174 years of the railway through Rye were marked to the day with a special event at the station on Thursday February 13. The first Marshlink services ran between Ashford and Hastings on February 13 1851.
A group of 25 people attended the celebration including Southern Railway staff, Rye’s mayor Cllr Andy Stuart and town crier Paul Goring, community representatives, station volunteers from along the line and rail enthusiasts from across Sussex.
The event – organised by Southeast Communities Rail Partnership – was part of national celebrations honouring 200 years of the modern railways which began when the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in 1825. Old photographs of stations on the Marshlink Line were also on show, along with railway memorabilia.
You can see more pictures from the construction of the line from Rye Museum elsewhere in this week’s Rye News.
Marshlink Community Rail Partnership Line chair Kevin Boorman said: “The railway line is a key feature of the area and has been since Victorian times. The coming of the railways opened up many communities and provided the opportunity for people to travel further afield, and for goods to be moved much more easily.”
Rye mayor Cllr Andy Stuart told the gathering: “It is an enormous part of the community. You only have to go at various times of the day to see how many schoolchildren and college students go both ways: in to Rye, out of Rye, from here to Ashford. Day-trippers, holidaymakers, business people, workers: it is used and long may it continue to be used.”
Marshlink is one of 10 community rail lines served by Southeast Communities Rail Partnership Community Interest Company.
The line was earmarked for closure in the Beeching Report in 1963 but was saved after opposition from local campaigners and the impracticality of the proposed replacement bus service.
Latest official figures show overall station usage on the Marshlink line was up 7.5% in 2023-24 compared to the previous year.
Image Credits: Paul Bromley .
Great to see the line still in use, even improved in the last few years with 3 carriage trains.
I remember as a young kid going on a march through the town to save the line – would have been in the 60s and was organised by Cannon John Williams; as I was in the church choir at the time we all went along, not really understanding the issues. It was incredibly lucky that for whatever reason the line was not closed!
Thank goodness the line escaped Dr Beeching’s cuts. Well done to those who campaigned at the time.
Now we need to see the line electrified and some double tracking restored so a fast south coast to Kings Cross service can be established. Amber Rudd, while MP, proposed this, but nothing seems to be happening. Does anyone know more?
I can remember going on a similar / same walk with our teacher at the time Ed Wiseman. Thankfully the line remains open after all these years, providing a vital link to both Kent and the coastal towns and cities to the west.