Doleham railway station

Doleham
The platform at Doleham station, looking south
Location	Doleham, Rother England
Coordinates	50°55′08″N 0°36′40″E / 50.919°N 0.611°E / 50.919; 0.611Coordinates: 50°55′08″N 0°36′40″E / 50.919°N 0.611°E / 50.919; 0.611
Grid reference	TQ835164
Managed by	Southern
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	DLH
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Original company	South Eastern Railway
Pre-grouping	South Eastern and Chatham Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
1 July 1907 (1907-07-01)	Opened as Guestling Halt
1909	Renamed Doleham Halt
5 May 1969	Renamed Doleham
Passengers
2015/16	6,496[1]
2016/17	4,768
2017/18	3,422
2018/19	2,842
2019/20	3,074
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Doleham railway station is a small, single-platform wayside halt in East Sussex, England. It is on the Marshlink line, and train services are provided by Southern. The station is very isolated and serves only a handful of houses in the immediate area.

History[]

The station opened as Guestling Halt on 1 July 1907 after the South Eastern and Chatham Railway had introduced a steam railcar service on the line in order to improve traffic. It was one of the few places along the line between Hastings and Winchelsea that could access the railway by a public road.^[2] The station was renamed Doleham Halt in 1909 as Guestling was more conveniently accessed from the previous station, Three Oaks.^[3]

By 1913, the station was being served by ten rail cars a day. This dropped to about seven per day in the inter-war period.^[2]

The "halt" suffix was dropped on 5 May 1969.^[4] The station had two platforms until 1979 when the line through the station was singled; as a result, all trains now use the former "up" (Ashford-bound) platform.^[5]

Services[]

Owing to low patronage, the station is only served by a handful of trains each way, with no services at all during the off-peak period.^[6] It is the least used station in East Sussex and all of Sussex.

Doleham has a very limited service. In the morning, there are three southbound trains to Hastings, of which two continue through to Eastbourne, and one northbound train to Ashford International. There is one train to Ashford during the afternoon peak, and one train each way (to Hastings and Ashford) in the late evening. This gives a total of three daily services northbound and four services southbound on a weekday. At weekends, there is only one train each way in the morning and one each way in the evening.^[6]

Prior to December 2005, the station used to be served by hourly services between Ashford and Hastings. The frequency of stops was reduced when these services were extended to run through to Brighton, due to low patronage, a desire to reduce journeys times on the route through to Brighton, and a need to maintain schedules on the single-track section between Appledore and Ore. There is an ongoing local campaign which seeks to restore regular services to this station, as well as neighbouring stations at Three Oaks and Winchelsea.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, a local newspaper observed that because of the inconvenient stops and lack of access, Doleham could be technically interpreted as the most crime-ridden station in Sussex as there was one reported crime for every 473 passengers. By comparison, the more likely candidate, Gatwick Airport, only recorded one crime per 43,873 passengers.^[7]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Three Oaks		Southern Marshlink Line		Winchelsea
	Historical railways
Three Oaks Line and station open		South Eastern and Chatham Railway South Eastern Railway		Snailham Halt Line open, station closed

References[]

Citations

Sources

External links[]

• Doleham - Least Used Station in East Sussex