Reports on recent meetings and visits.
(This part of the website is under construction)
Brede Pumping Station, Waterworks Lane, Brede TH31 6HJ.
Meet at the Pumping Station (TQ 814 178) at 10.30 am for a guided tour hosted by the Brede Steam Engine Society. Built in 1903 to supplythe town of Hastings with water from a new well. Originally it housed two Tangye triple expansion pumping engines one of which survives in restored condition. In 1939 a second pump house was built for a Worthington Simpson engine installed in 1941. In 1964 the boilers were removed and the engines mothballed. However in 1987 restoration began and both remaining engines are now capable of being demonstrated by compressed air as we shall see. The one time boiler space now houses a fine collection of water heritage pumping machinery many in working order. However, the Brede website warns that ‘Building work will start on 28th May 2024 to complete the new Power House. It will not be possible to run all of the engines at the same time until all the work is complete. We plan to run one of the large
engines in the morning and change over at lunchtime to run the other large engine. However, visitors on site at the
time will be able to watch as this change over happens. We will keep as many of the smaller engines running as possible with our limited power’.
There is a tea bar serving light refreshments on site.
In the afternoon we will assemble for a visit to Hastings Fisherman’s Museum, by the old net huts in Rock-a-Nore
Road Hastings TN34 3DW. This is a small fascinating museum illustrating the Hastings fishing history
Please register with Richard Vernon, richard@rvalimited.com, mobile 07771 901830 if you intend to come.
A behind the scenes tour, following which there will be selected items on display which will be of interest to us
including a collection of photographs by a founder member of SIAS dating from 1968-70. The Keep houses the
collection of archives from the former East Sussex Record Office, the Brighton Royal Pavilion & Museums Local
History Collection, the University Of Sussex Special Collections of rare books and the East Sussex and Brighton
Historic Environment record.
The visit is restricted to 15 members, on a first come first served basis and will cost £7.50 per person, card payment
only.
Please register with John Blackwell, johnblackwell@ntlworld.com or 01273 557674 if you intend to come.
Bishopstone station is a fine example of the work of James Robb Scott (See SIH50 where one of his Bishopstone drawings is on the cover) but when we last saw it in July 2017 it was in a very sorry state despite being listed. Since then it has been adopted by The Friends of Bishopstone Station (FOBS) who have restored some of the rooms for community use, installed replica Southern railway signage and redecorated the booking hall. It all looks superb.
Meet at 1030 at Bishopstone station (Station Road BN25 2RB, TV469998) where we will be met by Jim Stanford of FOBS who, after coffee (donations welcome) will shew us the completed rooms and those where work is still in progress. After this we will proceed to the abandoned 18C village of Tidemills where we will be given a guided tour by Will Pilfold of Newhaven Museum. As there are no eateries around Bishopstone please bring a packed lunch and drink which we can enjoy on the beach as it will be a fine warm day (!) If there is time left at the end of the tour we can proceed to the Garden Centre in Newhaven for a cup of tea and a quick visit to the adjoining museum.
Please register with Alan Green (agreenzone@aol.com or 01243 784915) if you intend to attend. Mobile number on the day only 07503 727047
This walk will be around Brighton’s Old Town [The Lanes] with a short foray into the former industrial quarter of North Laine. The Old Town is now upmarket tourist content, but well into the 20th century there were a wide range of industries located there, along with storage areas and distribution; we will weave through the streets, passages and twittens to discover some of this lost industrial heritage.
Meet at Brighton Museum entrance in Royal Pavilion Gardens.. Walk will be about 2 hours. Bus stops nearby at Old Steine and at North Street or a 15 minute walk from Brighton Station. Car parks [expensive! ] at Church Street or at Brighton Station.
Presentation by Jim Gibbons a member of the voluntary group who are renovating the units.
The line between Tunbridge Wells and St. Leonards was constructed during one of the ‘Railway Manias’ in the mid-19th Century. The newly constructed tunnels were in danger of collapsing due to insufficient courses of lining brickwork. The issuewas resolved by providing the additional required brick courses inside the existing structures resulting in a reduced clearance and trains having to be of lesser width than the rest of the then system.
The 1955 ‘Modernisation Plan’ sought to eliminate steam traction from the UK’s railway system by electrification, and where not justified, by dieselisation. The then Southern Region opted for a Diesel-Electric multiple unit option for the route and introduced them in 1957. The trains soldiered on until the line was electrified and re-signalled in 1987 when the lines through the restricted tunnels were singled permitting standard width vehicles to be used.
The Hastings Diesels Group was formed in 1986 aimed at preserving one or more of the unique vehicles. It is now Hastings Diesels Ltd. and owns 16 vehicles including 5 motor coaches of which 9 are currently operational.
Jim Gibbons was for 32 years in British Railways operations management ultimately becoming Network South East’s Professional Head of Operations. He is currently an independent consultant working across the railway industry and is the voluntary operations consultant for Hastings Diesels.
Back by popular demand. Martin Snow will be showing an informative and entertaining series of film clips from many obscure sources. All material not shown to us before on too many subjects to mention here.
Alan Green describes the long history that Chichester has had with railways. The railway reached Chichester in 1846 when what was to become the West Coast Line of the LBSCR was extended from Shoreham. The following year it opened to Havant and then on to Portsmouth. Passengers for London had to change at Brighton, but the journey time was still a fraction of what it had been by stagecoach. In 1881 a new line opened to Midhurst and in 1897 the infamous Selsey Tramway opened, so it was now possible to travel North, South East and West of the city by train. Chichester was also the freight frontier between the Central and South Western sections of the SR and had a large marshalling yard, so there was still plenty of steam activity even though the line had been electrified in 1938.
In this illustrated talk the rise of the railways serving Chichester will be plotted and also the decline from 1935 when the lines north and south were closed following the Beeching report and the ending of wagon-load freight
Back by popular demand. Martin Snow will be showing an informative and entertaining series of film clips from many obscure sources.
All material not shown to us before on too many subjects to mention here.
Our member Peter Williams takes us on a journey from west to east across our County to look at narrow gauge railways. We shall travel from Chichester in the west to Rye in the east and look at many railways from 18 inch to 3 foot gauge that our County supported, both in industry and as a means of passenger transport. Some of these lines are well-known but this talk will reveal those that are more obscure.
Sussex Industrial