Haywards Heath is one of the principal stations on the main line between London and Brighton,…read moreserving the commuter town of the same name which has grown up around it. It's not an architectural gem, but it's functional and has a good range of train services. The station opened in July 1841 as the temporary southern terminus on the London to Brighton Railway, and became a through station when the line to Brighton opened in its entirety in September of that year. In 1847 a line was opened from Wivelsfield, just south of Haywards Heath, to Lewes, providing direct lines to Newhaven and Hastings, and 1864 another line opened, to the north, towards Horsted Keynes on the Lewes to East Grinstead line. The line to Horsted Keynes closed in 1963. The station was rebuilt with two long, spacious island platforms in 1933, when the Brighton line was electrified. The street-level buildings are in an unremarkable version of the Modernist style, of brick with concrete canopies. The platforms level buildings are similarly functional and have deep awnings. Since electrification the station has become an important station for dividing trains heading respectively on the lines east towards Lewes and west to Hove and the 'West Coastway' line (avoiding Brighton) and for the same trains joining when heading north. Indeed, it is now the busiest station for this practice in the UK. The station has a regular off-peak service each hour as follows: Northbound Bedford via London Bridge and St Pancras 4 per hour London Victoria 2 per hour Watford Junction - hourly Southbound Brighton 5 trains per hour Littlehampton via Hove and Worthing 2 per hour Eastbourne 2 per hour (one extended to Hastings and Ore) Note: the half-hourly fast Victoria-Brighton trains do not stop here in the off-peak. In the peak hours all Brighton trains call here, providing an intensive service. All northbound trains stop at Gatwick Airport. The station is staffed 24 hours a day, and has a ticket office, waiting rooms, toilets and a large buffet, and step free access is available across the whole of the station (via lifts). There is also storage for over 60 bicycles and a 630-space car park. A limited number of local buses call at the station: see http://www.compass-travel.co.uk .

Whilst I may be living in Haywards Heath, I spend much of my time in Brighton for study,…read moresocialising and shopping. Hence, I am a frequent user of the station. It's one of the main connectors of the south, so is a featured stop for fast services as well as the stop at every station trains. This makes it handy for getting to Gatwick, Brighton and London and you end up waiting less time for a train than at other stations in the area. I think that this is a reason why Haywards heath has become such a popular commuting town and the large station car park attests to this claim! Being a busier station, you also find coffee/snack bars and waiting rooms that are actually open. Now whilst not a fault of the station I do find that a higher percentage of trains get delayed than I would like, so these waiting features are really appreciated. The station staff are helpful for any traveling inquiries or suggestions of cheaper way to get from a to b (sadly, I never seem to qualify for such savings). There are also 3 self service ticket machines if you want to save some time or are cutting your arrival a bit fine before your train departs. There is also a covered area to store bicycles if you are feeling like a healthy commute. All in all, you could do far worse if you have to kill 15-20 minutes waiting for a train than Haywards Heath!

This station is a great place to change over if you are looking for fast rail services to London,…read moreGatwick Airport and the south coast. Be careful though as there are usually many delays for trains going through this station and the staff are not very attentive when it comes to informing you of a rail replacement bus services. They also have toilets and a small waiting room which is heated. Great for those winter months.

Frustrating station to use, in this case the train I was on got cancelled and then we had to wait…read morehere, there are not nearly enough seats. There needs to be better announcements about non-stopping trains too as there were a couple of people (too close to the edge of the platform) who were in danger. Possibly would also help to tell people what to do, rather than expect them to find an alternative route on their own.

Polegate station serves the town of the same name on the northern edge of the Eastbourne…read moreconurbation, and is served by trains on the West Coastway line. It handles around 0.9m passengers a year. The first station on the site opened in 1846 on the Lewes to St Leonards railway line. It became the junction for Eastbourne and for the line northwards to Hailsham in 1849, with the Hailsham line being extended northwards to Eridge on the Uckfield-Groombridge Junction line in 1880. In 1881, to avoid Eastbourne-Hailsham trains having to reverse, a new station was opened further east. The Hailsham line closed in 1968, and the short direct line to Hastings has also closed, necessitating the reversal of all eastbound trains at Eastbourne. In 1986, the 1881 station was closed (it is now a restaurant) and a replacement opened on the site of the original 1846 station, on Polegate High street, and this is the station in use today. It has two platforms, with the main buildings on the north, Eastbourne-bound line. Facilities include a car park, ticket office, waiting rooms or shelters, ticket machines, and cycle storage, but no toilets. There is step-free access both to the ticket office and via short steep ramps to each platform. Between the platforms, there is a footbridge: level access is via the High Street level crossing (allow 5 minutes). Services are provided by Southern; there are two trains an hour to each of Brighton and London Victoria, both via Lewes; and four eastbound to Eastbourne, two of which continue to Hastings and Ore, and one to Ashford.

Just your average train station. Nice long and wide platforms with two waiting rooms (which are…read moreheated!) Good barrier system, although I was sad when the old signal box was removed. Great direct links to London, Brighton, Eastbourne and many more. Staff are nice, there are three (I think) ticket buying machines and two kiosks inside the station. Information packs readily available, you can buy Railcards from here too. I like the welcoming feeling of this station, which also has a night gate for late exits when the barriers are off. I'd recommend this to families, commuters and just about anyone due to the wide platforms and nice service.

Most folks walk on by and don't notice this train station, yet this is a delightful and historical…read moreEdwardian building with a hellava backstory. The station dates from 1864 and in its 158 years it has been blown down by a hurricane and burnt down because a coat had been left to warm on one of the stoves in the waiting room in October, 1899. By 1865 the Pier had been built, there were houses in West Street. A number of religious groups were opening churches at the time and new streets were being developed. Pubs were opening, and Bognor's population was about 3,000. The area in which the station was built was at the end of Dorset Gardens. It was at that time outside the town. However, it was not long before the town grew out to its new station. The Bank Holiday Act in 1871, which fixed holidays for Christmas, helped to increase rail traffic in the season. Excursion trips to the seaside became a part of the lives of millions of people. National newspapers were advertising cheap day trips to Bognor and the Daily News of May 28, 1900, announced all its arrangements for trains over the Whitsuntide holidays, including late trains for those working in London on Saturdays. In 1910 the return fare from London to Bognor was three shillings (15p) and because of this, high numbers continued to come into the town. In 1913 it was reported that on Wednesday, July 9, there were 4,350 day visitors in the town. The world's first travel agent Thomas Cook reported that in 1918 there had been more than 35,000 visitors to the town 'hard to believe, especially when the population was only 8,500.' So it's population had trebled in 53 years and 93 years later, by 2011, it was just over 24,000. The four platform station (and the town) was re named Bognor Regis in 1930 as it was the place of the King's (George V) recuperation from serious illness. Regis 'of the King'. The king who was 70 when he died had suffered for years from chronic bronchitis (heavy smoking didn't help) and in 1928 suffered septicaemia from which he never recovered. Bognor is one of the oldest recorded Anglo - Saxon place names in Sussex. In a document of AD 680, it is referred to as Bucgan ora meaning Bucge's (an Anglo-Saxon name) shore, or landing place. It has survived two world wars, the swinging 60's, the strike-bound 70's, all the polarisation of the Thatcher years, the rise and fall of New Labour. On its 154th birthday (2018) it got a £2.5 million refurbishment and improvements including a new business creative digital hub with an ultra-fast internet connection for leasing to start-up businesses and freelancers but when I was there in July 2022 it was dodo dead. A hive of inactivity. Maybe a victim of wu flu. Not just any old train station then?

Great place to travel from..staff helpful and there's a kiosk to hand while you wait to start your…read morejourney. There are toilets and a bus stop on both sides of the station.

I hope my review of Angmering isn't Angering you…read more This is not too far from Brighton, about 15 miles away in the countryside, and it's right next to a secondary school so Aletta (not Aletta but I'm in love with Aletta so)... a lot of... students use it to get to their little country houses and whatnot. How nice it must be to be middle class or rich in the suburbs of Sussex. Looking at you, Keane. It's a cute little station in the middle of nowhere with a nice dark brown house with a couple of chimneys on top of it. There's a level crossing right at the station which adds to the beauty for a nice element.

Angmering is a small station situated on the outskirts of Littlehampton, serving the suburb of East…read morePreston and the pretty village of Angmering to the north. It is on the 'West Coastway' line between Brighton and Chichester. The station was opened on 16 March 1846 when the London, Brighton & South Coast railway line was extended from Worthing to Ford Junction, before its extension onwards to Chichester. The present building was built in the 1860s. The station has a traditional but rather plain brick-built building with a generous awning on the eastbound platform (to Brighton/London). Facilities include a staffed ticket office, ticket machine, and a privately-run food outlet selling sandwiches, snacks, confectionery and hot and cold drinks. (NB No toilets). There's a decent sized car-park with two disabled parking bays, and cycle racks behind the building and also on the westbound platform. There's a privately run taxi-office just behind the main station building as well. There is level access to both platforms, via the road level crossing at the west end of the station. Off-peak, it's served by the half-hourly London-Littlehampton service, as well as the hourly Brighton-Portsmouth and Brighton-Southampton services. In the evenings there are also some local Littlehampton to Brighton all-stations services.

What a beautiful train station! It was definitely a sight to see and a great location to see when…read moreyou are in London. We specifically came here because we purchased a Eurostar train ticket to Paris. From arriving, to checking in, going through customs, it was very organized and people paid attention. It wasn't chaos as it tends to get in the US. The whole process to getting on and off the train was a piece of cake-definitely not stressful at all. If you are trying to get to Paris, Amsterdam, or any outer cities near London, this is the place to be when needing to take a train. I highly recommend Eurostar since it is a high speed train and will get you to your next destination fairly quick. If you are not planning to leave the city, I still recommend checking it out since it is a beauty and I heard, Harry Potter was filmed here.

Clean station. Hustle and bustle, busy. Clear signage…read more Getting from one platform to another is easy breezy. High-speed trains to get you to international destinations in no time.

If you Havant been to Havant then maybe it's time to come. So to speak…read more This is a little and wide station with a track running right through the middle so trains don't have to stop if they don't want to, and it has overhanging stuff on both sides of the platform, and it mainly serves as a changing point if you want to get to Portsmouth or Southampton and aren't on a train to one of those places. So it's a cute little station and it does a good job, but it feels pretty secluded and separated because of how wide the tracks are between the two tiny platforms.

A delightful and charming time is to be had riding this marrow gauge railway. We took a journey…read morefrom Dymchurch to Dungeness and then back again. A delight from start to end and this from an avowed non trainspotter! The views are stunning and varied, looking inland across green fields and verdant lushness to the views at Dungeness across pebble and shingle stretching away for what feels like miles . . . The staff are helpful and hugely courteous, dedicated to fault, and all the more remarkable for being volunteers. Do take a trip on this railway if you can, the memory of it will stay with you for quite a while.

This is listed in two places, so I thought I'd copy my review across!…read more This is a 1/3 (15 inch guage) railway that runs from Hythe to Dungeness (13 miles). It was conceived by two rich men; Captain Howey and Count Louis Zborowski. It was opened in July 1927, but sadly the Count had died at the Monza Grand Prix before he could see his dream realised. It is really fascinating, with both diesel and steam trains running on the line. The station at New Romney gives a wonderful view of these old, small steam trains from the footbridge that crosses the platforms. It's a lot of fun to take the train from New Romney to Dungeness with kids. The carriages are tiny - there is no standing or moving about in them! There are both covered and open carriages depending on the weather and preference. The gift shop is very train orientated and there are lots of interesting things to buy at all ranges of the budget. I particularly love this train service, as it passes right across the end of my father's garden! It looses a star for being just so expensive though! If you were to take two adults and three children on it for the full 13 miles (Hythe to Dungeness) and back, it would cost over 50 quid! For more information... Webiste: http://www.rhdr.org.uk Tel: 01797 362353