Hailsham - London brigthon & south coast railway

[CindyR]

Hi everyone, Many of my ancestors worked for the railway and lived in and near Hailsham. I believe it was originally the London Brighton & South Coast Railway (nicknamed Cuckoo Line) then the British Railway Southern Region. I have read all the threads here and searched most of the links you all have suggeted without much luck. I would like to chat with anyone with connections or info to this rail line.
Thanks
CindyR

[Alan Welsford]

Hi everyone, Many of my ancestors worked for the railway and lived in and near Hailsham. I believe it was originally the London Brighton & South Coast Railway (nicknamed Cuckoo Line) then the British Railway Southern Region.

Hi Cindy,

What you have is fairly accurate, but not spot on.

Hailsham sat on the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, (LBSCR), line that ran from Eridge to Polegate.

That line is what was known as the "Cuckoo Line", I believe, not the whole LBSCR, which covered a huge swathe of Southern England, (including the main line to Brighton, perhaps not unsurprisingly :o)

The LBSCR ceased to exist in 1923 when the grouping of the railways into the 'big four' forced it to become part of the much larger Southern Railway, (SR). Other big companies going into the SR were the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), and the South East & Chatham Railway (SECR).

It was not until 1948, with nationalisation of the railways, that it would have become part of British Railways (Southern Region).

The line was one of the many victims of the 1963 Beeching report which decimated rural railways, and closed to through passenger traffic in 1965, and to goods traffic in 1968.

I'm afraid I'm no expert on it's early history, though :o

Alan

[Peter Goodey]

Cindy

Have you seen this research note?

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=124

You may need someone to search on your behalf.

[CindyR]

Thank you both for the info and clarification and yes I have looked at the national archives info and found the indexes for the LBSCR and SR . I did assume that I would need someone to search them for me. Do you know if my local FHS can order the info in? as I dont know how else to go about getting the info. I'll have to check into it.
Thanks again
Cindy

[Alan Welsford]

I think those records are only accessible by someone visiting the National Archives.

From what I can see of the LBSCR records, (if they are accurately described), they will only be of interest if your relatives were footplate staff, (i.e. Drivers, Firemen, or possibly "Passed Cleaners"). The LBSCR collection seems to contain little for the vast majority of staff who would not have been driving or firing the locomotives.

My understanding is that in some cases records can be logged under the "receiving" company following the grouping of 1923. So it may be there are further records dating from LBSCR days within the Southern Railway (SR) collection.

I note it says Southern Railway records are subject to 75 year closure, and obviously the SR existed right up until 1948, so some at least would be affected. I'm not sure if that could obstruct you seeing pre 1923 LBSCR records, (which are clearly over 75 years old), if they are merged into the SR collection. Perhaps someone cleverer than me can say how that would work.

Alan

[CindyR]

Yes I saw similar info and unfortunately most of my ancestors were signalmen, porters, guard, plate layer and clerk on the rail so i'm sure this line of search is fruitless. I will keep snooping thru the Hailsham historical society and people in that area. I will ask my local HS about the book "Was your grandfather a railway man?" as it sounds interesting. Thanks for all your time
Cindy

[Alan Welsford]

Cindy,

I believe it's correct that the LBSCR records at TNA are unlikely to contain anything for the categories of workers you are talking about.

As I understand it such records could have transferred to the Southern Railway (SR), but the descriptions in the catalogue aren't good enough to tell this.

It might be worth making a direct enquiry to TNA, giving the category of workers and dates you are interested in.

They might be able to tell you whether there is any possibility of anything amongst the SR records.

Again I think this will not be easy data for you to get from another continent, and I doubt it's a case of someone who happens to be visiting TNA taking a quick look at a couple of films. Such records are unlikely to be indexed in any way by name, for example, and I suspect a lot of searching might be required.

Alan

[CindyR]

Alan,
I agree it might be difficult but it was worth a shot.When I found several relatives had worked for the rail on or near the same town I thought it would be easy to search for that info....oh well it was worth a try and I'll keep plugging away at it.
thanks again for you thoughts
cindy