Editing Lavender Line (section)

== Private ownership and initial restoration ==

On 16 June 1983 Isfield railway station was purchased at auction by Dave and Gwen Milham both as a depot for their landscaping business and with restoration of the station in mind. The booking hall and signal box were renovated, the station awning refurbished, and all the platform signs were replaced. The original down platform waiting room had been purchased by the [[Bluebell Railway]] in 1978, and resituated at [[Sheffield Park railway station|Sheffield Park]] station. Two months were spent constructing a replica on the original foundations, completed in January 1984. In cooperation with the [[Bluebell Railway]] Dave Milham purchased track material from British Rail, made available from work being done at [[Croydon]].  Initially track was laid as part of a cosmetic restoration with a static locomotive but this later became a working railway.

Restoration of the station was completed by the spring of 1987 with the reinstatement of {{convert|1/4|mi|km}} of [[permanent way]] on the original [[track bed]]. A new engine shed was constructed at Isfield as an extension to the owner's groundworks machinery shed. The total cost of restoration exceeded {{Currency|750,000|gbp|linked=}} according to the Milhams.

The station was named 'The Lavender Line' since A.E. Lavender and Sons were the local [[coal merchant]]s who had operated from the station yard. Two engines were purchased for use at the station: 'Annie', a Barclay 0-4-0 saddle tank previously in service at Bury Transport Museum, and 'Ugly', RSH 0-6-0 saddle tank number 64, purchased while on loan at the [[North Yorkshire Moors Railway]]. A third engine, a 2-10-0 built in WWII by the North British Locomotive Company was shipped from [[Greece]] to the [[United Kingdom]]. The engine was christened 'Dame Vera Lynn' by Dame [[Vera Lynn]] herself at the station on 6 August 1986. This engine proved too large for the then {{convert|1/4|mile}} railway, however, and was sold to Clifford Brown, a British-born American businessman living in Virginia, USA. Mr Brown sent the engine to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway where it now resides.

[[File:WD 2-10-0 at Isfield Sussex.jpg|380px|center|thumb|WD Austerity 2-10-0 'Dame Vera Lynn' departing Isfield.]]