Brighton railway works
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Brighton railway works was built in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in Brighton, United Kingdom.
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[edit] History
The London and Brighton Railway built one of the first ever railway-owned locomotive building factories on a site next to the Brighton railway station. The works built its first steam locomotive in 1852 and was responsible for the design and construction of a large proportion of the locomotives operated by the railway company's successor, the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR). However, the position of the works on a slope in the centre of the town imposed restrictions on the space available for efficient operation. In May 1913 Lawson Billinton presented proposals to the LB&SCR board to close the works and concentrate all locomotive building and repair at a new facility a few miles away at Lancing. However the advent of the First World War in 1914 put an end to this plan.
[edit] Grouping
Following the merger of the LB&SCR and other railways in southern England to form the Southern Railway, during the Railways Act grouping of 1923, most new locomotive construction transferred to Eastleigh Works. Brighton remained responsible for the building of Maunsell's SR Z class 0-8-0T locomotives and some examples of his U class.
[edit] World War II
During the 1930s Brighton was largely concerned with servicing existing locomotives and there was again the prospect that the works would close, but the advent of World War II brought the need for more locomotive building work. Brighton works built more than half of Bulleid's Q1 class 0-6-0 freight locomotives in 1941/2 and LMS 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 of Bulleid light pacifics of the West Country and Battle of Britain classes together with his ill-fated Leader class in 1949.
[edit] British Railways
In the years after the nationalisation of British Railways (BR), Brighton works staff were involved in the design of three of the most successful BR standard classes – the class 4 4-6-0, and 2-6-4T classes and the 9F 2-10-0 class – and the works built many examples of each of these. However, under the modernisation plan for BR announced in 1954, Brighton Works was passed over and it ultimately closed in 1962.
[edit] Later uses of the site
After the closure of the works, 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 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. Some of the land was left derelict, and a pair of rusting steam engines remained on the site, visible from passing trains, until the early 1990s.
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.
[edit] References
- Larkin, E.J., Larkin, J.G., (1988) The Railway Workshops of Great Britain 1823-1986, Macmillan Press
- Bradley, D.L.,(1974) Locomotives of the L.B.& S.C.R. part 3, Railway Correspondence & Travel Society.
- Bradley, D.L.,(1975-6) Locomotives of the Southern railway parts 1 & 2, Railway Correspondence & Travel Society.
