Hellingly Hospital Railway

In an earlier edition I wrote about Hellingly Hospital. In that article I devoted a single paragraph to the Hospital Railway. However, it did seem that this rather unique railway was worthy of further investigation.

Part of the contract to build Hellingly Hospital was for the builders, Messers Joseph Howe & Co. of Whitby Street, West Hartlepool to construct, at their own expense, a tramway connecting the Asylum with Hellingly station which was on the London Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR). The line to the hospital was authorised by the LBSCR on condition that East Sussex Council paid the cost, estimated at £1,700. The railway was originally used to carry materials for the construction of the hospital. However it was not until the building works were completed in 1902 that the decision was taken to electrify the railway using electricity from the hospitals own power plant. The line was provided with overhead cable wire supported on cast iron single armed trolley poles which we sited alongside the line from the sidings at Hellingly station to the power plant at the hospital. The installation of the new electric system was undertaken by Messers Robert W Blackwell & Co. of City Road, London. The electric locomotive was capable of pulling two loaded coal wagons plus a 12 person passenger car. At Hellingly station a small wooden island platform was provided chained off from the main line and the railway was opened to passengers, on 20 July 1903

The line was about 1¼ miles long, and whilst it was largely built on private land, it had to cross two public roads in quick succession, Park Road and New Road, for which the relevant permission had to be obtained. Both these crossings had a single iron gate. Once the line had entered the hospital grounds it continued to run alongside the drive leading up to the hospital buildings. As it approached the hospital, the line split; the southern fork led to a siding to the north-west of the hospital, while the other turned sharply east and south through almost 180° before splitting again. One fork ran into a large workshop and the other led to a short platform, which was initially used for passengers. Because the railway depended on the needs of the hospital there was no regular timetable. In addition to coal other bulky items were transported by the railway e.g. potatoes.There were no signals on the line and all the points were operated by hand. When the locomotive arrived at the level crossings driver’s mate would leave the train and stop any approaching traffic on the road with a red flag then sprint across to the second crossing and then rejoin the driver.

In 1923 the London Brighton & South Coast Railway became part of the newly formed Southern Railway. Also, at this time the length of the platform was reduced. As the years passed the passenger traffic numbers began to decline and in 1931 it was decided that this service was no longer needed. However the freight service was retained. The passenger car body was removed and taken to the hospital. An awning was fitted and it served as a sports pavilion for many years. Two years later, in 1933 the small wooded platform at Hellingly station was removed.

When war broke out in 1939, it was suggested that the line might be used for ambulance trains to carry war service casualties direct to the hospital. However Southern Railways engineers inspected the line it was decided that the track was built for lightweight locomotives and was therefore not suitable. After the war the 1948 National Health Act was passed and responsibility for the hospital was transferred to the Hailsham Hospitals Management Committee. However this had no noticeable effect on the railway which continued to provide its regular freight duties. However in the late 1950s the Management Committee decided too convert the hospital boilers from coal to oil and this effectively meant the railway would become redundant. By this time the traffic was reduced to about one train per day. The last loaded coal wagon left Hellingly station for the hospital on 10 March 1959.

The line was finally lifted in the early 1960s. However just before this happened the Management Committee were contacted by a railway society in Yorkshire asking that the line should be sold for use as a museum. Regrettably, this request was not considered practical and therefore was rejected. The locomotive was quickly disposed of. Meanwhile the fittings and cables etc., were bought by H. Ripley & Co. scrap metal merchants, who are of course still in business in the town.