Editing Lavender Line (section)

==Future expansion==
Despite attempts by the ''Wealden Line Campaign'' to have the line from {{stnlnk|Uckfield}} through Isfield to {{stnlnk|Lewes}} reopened to passenger traffic, a July 2008 study concluded that although technically feasible, the line would be "economically unviable".<ref>{{cite web |title=Lewes to Uckfield rail link |url=https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/roads-transport/roads/road-schemes/lewes-uckfield-rail-link |website=East Sussex County Council |access-date=17 August 2022}}</ref> Any reopening might affect the operations of the Lavender Line or entail a move to a new location, but this depends on the details of any final scheme adopted.  In any event, the campaign has not succeeded, an application to the "restoring your railway" fund in 2021 having failed.

The Preservation Society has expressed an interest in restoring and reopening the line between Uckfield and Lewes in the long-term future.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wealden District Council|author-link=Wealden District Council|title=Local Plan; Chapter 9: Transport, paragraph 9.69|date=December 1998|url=http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/460D6CA4-A305-4256-B538-293DEE3365A9/0/DPI1.pdf|access-date=24 December 2014}}</ref> In December 2008, following the rejection of the reopening proposal, a petition was presented to East Sussex County Council asking it to acquire the trackbed from the Lavender Line's northern boundary to the former site of Uckfield station (which had been relocated further north in the meantime), to lease back the section and to allow heritage services to be run over it. In April 2009, the council's Director of Transport and Environment recommended that the petition be refused on the basis that a heritage operation would prejudice the reopening of the line and the costs entailed would divert funding away from core Council services.<ref>{{cite web|author=East Sussex County Council|author-link=East Sussex County Council|title=Petition to extend, and designate, the Lavender Line as a heritage railway: Report by the Director of Transport and Environment|date=7 April 2009|url=http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/260FE522-6EA3-4FFA-A6AF-EBC9A49FE741/19805/LMTE23March09LewesUckfieldRailway.pdf|access-date=2009-07-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223074508/http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/260FE522-6EA3-4FFA-A6AF-EBC9A49FE741/19805/LMTE23March09LewesUckfieldRailway.pdf|archive-date=23 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> The majority of the old station site in Uckfield has since been converted into a carpark though one of the platforms remains.

Extension to the south is difficult due to the need to reopen the level crossing on Station Road (against ORR policy) while extension to the north would require the two bridges over the river Uck to be refurbished and would only be able to reach Uckfield bypass which blocks access to the station site in Uckfield. Any reinstatement as part of Network Rail would require a new, elevated, station in Uckfield to allow the bypass to be bridged.