Rother Valley Railway

Or get there early and beat the rush

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Could always park at Etchingham, and get the train one stop. Just a thought.

 

140 spaces there apparently, so good alternative.

 

Many thanks to all who answered my query. Just quoted one above but all very much appreciated. Do the station car parks take payment by bank debit card etc. or do you have to do something with a mobile phone? I don't have a mobile phone that does apps, just calls and texts.

 

You will need this:
https://www.apcoa.co.uk/find-parking/locations/robertsbridge/robertsbridge-station-robertsbridge
Payment is online. I'd suggest you familiarize yourself with this "wonderful" development in car parking technology before arrival, because it is obviously designed to make our parking experience more user friendly. (Sarc.) When I first used this, at Buxted station a couple of years ago, it took me a good 20 minutes to make the payment, because I was used to the old debit card payment method. Ideally, download their app.

 

The poster said that he (like me) does not have a phone that does apps.
So do you not get a chance to pay by text or online as you do with Ringo?

 

@nigelss The above website says there's 2 ways to pay, both requiring a smart device. One is their 'APCOA Connect' app; the other is scan a QR code displayed in the car park which'll take you to something called 'ScanPay' where you can pay without registering personal details.

EDIT - So then I Googled Scanpay and found: https://scanpay.apcoa.co.uk/ which thankfully opens on a proper computer, no need for a phone. Why don't they provide a link from the Robertsbridge page on their other site?

Search for Robertsbridge Station in Scanpay; enter your vehicle reg. and choose 'Book for Today' (which is the only option) then pay with your card details. Hopefully you'll be able to do this on Saturday before leaving home - good luck!

 

Complicated! I gave up when I was there. I eventually found a NR worker who told me - with a lovely local accent that is not so common now that they hardly ever check.

 

It seems utterly ridiculous. J̌just to park at bloody car at a provincial railway station.
Perhaps better to just park the car, and then ignore any follow-ups as being "sorry, I'm not on line". Personally, I'm sick of these functions which are dependent on a smartphone. Not being online and dependent on a smartphone should be a perfectly adequate defence against prosecution.

 

Never, ever, scan a QR code to lay for anything. It's one of the most common scams going...

 

The South Eastern website says you can pay by cash or card using the ticket vending machine.

https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/station-information/car-parking

Edit - but not with cash at Robertsbridge...

 

Thanks again to all for the advice. To be honest, I'm on the brink of abandoning the idea, much as I would like to go. Where I live, you go into a car park, enter your vehicle registration number, how long for, and tap with a debit/credit card. Done. Easy. No mobile phones. No Apps. No numbers to call. I think I will have to phone South Eastern Railway to find out more about ticket vending machine availability and then make my final decision. Just for the record, I spent my working life in software development of all kinds. I think that's why I am so anti all these modern "improvements" to "make your life easier". It comes down to companies wanting to reduce their paid workforce and increase profits with an almost total disregard for how it affects the customer. Anyone tried speaking to a human being at Sky or Virgin Media lately? But I rant... Thanks again.

 

There's a good cafe in Etchingham station as well.

 

What news of Robertsbridge signal box, which is a little gem?

 

It will be busy tomorrow, with the donor's special to Tonbridge and back, and then using the down siding and headshunt to access the RVR platform.

 

Don't ever park at Robertsbridge but I checked at Headcorn this morning and you can pay at the ticket machine. It's ANPR enforcement at Headcorn possibly the same at Robertsbridge

 

While we're ranting about car parking, this reminds me of a visit to a hospital car park in Nottingham some years ago. ANPR on entry, find your vehicle on the system and pay on exit. Which on the face of it seems like a good idea.
My vehicle's registration starts LB59; the ANPR read this as L859 (as I found out when trying to find it on the system when exiting).
Then, having paid, the ANPR on exiting read the number plate correctly and wouldn't let me out.
There was a button to press if there were problems, this took ages for anyone to respond and then they cut me off 2 or 3 times.
I can't actually remember how I got out now. I know I didn't smash through the barrier, but I certainly thought about it.

Anyway, that was about as off-topic as we could get. Sorry.

 

Last post from me on getting to Robertsbridge. After much pondering, phoning South Eastern Railway about car parking, and looking at the likely road situation on Saturday, I have thrown the car option out of the window. It has to be the train at much higher cost and travel time with me leaving the house at 0900 to arrive at Robertsbridge just after midday or forget about it and watch the videos that are almost certain to pop up on YouTube next week. On a side note, you might recall some trumpeting by HMG about freezing rail fares this year. My rail costs have actually shot up because since last December super off-peak fares are no longer available from my station. To add insult to injury, the off-peak tickets I used to buy now and again during the week had their conditions changed at the same time so they aren't valid any more for return journeys between 4.00pm & 7.00pm - just when I have to come back if I am going to make the local transport connection (which has also changed and now stops running earlier than it did) - meaning I have to buy an off-peak ticket to get to London and a more expensive anytime ticket to get back. Fares frozen? B*****ks to that!

 

On the 16.50 from Hastings to Tonbridge and just passed the Hastings diesel units returning from Robertsbridge to St Leonard's. A well attended event and a lot of people seemed to be getting off mainline trains at Robertsbridge which must be a favourable sign.

 

Apparently we are all desperate to pay by contactless so TFL have imposed their own rules as the supplier of the system. Another example (if needed) of beware of what you wish for.