UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who showed their appreciation of our April fools story this morning, especially at the Argus.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Here’s the original story – below – by Tim Hodges, who travelled on the line before it became fake news …
It has been signalled that the Kemp Town railway line is to reopen with a full announcement due next week.
The branch line closed in June 1971. It ran from Brighton Station to what is now the Freshfield Road industrial estate.
Railway bosses have secretly drawn up plans to demolish Sainsbury’s in Lewes Road and rebuild the viaduct that used to run parallel to Freehold Terrace.
The line then enters a tunnel which starts at the junction of Bonchurch Road and Elm Grove and still runs under the Hanover area.
When the line opened in 1869 it took just 12 minutes to get from Brighton Station to Kemp Town. In 2018 it can take up to 25 minutes by number 7 bus to do the same journey.
Local celebrities Simon Fanshawe and Katie Price are rumoured to have been signed up as guards for the first journey. Although both are likely just to sell KitKats and hot drinks.
This article will update at noon.
April 1. That is all.
april fools
Love that the Argus fell for this but have now deleted it!
It is a great shame it isn’t true. We need the train lines to have branches down to the seafront part of town now. Badly.
Hi Frank
Happy and Holy Easter 2018.
Both Paddy and I say this an April fools joke – sorry.
Michael Dixon
It is. Well spotted.
The mention of ‘KitKat’ is no joking matter in Brighton. Folk are still recovering from that episode!
One kind of pleasure to laugh at innocent readers ….
One kind of pleasure to laugh at innocent readers ….
Hello,my name is Larry Duncan and was born at 29 Port Hall Road on 4th Oct !948…..makes me almost 71 now..My only link to the Railway is that my Mums youngest Brother,Eric Sayers was on BR from 1948 till he retired at 65…3 years later he passed away.He was on the top link for many years,also known by many on BR as…The SHADOW….No idea why…It was through his conection that I ended up messing with 4mm to the foot modeling and been doing it for 50 odd yrs now.I built a 16ft x 8ft layout of Kemp Town around 20yrs ago. One day soon I plan on redoing it in O gauge ….Thats all for now,God bless you all fellow Brightoinans!