Steyning Line

The Steyning Line (also known as the Adur Valley Line) was a railway line that connected the West Sussex market town of Horsham with the once bustling south-coast port of Shoreham-by-Sea, with connections to Brighton. Covering 20 miles (32.19 km), the line closed on 7 March 1966, a casualty of the Beeching Axe.

As with the Cranleigh Line just to the north, the Steyning Line was a consequence of the fierce competition between the London and Brighton Railway (LBR) and the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), for lucrative south coast traffic. In 1844 the LSWR's engineer, Robert Stephenson, drew up plans to construct a line through the Mole Gap, where the River Mole cuts through the North Downs, to Chichester via Horsham and Dorking. At Horsham, a branch was to head south to the then important port of Shoreham-by-Sea. Hearing of this proposed encroachment into its territory, the LBR acted quickly in promoting its own scheme for a line to Horsham and Shoreham. The London and Brighton (Steyning Branch) Railway Act received royal assent on 18 June 1846 and the company's engineer, R. Jacomb-Hood, was instructed to survey the line. Later that year the LBR merged with the London and Croydon Railway, creating the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR).

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