Bluebell Railway – Somewhere in Sussex
This is a 1:3 ratio Large Vanilla map of a 1:1 scale "real world" location in Sussex in the UK. Start Date: 1882
A line you’ve probably never heard of opened with much "festivity" in 1882. The Lewes & East Grinstead Railway, (L&EGR) was run by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR). It was a rural line running through thinly populated areas of rural Sussex.
This map shows part of that line from East Grinstead, south to Newick. It also includes the Tunbridge Wells to Three Bridges line running East to West through East Grinstead, as well as the line North to Croydon and London.
The line runs through some glorious countryside. Originally the "fastest" route between Lewes and London, today part of the line is now one of the first preserved heritage lines in the UK.
British Rail attempted to close the route in 1954, finally being successful in 1958. The Lewes & East Grinstead Railway Preservation Society decided it would re-open part of the line and build a steam "museum" railway… which is now known as the Bluebell Railway. This opened in 1960.
Of interesting historical value to this Aussie… in 1884, the 3rd Earl of Sheffield staged a cricket match against a visiting Australian cricket team, which the Aussies won by an innings and 6 runs. That team however did not win the 1884 Ashes series LOL
Meanwhile… back to the map…
The railway right of way is marked using COUNTRY ROADS that are player owned. The TWO TRACK lines from the North to Horstead Keynes, and then on to (near) Ardingly, are shown as LARGE country roads. All the other lines are single track and shown as SMALL country roads.
What IS really interesting here is the split level railway station at East Grinstead.
I’ve also "suggested" some possible loops at both the Northern and Southern "portals" on the map… where perhaps items from outside the region can be "imported" for game purposes.
Several streets are player owned to help limit the AI’s mangling of towns in the early game. You might like to change that as the game progresses.
WARNING – ALL of the WATER on this map is PAINTED… so be careful of any terrain manipulation near the lakes etc… and watch out the AI doesn’t build on them! LOL
This map was created from another YouTube viewer suggestion using the historical maps available from the National Library of Scotland. Thanks for your input Zero!
I do hope you enjoy recreating these lines through Sussex. Check the link for the Bluebell Railway – https://www.bluebell-railway.com/ – for more details of the area 🙂
And please… leave a like!
Thanks,
Stephen Spry
P.S. It WILL cost approximately $30m to place all the track and stations on this map. Suggest you don’t just jump in and attempt doing that straight away 🙂 Cheers!
