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Simon Allen Simon Allen from The Internet wrote on 6 February 2017 at 10:34 pm
I'm so glad you managed to capture the Crowhurst to Bexhill West. As you may know, the Combe Valley Way is now open and has been for several months. I was very dubious about it. It was not what Bexhill needed. What we need is an east west road and this is a north south one. However it has certainly alleviated the traffic congestion on De La Warr Road and Glyne Gap and that is certainly a great benefit. Hastings for me was pretty much a no-go area. It just took too long to get there and was not worth the effort. Now I can get there in a reasonable time. Prior to the building I had a walk to the track bed and I even remember taking cross country runs, when I was at school, across the viaduct. Health and safety be damned. Trains had ceased to run by that time. Had we tried that in modern times there would have been a furor. I was sorry to see the viaduct go. My memory of the the viaduct was that the trains had stopped running but the rails were still in place. I remember them being quite rusty. Contrast that with what you see on a railway that is used. None of the viaduct was fenced off, not a bit of it. It was mostly intact. A few of the coping stones had been pushed off. I do not think that that was due to wear and tear but sadly vandalism. Not by me I hasten to add. As a child I remember it seeming to be very high indeed. There were passing places on the bridge. They were about a metre square and I remember standing in them and looking over the valley. It always struck me as a wild and abandoned place. I was quite sad when I heard that it was going to be blown up. My father who was a businessman in Bexhill floated the idea of it being used as a road which would give access to Crowhurst. He was ahead of his time. Sadly Dr Beeching had dealt the deathblow for the line. I recall it was claimed to be uneconomic and the viaduct dangerous. Who was going to maintain it was one of the questions posed to anyone who suggested that it be retained. Whether it was economic depends of course how you measure things. There was active shunting yard down at the West station. It is ironic now how so many lines have been reopened. For this one it is too late. It must have moved a great deal of goods over its life and I can see no reason to suppose that has diminished but that movement is now by road.
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