Why so many…….

So I was looking at new railways to visit in the south east of England, and I was struck by how there are so many in on small area of Sussex/West Kent?

The Spa Valley, Kent & East Sussex, Bluebell, Lavender Line all are a stones throw from each other? When the rest of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire are fairly much surved by one railway in each area….

Any thoughts/reasons for this? One would have thought the Bluebell would have cornered the market in Sussex.

 

I think one answer may be that Kent and Sussex fared better with closures than many other counties due to comuter traffic. There were some high profile losses but not swathes as in other parts of the country. That is lines which might have been preservation candidates are still open.

Dave

 

It's not as easy as just pointing at a map and saying a railway should be here, you need a suitable shut line, with a reasonable chance of resurrection, one with as few objections as possible and one that people are likely to visit for a destination as well as a ride to make it pay for itself, candidates that forfil these requirements don't always fall in ideally geographical locations.