The Lavender Line is a heritage railway based at Isfield Station, near Uckfield in East Sussex, England. History The Lavender Line was originally part of the Lewes to Uckfield Railway opened to the public on 18 October 1858. This independent company became part of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) in 1864 to safeguard that company's interests east of its London to Brighton main line. Ten years from its opening, Isfield saw through workings from Brighton to Tunbridge Wells and later Tonbridge, via a new Uckfield–Groombridge link. The Uckfield to Lewes section was doubled at this time, though the extension north of Uckfield was single track until 1894. Prior to 1868 trains from Uckfield travelling south to Lewes joined the Keymer Junction to Lewes line north of Lewes at Hamsey, latterly called the "Hamsey Loop". In order to avoid reversal of trains to Brighton at Lewes the 1868 works included abandoning the Hamsey Loop with the heavily engineered new line entering Lewes from the east. In Lewes the new line traversed a bridge over the River Ouse then a bridge over Cliffe High Street and some sidings to Lewes Station via a number of embankments and there were two other substantial new bridges further north. The mileage of the line also changed following this route alteration, with the zero milepost now at Brighton, Isfield's location was now . The East Grinstead line, opened in 1882 and closed in 1958, part of which now forms the Bluebell Railway, branched off the line at Culver Junction, near Culver Farm between Lewes and Barcombe Mills (the next station south of Isfield). Closure As early as 1964 BR was aware of planned road works in and around the Lewes area, in which a bypass around Lewes was planned. As part of this the building of the Phoenix Causeway (Phase 1 of 3) meant a section of the Lewes to Uckfield railway line was in the way – requiring either a level crossing or a road bridge. BR applied for an Act of Parliament to reinstate the Hamsey loop as there were also concerns about the condition of some of the bridges on the 1878 route. Despite this, in 1966, the local TUCC received notification from BR that the line from Lewes to Hurst Green Junction was to close in its entirety. This was because the line was one of those proposed for