Brighton railway works

Brighton railway works was built in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in Brighton, England.

History

The London and Brighton Railway built one of the first ever railway-owned locomotive construction and repair works on a site adjacent to the Brighton railway station, pre-dating the more famous works at Crewe, Doncaster and Swindon. Following his appointment as Locomotive Superintendent of the successor company (the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) in November 1847, John Chester Craven set about enlarging and modernising the works. From 1852 he used it for the construction of new steam locomotives of his own designs. However the situation of the works on a sloping site in the centre of the town always imposed restrictions on the space available for efficient operation.

In the 1870s William Stroudley considered moving the works to a new site at Horley in Surrey midway between London and Brighton. He was persuaded to keep them in Brighton when the local council agreed to the removal of a chalk hill on the west side of the line to accommodate a new motive power depot and paint shop, thereby allowing for the enlargement of the other facilities. [Cooper (1981), p. 58] Stroudley also removed the marine engineering work undertaken by the works to a new facility in Newhaven.

By 1910 the efficient operation of the works was once again being hampered by its location and so the LB&SCR purchased land in Lancing for a new carriage and wagon works, which was opened in 1912. The following year Lawson Billinton presented proposals to the LB&SCR board to close Brighton works and concentrate all locomotive building and repair at a new facility at Lancing. However the advent of the First World War in 1914 put an end to this plan, and the works became involved in munitions production.

Grouping

Following the merger of the LB&SCR and other railways in southern England to form the Southern Railway, following the Railways Act grouping of 1923, most new locomotive construction transferred to the more modern facilities at Eastleigh Works. After mid-1931, with the impending electrification of the main line between London and Brighton, many of the workmen and much of the equipment were transferred to Eastleigh and Ashford, and the Paint Shop was converted into an Electric multiple unit maintenance facility. Brighton Works once again seemed likely to close.

World War II

Fears of possible air attacks on Ashford and Eastleigh together with the need for more steam locomotive construction during World War II brought about the re-opening and re-equipment of the workshops in 1941. Throughout the remaining years of the war the works was used for locomotive construction for the Southern Railway, the War Department, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway.

British Railways

In the decade after the nationalisation of British Railways (BR) in 1948 Brighton was again used for new construction, being responsible for both design work and construction of several of the new BR Standard classes. At the time of the centenary of locomotive building in 1952 Brighton works covered nine acres and employed about 650 staff. [Cooper (1981), p. 65] However, under the modernisation plan for BR announced in 1954, Brighton Works was once again passed over. Locomotive building ceased in 1957, and locomotive repairs ceased the following year. The buildings were closed in 1962 and demolished in 1969.

Locomotive construction at Brighton

The first locomotive to be constructed at Brighton was a 2-2-2, No. 14. Thereafter Brighton works was responsible for the design and construction of a large proportion of the locomotives operated by the LB&SCR under the engineers Craven, William Stroudley, R. J. Billinton, D. E. Marsh and L. B. Billinton. Notable locomotive types constructed at Brighton included the A1 "Terrier" class, awarded a Gold medal at the 1870 Paris Exhibition, the B1 “Gladstone" class 0-4-2, and the H2 class, 4-4-2. The last locomotive to be build at the works by the LB&SCR was L Class 4-6-4T 333 Remembrance.Under Southern Railway ownership Brighton was responsible for the building of ten examples of Maunsell's "River class", his SR Z class 0-8-0T locomotives and some examples of his Southern Railway U Class. The drawing office was also primarily responsible for the detailed designs of Bulleid's revolutionary Merchant Navy 4-6-2 express passenger locomotives, although they were built at Eastleigh Works. Brighton works built more than half of Bulleid's Q1 class 0-6-0 freight locomotives.During the war years the works also built 93 of the LMS Stanier type 2-8-0 freight locomotives for the War Department. The heyday of the works was during the decade after the war, when Brighton built more than 100 Bulleid light pacifics of the West Country and Battle of Britain classes. Brighton would have been responsible for the entire 110 locomotives, had not the works become involved in the design and construction of Bulleid's ill-fated Leader class in 1949. The thousandth locomotive to be constructed at the works was 21C164 "Fighter Command" in July 1947. [Cooper (1981), p. 63] During the early years of British Railways Brighton works also constructed 41 examples of the LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T for use on the Southern Region. Brighton staff were also involved in the design of three of the most successful BR standard classes – the class 4 4-6-0 tender, and class 4 2-6-4 tank classes together with the 9F 2-10-0 class – and the works built 130 examples of the class 4 tank locomotives after 1951. Brighton works built the third of the Southern Region prototype 1Co-Co1 diesel electric locomotives of the D16/2 class, numbered 10203. New locomotive construction ceased in 1957 with the construction of BR standard class 4 tank 80154, which was the 1,211th locomotive to be constructed there.

Later uses of the site

After the closure of the works, part of the workshop was used for the building of Isetta microcars between 1957 and 1964 and some of the land remained in railway use, associated with the stabling of electric multiple unit trains and other maintenance functions. Much of the land later became a large open car park, and was used for a popular market every Sunday morning. Some land on the eastern side was given over to an assortment of retail units including a number of car dealers with temporary structures being the predominant building type, and a strip below the yard was used for retail premises; behind these remained the stone and brick columns over which the yard had been extended when space was at a premium. Much of the land which was not suitable for use either by lock-up traders or for car parking or still in use by British Rail was left derelict. The final traces of the locomotive works vanished with the demolition of the elevated 1930s Southern Railway signal box in the mid 1980s, the signal box having used part of the main locomotive erecting-shop wall as support.

In the early years of the 21st Century the site has finally seen redevelopment begin, and it lies at the heart of the New England Quarter.

References

*Aves, W.A.T. (2005) "The Locomotives built at the Southern Railway Works, 2 – Brighton, Part 1 1871 – 1906", "Locomotives Illustrated", 159, Ian Allan Publ., ISSN 0307-1804
*Aves, W.A.T. (2006) "The Locomotives built at the Southern Railway Works", "Locomotives Illustrated", 163, Ian Allan Publ.
*Bradley, D.L. (1969) "The locomotives of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway - Part 1", Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, 179 p., ISBN 0-901115-03-7
*Bradley, D.L. (1974) "The locomotives of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway - Part 3", Railway Correspondence & Travel Society. 156 p., ISBN 0-901115-26-6
*Bradley, D.L. (1975) "Locomotives of the Southern Railway", v. 1, Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, ISBN 0-901115-30-4
*Bradley, D.L. (1976) "Locomotives of the Southern Railway", v. 2, Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, ISBN 0-901115-31-2
*Cooper, B.K. (1981) "Rail Centres: Brighton", London : Ian Allan, ISBN 0-7110-1155-9
*Larkin, Edgar (1992) "An illustrated history of British Railway Workshops”, Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co., 184 p., ISBN 0-86093-503-5
*Larkin, E.J. and Larkin, J.G. (1988) "The Railway Workshops of Great Britain 1823-1986", London : Macmillan, 266 p., ISBN 0-333-39431-3