A summer’s walk around the back of the village of Ardingly led through open fields to some woods and then the remains of a brick bridge.

You don’t need to be an architectural expert or railway historian to work out this was clearly the site of a former railway line.

A path up some steps led to what was track level and the wide path (actually a permissive footpath) was obviously where the rails had been.

There are no signs or boards to indicate that trains once travelled where I now walked.

The track has long since gone but it’s easy to see where the trains would have travelled on their route through the countryside.

It’s only by looking closely at the ground that you can see the odd remnant of the railways on what is now part of a walking route, albeit not as established or complete as the Forest Way.

The path forms part of the Western Extension Project of the heritage Bluebell Railway – part of the long-term plan to reconstruct the line as and when there is the money available and the chance to extend the line. The branch line used to run from Haywards Heath to Horsted Keynes and on to East Grinstead – how marvellous it must have been to have a fully connected rail network!

I later found a video of more of the route along this branch line.

So many of these lines have become so overgrown or built-upon that they will never be brought back to life.

For those that are still breathing, it’s more than a romantic notion to think that they can be restored to full health.