Super Spa Valley Railway

A little more than 40 years ago, on the night of Saturday, 6 July 1985, I managed to miss the last train from Tunbridge Wells to Eridge, when I paid a farewell visit to the line, but had not realised that there was a replacement bus service from Tonbridge to Tunbridge Wells on that day.

I was working on The Observer at the time and having to work on Saturdays meant only being able to travel late in the evening. I dashed across from Tunbridge Wells Central station but was too late, and had to settle instead for a short trip back on the last ever service from Tunbridge Wells West to Tunbridge Wells Central.

Having seen coverage of how the 40th anniversary of closure was being marked, I decided to pay a long overdue visit to the charming Spa Valley Railway, which began operations in 1996 and then took 15 years from 1996 until 2011 to fully restore passenger services over the 5½-mile route from Tunbridge Wells West to Eridge.

While missing out on that final trip in July 1985, I had travelled the route many times a decade earlier when staying with a school friend who had moved to Tunbridge Wells as we spent a memorable week using a BR Southern Region Area 4 Runabout ticket, which took us from Tunbridge Wells as far as Uckfield, Rye and Brighton and at a time when Coastway services were formed of ancient 4-COR EMUs.

Reaching Eridge after a rather tortuous 2½-hour trip from Haslemere via Guildford, Redhill and East Croydon, the first thing to note was the absence of a run-round loop for Spa Valley Railway services at the beautifully restored station, which it shares with Southern Railway Class 171-worked services between Uckfield and London Bridge.

Eridge once boasted two island platforms but now Southern services use what was formerly the main up line, while Spa Valley trains depart from what was the main down platform. What would have been a down loop has been truncated by the building of steps and an access ramp from the Spa Valley platform to the main station car park.

That makes for a rather inefficient use of valuable loco and volunteer resources, as the arriving loco on a train from Tunbridge Wells will detach from its coaches and wait for the train to depart behind a second loco that will have shunted into the former down loop when the service it has arrived with has departed.

The two historic locos in action on my 24 July 2025 visit were BR Type 2 Bo-Bo 25185 (D7535), which is based at the South Devon Railway and is 60 years old, having been delivered in March 1965, and Caledonian Railway 0-6-0 828. This is a remarkable 126 years old, having been built in 1899 and secured for preservation by a group of Scottish enthusiasts when it was withdrawn by British Railways in August 1963.

Keen to get an action shot of 828, I carefully surveyed the route on my journey from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells West and noted a field some way east of Groombridge station with a path crossing it close to the line and giving a good panoramic view, as seen on the cover of the Railway’s 2025 visitor guide.

Alighting at the attractive new Groombridge station on my return journey towards Eridge, I headed south over the road bridge then took a path heading left that soon led to the field, from which there was an uninterrupted view of the line and the Groombridge down home signal, with sighting board behind it.

Once back at Eridge, and keen to pass the time between trains, I ventured out of the fine station building, and turned left to re-discover a pub I had not visited for many years, The Huntsman Arms, where I was served an excellent pint of Long Man Brewery Best Bitter (4.0%/£5.20 a pint).