then there was definitely a period of five to ten years when the track was gone but it was not filled in. So as a result P2 and P3 were still separate and required you to go over a footbridge even though the track was gone. Then it was filled in and P2 and P3 were linked up.

So i am thinking the platforms were taken out of use and the track was removed in the early 70s or mid 70s probably? Anyone know a more exact year?

Then i am thinking it was some point in either the late 70s or the early 80s that the track got filled in? Can anyone also remember a more exact year?

Also when did the platforms get renumbered? I can not remember when it happened but i am presuming it was in the late 70s or early 80s at some point?

This was the old platform numbering:

Old P1 - now unnumbered disused bay
Old P2 - now P1
Old P3 - now P2
Old P4 - filled in disused platform
Old P5 - filled in disused platform
Old P6 - now P3
Old P7 - now P4
Old P8 - now P5

There is a current bay platform (numbered as P1 previously) alongside the current P1 (the current London to Eastbourne platform) at the far South end which is about two or three coaches in length. It used to often be used to store some Balfour Beatty maintenance train in the late 2000s and early 2010s but it has now been about ten years since i have last seen anything parked up in that platform. However this platform used to be a long through platform and the current P1 (the old P2 at the time) was part of an island.

Is the bay platform still usable? I note that it does not show up on OTT maps so i am presuming that the track may have been taken out of use? Does anyone know a rough date when it was taken out of use?

Also when was it cut back from a long through platform to a tiny bay platform and taken out of ordinary passenger use? I am thinking this must have been in the 70s perhaps? Was it done at the same time that the new car park there was built?

There is also a siding alongside the current P5 and this still shows up on OTT maps so i presume it is still usable? Any idea when this was last used? I have not seen anything stored in that siding for over twenty years but presumably it gets occassional use?

Thank you in advance for any information or details that anyone can remember about these changes and sorry for so many questions.

 

[Elwyn]

I used Lewes between 1973 and 1979 and I recall the obsolete platforms 4/5. The trackbed was not filled in at that time. In fact I think I recall that at some point a wooden walkway was installed across the gap so you didn’t need to go up and over the footbridge.

Presumably 4/5 were no longer needed after the Uckfield to Lewes line closed in 1969 and the track would have been lifted some time after that. It was gone by 1973, I am fairly sure of that.

I recall the siding alongside the current platform 5 being used very occasionally in the 1970s. A couple of times I think it was used to park up specials which had taken large groups of Scouts to Newhaven for the day (and would collect them there again in the evening).

 

[Harlequinuk]

Lewes Station and Lewes Tunnel - Derek Hayward

Lewes 'D' Signal Box, located at the Brighton end of station. 01.01.1969 Eric Kemp retains all rights to this image.

www.derekhayward.co.uk

An opportunity to take a photographic tour north from Lewes to Sheffield Park. Although the trackbed is now overgrown in places, you can see some features. The line has been closed for more than 50 years and naturally many views are obstructed by vegetation. Please note that some sections of the line are now private property, and other parts are totally impassable. It is not possible to walk the entire length.

One of the best photo resources i have seen about the changes!

 

[WesternLancer]

I used Lewes between 1973 and 1979 and I recall the obsolete platforms 4/5. The trackbed was not filled in at that time. In fact I think I recall that at some point a wooden walkway was installed across the gap so you didn’t need to go up and over the footbridge.

Presumably 4/5 were no longer needed after the Uckfield to Lewes line closed in 1969 and the track would have been lifted some time after that. It was gone by 1973, I am fairly sure of that.

I recall the siding alongside the current platform 5 being used very occasionally in the 1970s. A couple of times I think it was used to park up specials which had taken large groups of Scouts to Newhaven for the day (and would collect them there again in the evening).

Yes. I recon that wooden bridge across platforms two and three was in place in my childhood in mid 70s. The idea of an old disused platform fascinated me as a small boy.

I wonder if it was filled in when a load of restoration and repainting work was done on station that I recall involved brick cleaning the buildings at platform level which I recall observing around 1984 but I can’t be exact on date from memory.

 

[stuving]

Local newspaper reports have the line through P4/5 taken out of use and the P8 line made bidirectional in 1971, when two signal boxes were closed too. This was in September, though some of the changes had already started. The P4/5 gap would be filled in "eventually" - but that probably didn't rate any kind of announcement, hence no news reports.

 

[Gloster]

There is a piece ‘Railways at Lewes, by Robert Cheesman’ to be found online. It is a while since I read it and I can’t remember how detailed it is.

 

[D6130]

The gap between the old platforms 4 & 5 had been filled-in by the time I moved to Lewes in January 1984. The siding alongside the current platform 5 (formerly platform 8) was still electrified and occasionally used for stabling stock - usually during engineering works - at this time....and at least until I left in 1987.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

There is a piece ‘Railways at Lewes, by Robert Cheesman’ to be found online. It is a while since I read it and I can’t remember how detailed it is.

Don't think it mentions a date for when the platform was filled in.

 

[Brightonboy]

Just had a look at some old photo's I took at Lewes in 1979. The old 4 & 5 are still visibly platform edges (complete with white lines) but no track between them, my vague memory is that there was a wooden bridge over the gap at that time but that is not visible. The old P1 isn't visible in the shots I have of trains at P2 but in the photo's looking East over the combined throat there appears to be a space on the bed where track would diverge to the old P1. However signs on the then P7 clearly indicate a route to Platforms 1 - 6. There is nothing to indicate that the old P8 was bi-di (it was signalled Westbound, of course as was P7). The siding alongside P8 is there, accessed from the East end, somewhat rusty but not overgrown.

 

[zwk500]

There is a current bay platform (numbered as P1 previously) alongside the current P1 (the current London to Eastbourne platform) at the far South end which is about two or three coaches in length.

IIRC the original P1 was a Down Loop, but the spur is now completely removed and the points recovered. I think it happened when Three Bridges ROC took over control of the area or thereabouts.

 

[seaviewer]

Lewes saw a lot of changes to the platforms and layout especially around the 70s and i wanted to ask if anyone could remember more information about these changes.

When was the track on the platforms between P2 and P3 removed? Also when was the track filled in to enable passengers to walk over it?

There used to be two other platforms between P2 and P3 which shared the same track (just like P6 and P7 at Guildford station) and this was a Brighton to Lewes line track. I used to work as a guard on trains around the Lewes area and lived in the area as a kid. When i was a kid the track was still there and i used trains from those platforms many times. My vague memory seems to be that the track was removed towards the beginning of my guard career. Then there was definitely a period of five to ten years when the track was gone but it was not filled in. So as a result P2 and P3 were still separate and required you to go over a footbridge even though the track was gone. Then it was filled in and P2 and P3 were linked up.

So i am thinking the platforms were taken out of use and the track was removed in the early 70s or mid 70s probably? Anyone know a more exact year?

Then i am thinking it was some point in either the late 70s or the early 80s that the track got filled in? Can anyone also remember a more exact year?

Also when did the platforms get renumbered? I can not remember when it happened but i am presuming it was in the late 70s or early 80s at some point?

This was the old platform numbering:

Old P1 - now unnumbered disused bay
Old P2 - now P1
Old P3 - now P2
Old P4 - filled in disused platform
Old P5 - filled in disused platform
Old P6 - now P3
Old P7 - now P4
Old P8 - now P5

There is a current bay platform (numbered as P1 previously) alongside the current P1 (the current London to Eastbourne platform) at the far South end which is about two or three coaches in length. It used to often be used to store some Balfour Beatty maintenance train in the late 2000s and early 2010s but it has now been about ten years since i have last seen anything parked up in that platform. However this platform used to be a long through platform and the current P1 (the old P2 at the time) was part of an island.

Is the bay platform still usable? I note that it does not show up on OTT maps so i am presuming that the track may have been taken out of use? Does anyone know a rough date when it was taken out of use?

Also when was it cut back from a long through platform to a tiny bay platform and taken out of ordinary passenger use? I am thinking this must have been in the 70s perhaps? Was it done at the same time that the new car park there was built?

There is also a siding alongside the current P5 and this still shows up on OTT maps so i presume it is still usable? Any idea when this was last used? I have not seen anything stored in that siding for over twenty years but presumably it gets occassional use?

Thank you in advance for any information or details that anyone can remember about these changes and sorry for so many questions.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Jan 2026 ==

In response to your query about the siding adjacent to P5, it was used about 2/3 years ago to stable a cl 66 (I think). Cannot recall why it was there, but I am told it was started up on a daily basis for about a week before it disappeared