The Dyke railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dyke

Location

Location

Hove

Area

Brighton & Hove

Grid reference

TQ260103

Operations

Pre-grouping

Dyke Railway Company

Platforms

History

1 September 1887

Opened

1 January 1917

Closed

26 July 1920

Reopened

1 January 1939^[1]

Closed

Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom

Closed railway stations in Britain
A B C D-F G H-J K-L M-O P-R S T-Z

UK Railways Portal

The Dyke railway station was a railway station near Devil's Dyke in East Sussex, England which opened in 1887 and closed in 1939.^[2]

1 History
2 The site today
3 Services
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

Site of the Dyke Station in 2007

The Dyke Station opened as the terminus for the standard gauge railway line which ran from West Brighton Station (now known as Hove Station) to 200 feet below the summit of Devil's Dyke.^[3] The line was opened by the Brighton and Dyke Railway Company to serve what was at the time a very popular tourist destination, boasting two bandstands, an observatory, a camera obscura and fairground rides. The station itself was equipped with basic facilities to accommodate tourists and postcards of the station buildings reveal a converted railway carriage with shack attached bearing the sign "Tea and Cakes"; the facilities were said to be operated by a retired railway guard.

The 1893 August Bank Holiday saw around 30,000 people flock to the Dyke, many of them brought by the railway.^[4] Operations continued until 1917 when, in the midst of the First World War, the line was closed as a wartime economy measure. Services recommenced in 1920 but lasted only a further eighteen years; the line closing in the face of increased competition from motor buses.^[5]