Laurence,
the main man on this fascinating and highly informative site has let me
loose on here as a 'user' (the fool), and I would like to thank him for
this privilege, I do hope that I am able to assist with building upon
the wealth of information already contained within its pages. Unlike
Loz I am a relative newcomer to the subject of Brighton & Hove's
extinct railway lines, but my interest grows almost daily; what really
peeves me is that because of my age (old git) I was in an even better
position than Loz to record what went on in the 70's when the Kemp Town
line was destroyed, but I didn't, I wasn't remotely interested then and
it is to my great chagrin now that with a little forethought I could
have taken photos first hand of the Lewes Road Viaduct being
demolished; I was driving buses through the very site you see. But no,
it meant nothing to me then, that imposing piece of architecture that
dominated the Lewes Road landscape was ruthlessly hacked down and I
didn't give it a second thought, but now, isn't hindsight a wonderful
thing, I realise what we as a city have lost. Imagine
driving north up Lewes Road towards Melbourne Street and seeing the
majestic viaduct dominating the skyline and as you approach, one of the
charismatic "Terrier" steam engines with its attendant rolling stock
clatters noisily across its zenith, billowing swirls of steam left in
its wake. And its all gone; the same drive now and the foreboding
spectre of Sainsbury's, a filling station, offices, shops and constant
queues of traffic are about as exciting as it gets. Then
there is the tunnel. Here anyway the demolition squad have so far not
had their way (for the time being anyhow, who knows when the Health
& Safety axe will strike?) and the tunnel remains intact and
serviceable and this is what makes it so intriguing for me; the only
real hard evidence that the line did exist apart from the photos, plus
an opportunity to retrace part of the route exactly as it ran and it is
currently denied us! I won't go into the whys and wherefors of this as
Loz has listed some of the emails relating to our efforts to gain
access on a page titled "THE TUNNEL IS STILL THERE, CAN WE GET IN?"
elsewhere on this site. I
feel confident that through persistence we will eventually get into the
tunnel, patience is called for however as unfortunately progress is
painfully slow. The
"Devil's Dyke Railway" is another line that Loz and I have got our
teeth into and plans are currently afoot for us to walk the section of
route between Hangleton Way (handy pub nearby) and the Devil's Dyke
terminus, the objectives being to get a first hand perspective of the
actual route and additionally, to take some decent photos of the few
tangible remains along the way. As
with the tunnel project, any interested parties are welcome to join us
but are advised to make contact as early as possible as lieu days and
sickies may be involved! This
site is encroaching on more and more of my leisure time but what the
hell, Facebook is crap and I am becoming increasingly enamoured with
the halcyon days of steam.................Ye Gods, I'm turning into an
anorak! GEOFF MARSHALL
Comments (2) for "NEW TERRITORY - 5/10/08" | Excellent
stuff, Geoffers, and very poetic! No, yer not an anorak. The difference is that we, unlike them, don't spend hours standing around on platforms noting the numbers of passing trains. No! We are Industrial Archaeologists! Sounds so much better and more impressive, doesn't it?! I quite agree about bloody Facebook. All it seems to do now is crash spectacularly. It's certainly a lot slower than I remember the original incarnation being. By GHOST TRAINS - 10/5/2008 9:50 PM |
 | Hi
Loz and Geoffers, I too agree about Facebook. Definitely not my scene
either. I like the title 'Industrial Archaeologists.' Would consider myself to be in that category too. Keep me informed re Devils Dyke project and of course the Tunnel project too. By Nick Phillips - 10/20/2008 3:38 AM |
