The last British Railway station manager at Bishopstone station
Bishopstone Station, is a classic art-deco design, and Grade II listed. It was built in 1938, though the
flat roof was modified in 1940 to incorporate two gun turrets, providing 360 degree views of the sea
during World War II. It’s the only railway station in the UK equipped with gun turrets!
Kevin Gordon in the Sussex Express in 2006 recalled some of its history:
“The Southern Railway appointed a woman station master which was most unusual at the time.
She was Mrs E Moore1 and in a wartime propaganda film she is seen selling tickets, talking to
passengers and waving her flag to see off trains. The film was used to encourage women to take
up work traditionally done by men. Mrs Moore had previously been a stewardess on the steamship
Brighton and she remained on the vessel after it had been requisitioned as a wartime hospital ship.
In 1940 the ship was bombed while in Dieppe harbour but Mrs Moore managed to escape into
France where she hid in hedges, walking 40 miles to Fecamp. Here she managed to board a coal
ship which was able to drop her off in Cornwall. After all that adventure, Bishopstone Station must
have been quite dull!”
It was reduced to a single track and single platform in 1975, and although it would remain in
operation, it was decided that it should no longer be staffed. The last remaining member of staff was
station manager Una Shearing until her retirement in 1988.
When the Old Parcel Rooms were renovated as a community hub in 2022 Una was a VIP guest at
the opening.
NOTES/LINKS
1 Mrs Elizabeth Louise Moore, 1906-1977. In 1939 she was stewardess of the SS Brighton. Her seaman husband was
incapacitated by tuberculosis.
https://u.co.uk/shows/the-architecture-the-railways-built/series-3/episode-6/6277657632001
