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Brighton railway works
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, England, and thus pre-dating the more famous railway works at Crewe, Doncaster and Swindon. 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 locomotives as well as prototype diesel electric and electric locomotives were constructed there, before the eventual closure of the facility in 1962.
After use as a factory for constructing bubble cars, the facility was demolished and has since been redeveloped as part of the New England Quarter of Brighton.
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 on the eastern side of the main line adjacent to the Brighton railway station. However a new workshop at Horley, midway between London and Brighton, also opened in 1841, was then planned to become the principal locomotive and carriage workshop of the new 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 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.
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. 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.
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, Horsted Keynes and Horley. An outside investigation in 1908, conducted by Robert Urie, 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 under repair and 21 days taken by Ashford Works. 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 techniques.
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Brighton railway works
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, England, and thus pre-dating the more famous railway works at Crewe, Doncaster and Swindon. 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 locomotives as well as prototype diesel electric and electric locomotives were constructed there, before the eventual closure of the facility in 1962.
After use as a factory for constructing bubble cars, the facility was demolished and has since been redeveloped as part of the New England Quarter of Brighton.
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 on the eastern side of the main line adjacent to the Brighton railway station. However a new workshop at Horley, midway between London and Brighton, also opened in 1841, was then planned to become the principal locomotive and carriage workshop of the new 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 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.
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. 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.
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, Horsted Keynes and Horley. An outside investigation in 1908, conducted by Robert Urie, 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 under repair and 21 days taken by Ashford Works. 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 techniques.