View from the track

View from the track
Photo by Farid Ullah

“This is the orginal London to Brighton South Coast Railway station. I particularly like this view because I imagine this to be the very first sight the passengers would have seen coming into Brighton station. They would have been quite wealthy passengers being pulled by a steam locomotive similar to Stephenson’s Rocket and I imagine them to be quite terrified. It would have been like a trip to space from today’s point of view.”

Comments about this page

  • Nice picture Farid and quite an unusual view, however the first trains into Brighton would probably not have been hauled by something looking like the Rocket as even by the 1840s that would have been an obsolete design and quite underpowered for the day.

    By Adrian Baron (22/08/2007)
  • This photo shows what used to be platforms 9 and 10. Platform 9 is still there minus the track and is the wooden planked walkway which is the station’s back entrance. Platform 10 is now lost under the drop off point and bike racks but I think you can still make out the edge of the old platform if you look carefully. Platform 10 was used by trains on the Kemp Town branch line.

    By David Unction (21/08/2009)
  • I remember the trains to Tonbridge via Lewes, Uckfield, Crowborough, Eridge and Tunbridge Wells using these platforms. One of the last journeys I made to Tunbridge Wells was hauled by a West Country class which was very unusual as the old clapped out ‘N’ class locos were normally used. On one occasion one of these old locos ran out of steam at Buxted. It took some time to get going again.

    By Mike (29/01/2013)

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