Southern - Littlehampton review 1

Littlehampton railway station

Ford to Littlehampton 24/3/08

Cost of ticket: £10.00 (Southern Ranger)

Dept: Ford 11.41   Arrive: Littlehampton  11.48

Journey time: 7 minutes

Distance: 2 miles   Weather: sunny

Train type: Class  EMU

Railway Company: Southern

Frequency of trains: hourly

Ford is a typical country station with just a few houses surrounding it and a level crossing at its eastern end. There is a model railway shop on a small industrial estate to the north of the station, plus a kennels where you can hear the dogs barking in the normally silent station. The main village of Ford is about half a mile away to the South. Ford is also famous for its prison. You can see Arundel with its imposing castle in the distance on the left. Our train goes over the river Arun before turning south to meet with a curve from the Brighton line and then we travel over a flat plain. Then we soon pass a large blue gas container, which you can see for miles around, and we pass other industrial units and then houses. There is a carriage shed on the left and then we come into the four-platform station, complete with semaphore signals and a signal box. The station is much smaller than nearby Bognor, but the staff have taken pride in it by planting some colourful flowers in hanging baskets around the platform.

Summary: Like the Bognor Regis branch this line will continue due to its numbers of holidaymakers and commuters.   MC