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Brighton railway works (also known as Brighton locomotive works, or just the Brighton works) was one of the earliest railway-owned locomotive repair works, founded in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in
Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
, England, and thus pre-dating the more famous railway works at
Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...
,
Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
and
Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...
. The works grew steadily between 1841 and 1900 but efficient operation was always hampered by the restricted site, and there were several plans to close it and move the facility elsewhere. Nevertheless, between 1852 and 1957 more than 1200
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
s as well as prototype diesel electric and
electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...
s were constructed there, before the eventual closure of the facility in 1962. After use as a factory for constructing
bubble car Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often ...
s, the facility was demolished and has since been redeveloped as part of the New England Quarter of Brighton.


London and Brighton Railway

The earliest locomotive servicing facility at Brighton was a small engine shed to the north-west of the station, serving the Brighton – Shoreham line of the London and Brighton Railway in May 1840. The following year, with the completion of the London – Brighton Main Line, the railway opened a larger repair facility and
motive power depot A motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds" or just "sheds". Facilit ...
on the eastern side of the main line adjacent to the
Brighton railway station Brighton railway station is the principal station serving the city of Brighton in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, operated by Govia Thameslink Railway. It is the southern terminus of the Brighton Main Line, the western terminus of the ...
. However a new workshop at
Horley Horley is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England, south of the towns of Reigate and Redhill. The county border with West Sussex is to the south with Crawley and Gatwick Airport close to the town. It has its own econ ...
, midway between London and Brighton, also opened in 1841, was then planned to become the principal locomotive and carriage workshop of the new railway.


London Brighton and South Coast Railway

Following his appointment as the Locomotive Superintendent of the successor company, the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) in November 1847,
John Chester Craven John Chester Craven (born 1813 in Hunslet, Leeds) was an English locomotive engineer. He was the locomotive, carriage and wagon superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1847 until his resignation in 1870. He died in 18 ...
changed the plan of moving the works to Horley. Carriage construction began in 1848, having previously been carried out by contractors at New Cross. Craven also set about enlarging and equipping Brighton works for new steam locomotive construction, which began in May 1852. However the situation of the works, close to the main line, on top of a cliff, in what would soon become a built-up area, always imposed restrictions on the space available for its efficient operation.


Expansion 1860–1900

During 1860 and 1861 Craven began the removal of a large chalk hill on the western side of the main line, which had been dumped during the construction of the main line. The space created was used to accommodate a new much enlarged motive power depot in 1861, thereby permitting the closure of the existing facilities and their incorporation into the works proper. Nevertheless, by 1866 consideration was again being given to concentrating repairs at New Cross Gate railway station. In the 1870s William Stroudley considered moving the works to the site at Horley once again, but instead moved the carriage repair shed and paint shops to new sites on the western side of the main line, and transferred the marine engineering work undertaken by the works to a new facility in
Newhaven Newhaven is a port town in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England, lying at the mouth of the River Ouse. The town developed during the Middle Ages as the nearby port of Seaford began drying up, forcing a new port to be established. A ...
. This allowed for the further enlargement of the locomotive building and repair facilities, including the addition of an iron foundry in 1873, and a new carriage painting and cleaning shop in 1878, and a coppersmith's shop in 1881. This new construction solved the problem for a while, but did not address the underlying issue of the inadequate site so that by the end of the century the works was again suffering from serious difficulties affecting its efficient operation.


Crisis at Brighton

From 1905 Brighton works was unable to keep pace with the locomotives requiring to be serviced, and backlogs began to build up. As a result, the LB&SCR established concentrations of locomotives awaiting entry to the works or else scrapping at
East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...
,
Horsted Keynes Horsted Keynes is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The village is about north east of Haywards Heath, in the Weald. The civil parish is largely rur ...
and
Horley Horley is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England, south of the towns of Reigate and Redhill. The county border with West Sussex is to the south with Crawley and Gatwick Airport close to the town. It has its own econ ...
. An outside investigation in 1908, conducted by
Robert Urie Robert Wallace Urie (22 October 1854 – 6 January 1937) was a Scottish locomotive engineer who was the last chief mechanical engineer of the London and South Western Railway. Career After serving an apprenticeship with and working for vario ...
, then Works Manager of Nine Elms Works found 108 of the LB&SCR's 541 locomotives (20%) were awaiting or under repair, and that a general overhaul at Brighton took 43 days, compared with 7.2% of the locomotives of the
South Eastern and Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eas ...
under repair and 21 days taken by
Ashford Works Ashford railway works was a major locomotive and wagon construction and repair workshop in Ashford, Kent in England. Constructed by the South Eastern Railway (UK), South Eastern Railway in 1847, it became a major centre for railway works in the ...
. By 1910 30% of the locomotive stock was unusable due to delays and inefficiencies at Brighton works. Lawson Billinton, the District Locomotive Superintendent at New Cross depot had sought to alleviate the situation by executing repairs and boiler changes, but this had little impact on the problem. The LB&SCR Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent D.E. Marsh received much of the blame for the problem, which had been developing for some years, and he was granted leave of absence due to sickness in 1910, followed by his resignation in July 1911. Billinton had been invited to take over on a temporary basis during Marsh's sickness, and promptly set about re-organising the works and reducing the backlog by using emerging
time and motion study A time and motion study (or time–motion study) is a business efficiency technique combining the ''time study'' work of Frederick Winslow Taylor with the ''motion study'' work of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth (the same couple as is best known t ...
techniques.


Plans to move the works

The LB&SCR directors recognised that part of the problem at Brighton was that the works was overwhelmed with work. In 1910 they purchased land at Lancing for a new carriage and wagon works, which was opened in 1912. This allowed Stroudley's carriage shed to be used as an overflow 'stock shed' by the locomotive works and the motive power depot. Locomotives repaired at Brighton were also sometimes taken to Lancing for their final painting. Once confirmed in his post as Locomotive Superintendent in 1913 Billinton presented proposals to the LB&SCR board to close Brighton works and concentrate all locomotive building and repair at a new facility adjacent to the carriage works at Lancing. However the advent of the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
in 1914 put an end to this plan. Locomotive building was severely curtailed at Brighton after 1916 and the works became involved in munitions production. After the war there was again a substantial backlog of repairs and new construction did not resume until late 1920.


Grouping & impending closure

Following the
grouping Grouping generally refers to the creation of one or more groups, or to the groups themselves. More specifically, grouping may refer to: * Shot grouping in shooting sports and other uses of firearms * the use of symbols of grouping in mathemati ...
of the LB&SCR and other railways in southern England to form the Southern Railway, in 1923, much of the new locomotive construction for the new railway was transferred to the more modern facilities at
Eastleigh Works Eastleigh Works is a locomotive, carriage and wagon building and repair facility in the town of Eastleigh, in the county of Hampshire in England. History LSWR The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened a carriage and wagon works at Eas ...
. After mid-1931, with the impending electrification of the
Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line is a railway line in southern England linking London to Brighton. It starts at two termini in the capital, and , and the branches from each meet at , from where the route continues southwards via to the coast. The line ...
, the locomotive works once again seemed likely to close. Many of the skilled workmen and much of the equipment were transferred to
Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...
and Ashford, the Paint Shop was converted into an
Electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...
maintenance facility, and the former carriage shed was converted for use by the Southern Railway's new Road Motor Engineers Department. Similarly the steam motive power depot was rebuilt and reduced in size.


The Second World War and Revival

Fears of possible air attacks on Ashford and Eastleigh together with the need for more steam locomotive and armaments construction during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
brought about the re-opening and re-equipment of the workshops in 1941. Throughout the remaining years of the war Brighton works was used for locomotive construction, initially for the Southern Railway, but also later for the War Department, the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...
and the
London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It ope ...
. It also manufactured component parts for tanks and anti-aircraft guns. The workshops were damaged during the " Brighton Blitz" in May 1943 but soon repaired.


British Railways and closure

In the decade after the
nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...
of
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...
ways(BR) in 1948 Brighton works was again used for new locomotive 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 the works covered and employed about 650 staff. 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. The motive power depot was officially closed 15 June 1961, but remained in use for stabling steam locomotives until 1964, and was demolished in 1966.


Later uses of the site

After the closure of the main works, part of the workshop was used for the building of
Isetta The Isetta is an Italian-designed microcar initially manufactured in 1953 by the Italian firm Iso (automobile), Iso SpA, and subsequently built under license in a number of different countries, including Argentina, Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil ...
microcars between 1957 and 1964 and some of the land remained in railway use, associated with the stabling of
electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...
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.


Organisation of the works

A report of a visit to the works by members of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1947 described the arrangement of the works and the cranes and other mechanical equipment used. The works were then organised into: * a boiler shop (then building new boilers for SR West Country class) * an erecting shop (building West Country class locomotives and reconditioning of War Department "Austerity" locomotives for use on S.R. and L.N.E.R.) * a machine shop * a fitting shop to deal with the repairs to axle boxes, motion parts, boiler mountings, and other details. * a coppersmith * a pipe-fitting shop * a light plating shop (for building smokeboxes and boiler clothing) * a small welding shop to deal with welded details other than boilers * a small brass foundry The works was supplied with compressed air for pneumatic drilling, riveting, and chipping hammers; a hydraulic plant for the 250-ton plate flanging press and a 20-ton press; and both alternating and direct electric current.


Locomotive construction at Brighton

The first locomotive to be constructed at Brighton was a
2-2-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and two trailing wheels on one axle. The wheel arrangement both ...
, No.14.Larkin (1992), pp. 33 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.


London Brighton and South Coast Railway

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 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement with no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. While the first locomotives ...
(awarded a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Exhibition), the D1 0-4-2T, the Billinton B4
4-4-0 4-4-0, in the Whyte notation, denotes a steam locomotive with a wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels. First built in the ...
, and D3 0-4-4T classes, the Marsh H2 class 4-4-2, and L Class
4-6-4 , under the Whyte notation for the classification of locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels and four trailing wheels. In France where the type was first used, it is known as ...
T. Locomotive building at Brighton ceased at the end of 1916 with the building of the last E2
0-6-0 is the Whyte notation designation for steam locomotives with a wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. Historically, this was the most common wheel arrangement used o ...
tank, and five K class
2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. T ...
, and did not resume until late 1920, with further members of the K and L classes. The last locomotive to be built at the works by the LB&SCR was L class No. 333 ''Remembrance''.


Southern Railway

For the first three years of Southern Railway ownership, no new locomotives were built at Brighton, although rebuilding of the B4 class into virtually new locomotives took place. During 1926 the works was responsible for building ten examples of Maunsell's "River class" and then rebuilding of six of them into "U class"
2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. T ...
tender locomotives two years later. The works also built a further ten "U" class in 1928. The following year the works constructed all of the designer's Z class
0-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and no trailing wheels. Locomotives of this type are also referre ...
T locomotives, before locomotive construction again ceased. During the war years Brighton works built more than half of Bulleid's Q1 class 0-6-0 freight locomotives, and the drawing office was primarily responsible for the detailed designs of his revolutionary Merchant Navy
4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomoti ...
express passenger locomotives, although the locomotives were built at
Eastleigh Works Eastleigh Works is a locomotive, carriage and wagon building and repair facility in the town of Eastleigh, in the county of Hampshire in England. History LSWR The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened a carriage and wagon works at Eas ...
. From 1943 they built 93 of the LMS Stanier 8F type
2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...
freight locomotives for the War Department, at the incredible rate of one every 4.5 days. The heyday of locomotive building at the works was during the decade after the war, when Brighton built more than 100 Bulleid light pacifics of the
West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...
and
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...
classes. The works also constructed the boilers and tenders for the final batch of ten Merchant Navy class, although the locomotives were constructed at Eastleigh. The thousandth locomotive to be constructed at the works was 21C164 "Fighter Command" in June 1947. This figure did not take into account 12 B4X class
4-4-0 4-4-0, in the Whyte notation, denotes a steam locomotive with a wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels. First built in the ...
from 1922–24 which were officially classified as rebuilds rather than new locomotives.


British Railways

During the early years of
British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...
Brighton works constructed two further batches of "West Country" pacifics and would have been responsible for the entire class of 110 locomotives, had not the works become overstretched due to its involvement in the design and construction of Bulleid's problematic and ultimately ill-fated Leader class in 1949. Thereafter it was responsible for building 41 examples of the LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T for use on the Southern Region. In addition to the Leader class, other prototype locomotives constructed at Brighton included the third 3rd rail Co-Co
electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...
, numbered 20003 in 1948, and the third 1Co-Co1 diesel electric locomotive numbered 10203 in 1954. Brighton staff were 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. In 1955 R.G. Jarvis, Chief Technical Assistant at the works, and his staff were responsible for the design of the highly successful rebuilds of the "Merchant Navy" and "West Country" classes, although the rebuilding took place at Eastleigh. 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.


Other engineering work undertaken at Brighton works

As mentioned above, the works undertook marine engineering for the railway until the mid-1870s and carriage construction until the opening of
Lancing Carriage Works Lancing Carriage Works was a railway carriage and wagon building and maintenance facility in the village of Lancing near Shoreham-by-Sea in the county of West Sussex in England from 1911 until 1965. History under the LB&SCR The cramped situati ...
. In addition it constructed
turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...
s and other heavy equipment for the railway.


References


Further reading

*Bradley, D.L. (1969) ''The locomotives of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway – Part 1'', Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, 179 p., *Bradley, D.L. (1974) ''The locomotives of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway – Part 3'', Railway Correspondence & Travel Society. 156 p., *Bradley, D.L. (1975) ''Locomotives of the Southern Railway'', v. 1, Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, *Bradley, D.L. (1976) ''Locomotives of the Southern Railway'', v. 2, Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, *Bradley, D.L. (1980) ''Locomotives of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway'', Revised edition, Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, *Gray, Adrian, (1980) ''The London to Brighton line 1841–1977'', Oakwood Press. *Larkin, E.J. and Larkin, J.G. (1988) ''The Railway Workshops of Great Britain 1823–1986'', London : Macmillan, 266 p., {{DEFAULTSORT:Brighton Railway Works Buildings and structures demolished in 1966 Railway workshops in Great Britain Defunct railway workshops Transport in Brighton and Hove London, Brighton and South Coast Railway