Kemp Town railway station

Kemp Town (closed)
A train at the station, viewed from the north
Location
Place	Kemptown
Area	Brighton & Hove, East Sussex
Grid reference	TQ321041
Operations
Pre-grouping	London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway Southern Region of British Railways
Platforms	1
History
1869	Station opened
1933	Station closed to passengers
June 1971	Station closed to freight
26 June 1971	Special train service ran
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–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

Kemp Town railway station, sometimes referred to as Kemptown railway station, was a terminus station in Kemptown, Brighton (now part of the city of Brighton and Hove), East Sussex, England, on a (now closed) branch line which terminated at Kemp Town station. This line branched off the East Coastway Line a short distance from the Ditchling Road tunnel, between London Road and Moulsecoomb stations. The branch line and all its stations are no longer extant.

History

The station was located in the Kemptown area of the town, which derives its name from Kemp Town, a 19th-century housing development in the east of the area, approximately two miles to the east of the centre of Brighton.^[1]

Because of rivalries between the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and London, Chatham and Dover Railway, the LB&SCR decided in 1869 to build a short but expensive branch line from Brighton railway station to Kemptown, chiefly as a blocking move to prevent another line being laid into the town. The branch line with its costly viaducts and tunnel never paid its way, being twice as long as the equivalent journey by road.

Due to WWI the LB&SCR closed the line to passenger traffic in 1917, but reinstated the services in 1919. The branch line and its remaining stations finally closed to passenger traffic in 1933 and to freight in 1971, having been used as a "Brighton East" freight depot to help reduce the work of the main depot sited near the main Brighton Station.^[2] The final use of the line was made on 26 June 1971 when a special passenger train service operated at hourly intervals during the daytime to give the public a last opportunity to travel over it.

Kemp Town Railway Branch Line
Legend (from Brighton) East Coastway Line To Brighton Station London Road Ditchling Road Tunnel To Moulsecoomb Lewes Road Stationclosed Lewes Rd. viaduct Hartington Rd. viaduct Hartington Road Haltclosed Kemptown Tunnel1024yds Kemp Town Stationclosed

Hartington Road Halt operated for only five years, being opened on 1 January 1906 and closing April 1911.^[3]

World War II

Between October 1941 and May 1944, during World War II, the tunnel to Kemp Town station was used as an overnight air raid shelter for electric multiple unit stock even though it meant using a steam locomotive to move them, the branch not being electrified.^[4]

Accidents and incidents

• British Railways E4 Class locomotive No. 32468 was in collision with the buffers at an unknown date.^[5]

Land use since closure

The site is now the Freshfield Industrial Estate. The portal of the railway tunnel leading through to the site of Hartington Road Halt (now a block of flats), and eventually to the also-lost Lewes Road Station, may still be viewed from the compound of a self-storage warehouse and van rental company. Hartington Road viaduct was demolished in 1973, Lewes Road viaduct following in 1976.^[6] The Sainsbury's supermarket, at the point where the latter viaduct approached Lewes Road Station, incorporates tall arches of dark brick in its outer façade, recalling the viaduct. A gap in the Victorian houses of D'Aubigny Road, uphill from the supermarket, indicates where the station once sat.

Former Services

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Hartington Road		British Railways		Terminus

Gallery

• 

  Tunnel portal at the north of the former station site, leading under Elm Grove

• 

  The station buildings (on the right) and goods yard, viewed from the south

• 

  Development of rail in Brighton and Hove 1840–1945 (animation)

See also

• List of closed railway stations in Britain
• Transport in Brighton and Hove

References

1. History of Kemptown
2. Brighton to Eastbourne by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Middleton Press 1985 ISBN 0-906520-16-9
3. Plate 30, Brighton to Eastbourne by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Middleton Press 1985 ISBN 0-906520-16-9
4. Text above plate 52, Brighton to Eastbourne by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Middleton Press 1985 ISBN 0-906520-16-9
5. Earnshaw, Alan (1990). Trains in Trouble: Vol. 6. Penryn: Atlantic Books. p. 48. ISBN 0-906899-37-0.
6. Kemp Town in Subterranea Britannica

Bibliography

• Harding, P.A. (1999). The Kemp Town Branch Line. ISBN 0-9523458-4-6.

Coordinates: 50°49′18″N 0°07′27″W / 50.82167°N 0.12417°W