The steam trains which ran for the best part of a century were soon replaced by walkers and cyclists as the section between Polegate and Heathfield became the Cuckoo Trail.
In 1981 the route of the old railway line to the south of Heathfield was bought by Wealden District Council and East Sussex County Council. The Cuckoo Trail opened in 1990 and the two councils continue to jointly manage it.
An estimated 200,000 people use the footpath every year.
But with some 7,000 new houses needing to be built in the Willingdon, Polegate and Hailsham area by 2026, transport links will have to be greatly improved to meet the demand.
The Hailsham and Hellingly Masterplan, which sets out a 20-year vision for the future of the area, says it is 'unacceptable that a town the size of Hailsham does not have a rail link'.
It adds that if reinstating a railway is not practical, consideration should be given to a 'light monorail' to run alongside the Cuckoo Trail footpath.
Hailsham mayor Ian Haffenden says bringing in a rail or tram link is 'highly desirable but highly improbable'.
He told the Gazette, "It was regrettable the rail line was ever stopped. It could never be put back in as it was because of the Freshfield Close and Lindfield Drive housing development built over part of the line (just south of the old Hailsham station site].
"This prevents the railway ever going south of Hailsham again.
"There are some alternatives - you could run the railway back up north to Heathfield if that was ever connected up again.
"Alternatively you could run some sort of tram line alongside the Cuckoo Trail from Polegate to Station Road Industrial Estate.
"The industrial estate originally evolved around the railway line and now that's gone, it's isolated and tremendously hard to get to.
"If you put a tram line in to run between there and Polegate it would enhance the viability of the industrial estate.
"There's a need for greater links between Hailsham and Polegate but in this day and age unless a private company feels it can make a profit out of rail or tram lines it won't put the money in to fund it."
Cllr Haffenden said he remembered Hailsham's railway station from living in the town as a boy in the early 1960s.
He said, "I remember going under the Station Road bridge and hoping a train would come along so you could see all the steam and smoke. It was always very exciting."