Date: 30/08/2014

A Sussex heritage railway has seen its annual visitor numbers increase by 60,000 since it was reconnected to the mainline network. The Bluebell Railway carried 250,000 passengers in the year after its extension from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead opened in March last year. The two-mile stretch, which cost £3.5m, linked East Grinstead mainline station to Kingscote, 11 miles away.

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Tens of thousands use rail extension

BBC News

A Sussex heritage railway sees its annual visitor numbers increase by 60,000 since it was reconnected to the mainline network.

Related images

Bulleid West Country Pacific no 21C123 Blackmore Vale, lined out in Southern Railway colours, photographed at Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Railway on 29 July 2001.
Location: Sheffield Park
Company: East Grinstead to Culver Junction (London, Brighton and South Coast Railway)
29/07/2001 Peter Todd

Merchant Navy Class 35027 Port Line leaves Horsted Keynes on the Bluebell Railway and heads for Kingscote in 1992.
Location: Horsted Keynes
Company: East Grinstead to Culver Junction (London, Brighton and South Coast Railway)
//1992 Ewan Crawford

View from the signal box at East Grinstead in March 1986. One of the much-loved Thumper DEMUs has just arrived at the platform [see image 21569].
Location: East Grinstead
Company: St Margaret^s Junction to East Grinstead (London, Brighton and South Coast Railway)
/03/1986 Ian Dinmore