BRIGHTON AND BEYOND
In Steam World 403 I documented my experiences as a trainspotter at Brighton station in the early 1960s. Unlike a lot of articles written by other spotters, I did not have the luxury of a bike to take me to other locations and, even if I had, anything worth seeing would have been many miles from home and I know my parents would never had allowed it, so I had to rely on school holidays, parents and relatives to take me further afield to get my fix of something different.
Brighton - West Coastway line
Many journeys were taken heading west in the general direction of Portsmouth, either to Pompey itself or the Isle of Wight. Leaving Brighton, you immediately passed the engine shed to your right before veering left under a short tunnel then reaching Hove, where during 1962/63 many obsolete engines were dumped before they had their final journey, mostly to Eastleigh.
Passing Hove, the next station of great interest was Lancing where there was a large carriage which is now preserved in Canada, and BR No. 32659, which was one of the few surviving ‘Terriers’ to be scrapped in 1963. These two were replaced in 1963 by two ‘USA’ 0-6-0Ts, Nos. DS235 and DS236, formerly Nos. 30066 (scrapped) and 30070, preserved at the Kent and East Sussex Railway. In August 1963 there was an open day held there and I was fortunate enough to see these two at work.
