Steyning Line

At one time it had been hoped that through traffic via Guildford might develop, but apart from occasional passenger excursion journeys, this business did not materialise.

The rural traffic based on agriculture declined and proved unsustainable, and the line closed under the Beeching axe on 7 March 1966.

He advanced a project to build from Wimbledon on the Southampton line to Brighton, making use of the Mole Gap, where the River Mole has made a passage through the North Downs near Dorking, and the Shoreham Gap near Shoreham, cutting through the South Downs.

The route is very nearly a direct southward line, leading to Shoreham, six miles west of Brighton.

Locke was associated with the LSWR, successor to the London and Southampton Railway, and this proposal was clearly a re-run of Stephenson's earlier plan, following much of the original course at the southern end.

The LBS&CR was alarmed at this fresh incursion into territory it considered its own, and it quickly prepared a scheme to connect Shoreham to a junction at Barns Green, some distance south of Horsham.

A deviation of the route was applied for in the following year, to make the junction with the Petworth line at Itchingfield, some distance nearer Horsham; this was authorised by Act of 1 August 1859.

[1][5][6] Buckman suggests that this was to more nearly reach the Horsham and Guildford Direct Railway, which had been authorised on 6 August 1860, but of course promoted earlier.

In order to test the bridge at Beeding near the cement works (at the time described as lime kilns) four tender engines were positioned on it.

[11][6][8][12] After the opening of the second phase of the line on 16 September 1861, the daily passenger service between Brighton and Horsham consisted of four stopping trains and one express.

The spur remained little used, and the LBSCR decided to close it from 1 August 1867; the Brighton company was concerned that the LSWR might take advantage of it to seek greater access to the south coast.

Steyning's weekly market relocated from the High Street to a location adjacent to the railway station, and cattle, sheep, poultry and other produce were transported to and from it for more than a century.