Simon Jeffs

The LBSCR was the main route connecting London with Brighton and the pleasures of the South Coast resorts. In this latest volume Bradshaw takes us on the journey and, via the numerous branch lines, also explores the coastal lines, westwards to Chichester and eastwards, on the Brighton and Lewes branch to Eastbourne, St Leonards and Hastings. The network of branch lines within Surrey and Sussex reaches a number of destinations including Croydon, Redhill, Reigate, Dorking, Guildford, Epsom, East Grinstead, Horsham, Uckfield and Battle, and in the north of Surrey the LSWR loop takes in Richmond and Kew. ‘Seldom has the gigantic intellect of man been employed upon a work of greater utility.’ Punch, in praise of Bradshaw’s publications. Bradshaw’s guide was published in 1863, not that long after most of the railway network had been completed. It gives the reader a unique insight into the world of the Victorian railways and goes beyond the engineering aspects to record the sights to be seen in the towns and cities encountered along the way. Local author and railway expert Simon Jeffs accompanies Bradshaw’s original text with contemporary images and many new colour photographs of the same journeys today.

This fourth volume of illustrated Bradshaw's Guides takes the traveller from the London Bridge and Victoria stations via the former South Eastern Railway to the 'watering places' of the coast of Kent. Along the way the train calls in at a number of locations including Greenwich, Woolwich, Gravesend, Rochester, Chatham, Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Deal, Dover and Folkstone. The various branch lines also take in Tunbridge Wells, Battle and Hastings as well as the cathedral city of Canterbury. 'Seldom has the gigantic intellect of man been employed upon a work of greater utility.' Punch, in praise of Bradshaw's publications. Bradshaw's guide was published in 1863, very shortly after the first batch of railways in the regions had been completed. It gives the reader a unique insight into the world of the Victorian railways and goes beyond the engineering aspects to record the sights to be seen in the towns and cities encountered along the way. Bradshaw's original text is accompanied by contemporary images and many new photographs of the same journey today provided by local man, and rail expert, Simon Jeffs.

The London to Brighton Line was built to serve the leisure market rather than industry. It initially carried nineteenth-century pleasure-seekers from the capital to fashionable Brighton, and subsequent services such as the Brighton Belle, the Sunny South Express and the Gatwick Express continued in that tradition. However, it also became a commuter line with fast services that made it possible to work in the City but live in the expanding suburbs to the south of London, or, later, in Surrey or Sussex. As well as steam locomotives, atmospheric traction was used on the Brighton Line, and, from 1909, electrification, which had reached Brighton by 1 January 1933 as well as the diesel locomotives still in use today. In this book, Simon Jeffs looks at the various forms of traction used on the Brighton Line, which give it a special identity even to this day.

The London to Brighton Line was opened in 1841 by the London & Brighton Railway, providing a service between London Bridge Station and the fashionable South Coast. Although the railway started carrying day trippers, the rapid expansion of the suburbs south of London during the nineteenth century meant that the line (absorbed into the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway) was soon running plentiful commuter services as well. Extending to Victoria Station in 1860, the London to Brighton Line was the first UK main line to be electrified, opening throughout in 1933. On its way, the line ran through the beautiful Sussex countryside and The London to Brighton Line Through Time will take the reader on a tour through that countryside, along the bridges and viaducts built for the railway, showing through a collection of old and modern photographs how the route has changed.