London Victoria to Eastbourne

The Route of the Eastbourne Belle

London Victoria was built as two separate stations by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) and the South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SECR). These two rival companies remained independent until the formation of the Southern Railway in 1923. The station is adjoined along the Buckingham Palace Road side by the magnificent former Grosvenor Hotel, which remains a fine hotel known as The Grosvenor Hotel. In its heyday London Victoria was the starting point for such famous expresses as the Golden Arrow, the Night Ferry and the Brighton Belle. Today it is the starting point for services to Sussex, Surrey, Kent and the South Coast. It is also the main station for international connections via the South Coast ports. In 1984 London Victoria became the starting point for the pioneering Gatwick Express service to London Gatwick Airport. Today London Victoria's Platform 2 is often the departure point for Orient Express Hotels, Trains & Cruises's luxury VSOE British Pullman train excursions.

One of Britain's most famous train journeys is the London Victoria to Brighton line. Its history is an entertaining blend of fact, fiction, myth and tradition. Built by the London & Brighton Railway and their great engineer J.U. Rastrick, the line was opened in 1841 and from the outset was known for fast running. By the 1930s the line was famous for the Brighton Belle electric Pullman service introduced in 1934 and which ran until its demise in 1972.

Throughout this “Through the Window” guide we describe views as being left or right from the train facing in the direction of travel out of London.

London Victoria to Haywards Heath:

The trains to Brighton start from the 'Brighton side' of London Victoria station, whose elaborate Edwardian baroque façade in brick and stone, topped by a grand clock, was completed in 1908 by the London Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR).

Leaving London Victoria, the train curves round to cross the River Thames on the Grosvenor Bridge and then runs quickly through Battersea Park to Clapham Junction with the former Battersea Power Station dominating views to the left. Here the lines to Reading and Basingstoke diverge off to the right. It then cuts through Wandsworth Common and then takes an elevated route to Balham. Tooting Bec Common and Streatham Park flank the line and then the Crystal Palace television masts come into view on the skyline to the left. Through Norbury and Thornton Heath the surroundings are more suburban and then at Selhurst the train passes the huge train depot, with the floodlights of Crystal Palace football ground in the distance. Tower blocks flank East Croydon and then suburbia accompanies the line to South Croydon, gradually yielding to gardens, parks and allotments. Just after South Croydon the line to Oxted diverges off to the left. Raised high on its embankment, with good views of the Downs to the left and right, the train passes Purley. The short Caterham branch, built by the independent Caterham Railway in 1856, swings away to the left, while to the right another branch leads to Tattenham Corner, opened in time for the Derby in 1901. As the train approaches Coulsdon South, the surroundings get greener and then, as it enters a long, steep sided cutting, the line is duplicated with an avoiding line for some miles which diverges off to the left to allow expresses to avoid Merstham and Redhill.

After a long tunnel, trains on the slower lines pass Merstham, an unexpectedly attractive town famous for its stone quarries since the Middle Ages. A railway, horse drawn, was built in 1805 to carry stone and fuller's earth from here to Croydon. To the left is the vast multi storey intersection that links the M25 with the M23, while to the west there are glimpses of Gatton Park, a mansion rebuilt in 1936 in classical style. The next station is Redhill, serving Reigate's easterly extension. Just south of Redhill the line to Guildford diverges off to the right and the line to Tonbridge to the left. Soon on the left the avoiding line reappears and rejoins the main line. South of Redhill is Earlswood, with a big 1853 hospital by the line to the left, and beyond it views to Redhill Aerodrome airfield, famous for its 1930s Tiger Moths, and the backdrop of the Downs. The line now runs fast and straight to Salfords and Horley, with all the best views to the left. With a steady stream of planes low overhead, the train quickly reaches Gatwick Airport, which serves the busy BAA London Gatwick Airport.

Lineside development spreads southwards from here to Three Bridges, where the line to Horsham, Arundel and Chichester swings away to the right. South of the station the houses are quickly left behind as the line runs through thick woodland, with Tilgate Forest to the right and Pottage Worth Forest to the left. A short tunnel is followed by cuttings that take the line to Balcombe. Further cuttings limit views south of the station, until J.U. Rastrick's great viaduct takes the line suddenly flying over the Ouse Valley. The Balcombe Viaduct was completed in 1841, with 37 massive brick arches and a splendid classical balustrade, the 1,475ft viaduct strides over the landscape. There are excellent views along the Ouse Valley to the right and left but they are hard to appreciate fully from the train flying above the valley on the magnificent viaduct. The train then reaches at Haywards Heath station. Little of the town, which grew rapidly in the 19th century after the arrival of the railway, can be seen and a tunnel carries the line under the town centre. This is where you can change for trains to Lewes and Eastbourne.

Haywards Heath to Eastbourne:

Cuttings take the line from Haywards Heath and then the next station is Wivelsfield, with its original wooden buildings. Little of the village remains, buried in a sea of 19th century and later housing that has spread northwards from Burgess Hill (the next station southwards to Brighton), typical railway inspired development.  At Keymer Junction the Eastbourne line swings away to the south east. An embankment then leads to Plumpton, with its delightfully decorative wooden station of 1863. To the left northwards is the little church and to the right southwards can be seen Plumpton Racecourse, right by the track. It is in a pretty setting, against the steep flanks of the Downs in the far distance. The line now curves round towards a gap carved in the Downs by the River Ouse, passing Cooksbridge, and then makes its elevated way along the Ouse valley, with the river close by to the left northwards. There are spectacular views left northwards along the Ouse watermeadows, with the isolated church at Hamsey and South Malling in the foreground. To the east is the steep Malling Hill, with its group of Neolithic barrows.

Ahead is Lewes, the county town, and a remarkably attractive and unspoilt one, with the river running through it, and its buildings clustered on the steep hillsides below Lewes Castle. The station, a grand and elegant affair of 1889 in decorative brick, reveals its former importance as the meeting point for six lines.

As the train leaves Lewes, the line runs briefly alongside the Ouse before branching eastwards away from the Newhaven and Seaford branch. The train crosses the River Glynde, with, to the right southwards, Beddingham Church and, to the left northwards, the steep flanks of the Downs leading up to Ranscombe Camp and the hillfort at Mount Cadburn. The next station is Glynde, serving a little village set in the river valley and surrounded by major country houses. Just to the north is the 16th century Glynde Place, remodelled in the 18th century, with the Palladian church near by. A mile further north is Glyndebourne, famous for its summer season of operas set in the 1934 opera house with its park and lake, while one and a half miles south of Glynde is Firle Place, an 18th century mansion concealing a Tudor heart.

The train continues along the valley, with the Downs to the south and a more open landscape to the north, to Berwick. The station is one mile north of the village, but the walk is worth it for the murals in the church by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. With their home, Charleston, a few miles to the south, this is true Bloomsbury country. Leaving Berwick with Arlington Reservoir to the north, the line crosses the Cuckmere, with fine views right to the south along the valley towards the sea. With Wilmington Priory and the "Long Man of Wilmington", outlined in the chalk face of the Downs, to the right southwards, the line now curves round to enter Polegate, with the Victorian church and the windmill to the south. From Polegate the train turns south towards Eastbourne, away from the Downs, passing Hampden Park and then running across a flat landscape into Eastbourne.

Eastbourne station is an extravagent and spacious structure, built in 1866 and later extended, and is a splendid mixture of Italianate and French styles with a powerful clock tower at the centre of its asymmetrical facade. The station is well placed for the town centre. A walk along Terminus Road soon leads you to the 19th century terraces, the seafront and Eastbourne Pier. Eastbourne is entirely a 19th century town, created by the coming of the railways, and it has grown enormously since, spreading along the coast in both directions, and becoming a rather genteel resort. The few older buildings include the church, the 18th century Manor House (now the Towner Museum), and the Earl of Wilmington's former 18th century mansion, Compton Place. This is now the home of the Compton Place - LTC International College. The Towner Museum is currently being replaced by a contemporary new museum called the Cultural Centre by the New Towner Trust. This new Cultural Centre will be adjacent to The Congress Theatre, Devonshire Park and is scheduled to open Summer 2008. Eastbourne also has the Eastbourne Redoubt Fortress and Military Museum which is one of Eastbourne's hidden treasures.