Brighton Works, once a proud centre of engineering which was emblematic of the early days in
railway history, now a multi-storey car park. Not so long ago myself and the camp Mario brother
took a trip to Brighton, and had a look around the area which was once the capital of the London,
Brighton and South Coast Railway. As usual, the footage we took was mainly of us goofing around,
but I thought it would be sensible to have a separate video talking about where exactly we were
and what its significance is to railfans globally. It’s also apparently #StepneyCon, coinciding
with 61 years since the locomotive arrived at Bluebell Railway, which reopens post-lockdown
on the 20th May 2021. Of course, if there’s any opportunity to celebrate Stepney, I’m all for it,
so a video looking around the engine’s birthplace (build place?) sounds like the perfect fit.
If not now, I was going to do this for the 150th anniversary of the terriers next year anyway
so ah well let’s have it early. Many other famous engines were built here too of course,
some of which didn’t even exist, but I’m very much aware of who watches my videos so
if I didn’t mention it I’d get a lot of comments telling me so.
Trains first steamed into Brighton as early as 1841, as the London and Brighton Railway
uncoincidentally wanted to connect the two locations. Brighton had not only proven to be
a popular seaside attraction for Londoners, but also a good link for cross-channel connections
to France. The first engines were built by contractors elsewhere, and the setup of the
initial railway site was pitiful compared to the grand station that was yet to come.
Basic railway workshops were set up here so that the rolling stock could be maintained,
but these didn’t start producing their own engines until a decade later.
Soon the station was replaced by a bigger station built over the top of the old station,
not only serving the mainline but also two coastal tracks which had been built
branching immediately off to the east and west. There were considerations for the main loco
works to be built at Horley, but it was later decided that despite the extreme lack of space,
having the works be located at the joining of these lines made more sense.
Over the years, Brighton Works and the motive power depot alongside it saw many ups and downs
that were the stress of many chief mechanical engineers. It produced award winning engines and
experimental innovations. It manufactured boilers for ships and contributed in both world wars.
In its dying days, it ironically also built cars, which the railway then took
on special motor-trains. Some notable engines that were built here include:
-The ‘Jenny Lind’ class of 1847, the first used by the newly formed LB&SCR.
-The 50 Stroudley Terriers, obviously, with names including Brighton, Stepney and Boxhill.
-The Marsh Atlantics. -The Billinton E2s, which as a class were
pretty unremarkable, but in fiction would provide the real-life basis for Thomas the tank engine.
-The Billinton ‘L’ Remembrance class.
-Bullied’s light pacifics, and his not-so-successful ‘Leader’.
After the formation of the big four railway companies in 1924,
loco building was mainly moved to the more modern facilities at Ashford and Eastleigh, leaving
Brighton purely for the upkeep of current stock. That was until the 2nd world war, when fears that
those works may be bombed and the overall need for war supplies pushed Brighton Works back into work,
working on the construction of new engines. Just like how the last loco built by the LB&SCR was a
large side tank engine, the last loco built under the British Railways reign was 80154 in 1957.
The works was shut in 1961 and almost entirely demolished in 66. So, what remains today?
All three routes into Brighton are still in use today, so
the station is still proudly standing with its 3 huge glass canopies.
Outside, the view has changed beyond recognition. (Clip on Terminus street) The workshops used to
stand just to the East of the station, and the loco sheds to the West, in the triangular space
between the mainline and the Western route to Hove. Let’s look at the workshops themselves
first. For anyone who’s unfamiliar with the city, it’s got quite a lot of hills, which proved quite
a challenge considering the space needed for such a mega railway facility. In its heyday,
engines, coaches and wagons were built here, others overhauled, and other others stored.
The workshops had to be expanded several times over its life, until there was simply no more
space left. It was restricted by existing roads, buildings, steep drops and railway lines. On one
side was the mainline, and the other was a goods line that dropped down a steep gradient to a yard.
In the 1890s, the solution was to extend the works by building a structure over this line, with the
buildings being supported on huge brick pillars, creating a tunnel underneath. This area is the
only real survivor of the site in the present day. (Goods line clips) Overhead, there used to
be a fitting shop, pump store, iron store, welding department room and millwrights room.
This is the track bed for the three lines that ran downhill here to the goods yard and coal store.
Going down south into the swarms of flats, shops and hotels, there are more subtle
nods to the railway connection. The names of streets and buildings include Fenchurch Walk,
Sinclair Walk, Stroudley Road, Billinton Way and of course, Stepney Court. There’s also
some looser connections such as Cheapside, which is a Terrier but the street was named after
the area in London rather than the engine, and then Horsted Court and Kingscote Way,
which aren’t really related to Brighton, but they’re station names on the Bluebell Railway.
Let’s head back up to those lovely brick pillars. This is a designated wildlife trail
starting at the east side of the station, and although it’s a very short trail,
it’s certainly filled with wild life. Quite appropriately,
the columns are dressed with a display of fire irons, nodding at the previous past of the area.
Further along is the wall that once held the machine shop,
marking the northern end of the main site.
The goods line carries on, across what is now one of the oldest cast iron bridges in the world.
This is where the trail ends, but there is still a glimpse of the past here.
In 2013 artist Jon Mills installed this silhouette of Jenny Lind, one of those early locos to work
the route. It’s marked as a ‘Ghost Train’, which when viewed from the road below is supposed to
light up spontaneously at night with accompanying sound effects.
I’ve never seen or heard of this feature actually working, and I can only presume that the ‘Stop
HS2’ banner is an unrelated, newer addition. The goods line continued under the Newhaven branch
and back up to join the mainline. Descending from the bridge and following the road westwards
there are remains of what appears to be an old pump house, and the original bridge
that carried the mainline, which was later extended by a huge girder bridge alongside.
Above the road, the carriage shed still survives and is now used to store multiple units.
We then arrive at a bridge going over the Eastern route out of the station. Looking over the wall,
we can see where the motive power depot used to be. This view is taken of the same bridge,
and shows a massive hill of chalk that was made when clearing the cuttings. The running sheds used
to be on the same side as the engineering works, but as space got tight the hill was dug out again,
and the MPD moved here. Only this store building on the far left survives.
Going up the hill back towards the station we get a slightly clearer view. There used to be a
turntable next to the store building, which was at the side of a 14 road shed. This was accompanied
by another shed that was intended as a wash station, but mostly used as another running shed,
and yet another shed, which used to be a carriage shed, but was mostly used as a running shed too.
As you can tell, space to store locos was precious. Engines of all types would come
here to coal and water, before backing into the station, and shunting back onto their trains.
The complex that currently sits on the site was built in the 70s,
but isn’t used to store rolling stock.
Going all the way back around the station to where we started, this multi-storey car park and the
surrounding buildings are the bulk of what used to be the heart of the workshops. This is where
the engineer’s offices were, the boiler shop, the cylinder and wheel shop, the erecting shop
(now, now), you get the picture. This was once the beating industrial heart of the town,
and where the most futuristic advancements in travel technology were made. There is of course
one more engine I need to mention in this story. The iconic little Brighton Works shunter. This was
one of Stroudley’s terriers, which was relegated to departmental use,
used to scamper about shunting engines, coaches and wagons all about the site. There
were in fact two Brighton Works shunters. The first was Boxhill, which because of its role
managed to stay in a relatively close to original condition. It was highly cherished and looked
after by the engineering department, which led it to be preserved as part of the national collection
in 1946. Morden was Boxhill’s replacement, and became a favourite for rail fans until it was
scrapped in 1963. Not being part of the capitol stock, it was one of the few engines in the
British Railways era to not wear the company black, green or red liveries. Instead, it was kept
in its original Stroudley Improved Engine Green right until the end, occasionally being chosen
for railtours around Sussex and Kent; a welcome look back to railway life nearly a century before.
It felt right to end our brief tour here, looking back towards the station.
Of course, we came prepared, with a small army of models based on those once built here.
Thank you for watching, I hope you all enjoyed this little tour.
Now, disclaimer, I’m no historian and don’t claim to be. After some people had their day absolutely
ruined by watching my Titanic video recently, I thought it’s worth mentioning that I’m only making
these discussion videos for fun, and they’re more of a ramble about topics I’m interested in
than factual statements. Forgive me if some things are wrong, basically,
but still feel free to let me know so that I can learn in future. For this particular video,
I’d like to thank Brighton Loco Works.co.uk for their extensive knowledge and collection of photos
and maps. I used this when I first explored the site back in 2012 and think it’s incredible that
such information is archived in one place. Do check their website if you’d like to know more,
this video wouldn’t exist without it. If you’d like more of these talky videos, let me know.
Also if you have a favourite engine that was built at Brighton Works, I’d love to hear it.