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Repairs to the Embankment Slip near Kingscote

Spring 2001

Extremely wet weather during mid-December 2000 caused a sixty-foot high section of embankment just south of Kingscote Station to slip. Following lengthy discussions with consulting engineers as to the best way to proceed, work started on site, using contractors and our own staff in March 2001. Further heavy rain has made progress slower than expected, but the northern stretch of our line was able to reopen to Kingscote on the last weekend in April.

For the duration of repairs to the slip, we continued to run trains to a temporary timetable between Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes only, with the fare for a day's unlimited travel correspondingly reduced. The railway's 473 bus from East Grinstead was extended to Horsted Keynes.

Because of both Foot and Mouth restrictions to lineside access, and the nature of the work being undertaken using heavy machinery on the site, please note that no one may visit the slip site.

The photo, left, taken by Dave Bowles, on 1st April, shows the relationship between the slip and the trackbed.

The remaining photos, from Richard Young, a Geotechnical Engineer from WS Atkins, show the state of play at the time of a site visit on 19th March. The extent of the slip is difficult to grasp, but the initial problem of consolidating the boggy ground at the foot of the embankment, and then the difficulty of rebuilding the side of the embankment from there are readily apparent.

Brick rubble is being mixed with spoil from the slip to consolidate the new material. The base of the slip site has been stripped of material to enable it to be solidified as a firm foundation for the rebuilding.

It's a long way down to the bottom!

The Wickham Trolley provides staff access to the site from Kingscote, avoiding having to use access across farmland.

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