under construction. It was from Tunbridge. The temporary station subsequently became a goods station. The first train, comprising four locomotives and 26 carriages, arrived at Tunbridge Wells on 19September. Trains from Tunbridge had to reverse before starting the climb to Somerhill Tunnel, as there was no facing junction at Tunbridge. This situation was to remain until 1857, when a direct link was built at a cost of £5,700. The old link remained in use until 1913. The SER was granted permission to build a line from Ashford in Kent to St Leonards, East Sussex in 1845. The LBSC reached St Leonards from the following year. This gave the LBSC a shorter route to than the SERs route, then still under construction. The SER sought permission to extend their branch from Tunbridge Wells across the High Weald to reach Hastings. Authorisation for the construction of a line to Hastings was obtained on 18June 1846, Parliament deemed the line between Ashford and St Leonards to be of military strategic importance. Therefore, they stipulated that this line was to be completed before any extension was built from Tunbridge Wells. The extension into Tunbridge Wells opened on 25November 1846 without any public ceremony. In 1847, the SER unsuccessfully challenged the condition that the line between Ashford and St Leonards be completed first. That line was opened in 1851, passing through Hastings and making an end-on junction with the LBSC line from Lewes. Construction The Hastings line is built over the difficult, forested, and hilly terrain across the High Weald and sandstone Hastings Beds, necessitating the construction of eight tunnels between Tonbridge and the south coast seaside resort of Hastings. The SER was anxious to construct the line as economically as possible, since it was in competition with the LBSC to obtain entry into Hastings and was not in a strong financial position in the mid-1840s. The construction of the line between Tunbridge Wells and Robertsbridge was contracted to Messrs. Hoof & Wyths, subcontracted to Messrs. H. Warden. By March 1851, the trackbed had been constructed as far as Whatlington, East Sussex, a distance of . All tunnels had been completed and a single line of railway had been laid for a distance of from Tunbridge Wells. When the section from Tunbridge Wells to Robertsbridge opened on 1September, a single line of track extended a further to Whatlington. On the section between Whatlington and St