brighton & hove TRANSPORT 1927-1945
Pictured through the lens of a Sussex Daily News photographer.
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HMS Arundel, embarking from the West Pier, Brighton. She could have been going somewhere along the coast to the Isle of Wight or possible even France.
There was a fascinating discussion on Brighton Past about this picture of a boat moored at Aldrington Basin, Hove in 1938 flying a Nazi flag.
This picture would have been taken before the outbreak of WWII and was collecting metal waste from a Brighton & Hove waste metal contractor and ironically probably taking it back to Germany to make ships that would eventually fight the allies.
One poster remembers as a child seeing this boat, whilst another poster had an interesting theory about a plan by Hitler to gain information about the UK before invasion!
Picture 63: Circa 1935
The laying of railway track at Kingston Wharf, Shoreham. The Wharf was connected to the main coastway rail line and the track used to pass under a bridge to the A259.
Picture 70: 1937
According to one member of the Brighton Past website, this is LSWR No.5026 - built in June 1901 and converted to a camping coach in May 1936 (Disposal 1960). Possibly origanlly converted at the old Lancing Carriage works.
A plethora of trolley buses and other vehicles queued at The Old Steine, Brighton. Trolley buses replaced trams in Brighton & Hove and were eventually disbanded in two stages in 1959 and 1961. Historian Stephen Holroyd points out “That Brighton nurtured electric traction public transport from 1883 to 1961.”
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A rare De-Havilland DH.84 Dragon pictured at Shoreham Airport.
‘Old Crocks’ from the London to Brighton car run. Cars pictured at Patcham. This picture was taken from the bank on the left hand side of the A23 (facing North) opposite the now Esso Garage and the Tamplins sign is on the Black Lion pub.
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The consensus of opinion from the Brighton Past website is that this is a Hawker Hart bi-plane. It is pictured in front of Shoreham Airport perhaps one of the finest airports in the UK.
The airport has featured in various TV shows like Pairot, The Crown and Tenko. This fine Art Deco airport was also used for a scene of the movie the Da Vinci Code.
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A view from Preston Circus looking south down London Road. The church on the left (in the distance) is a methodist church that has now been demolished.
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Newhaven Harbour. The coaster, is probably working UK and European ports with general cargo which could be anything from coal, building materials or fruit and veg.
The ship is one of William Robertson's of Glasgow. The ships were all named after Gemstones, this could possibly be the 'Ophir' or 'Spinel'
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This gas powered lorry is photographed on the corner of Nevill Avenue and Road. Right on the roundabout. Called Nevill Court .
Due to petrol rationing in WWII many vehicles were converted to Gas. This lorry also has a Brighton number plate.
November 8th 1929. The Southern Belle at Brighton Station. The Southern Belle commenced service on November 8th, 1908 with seven Pullman cars operating 7 days a week. The Brighton Belle electric trains replaced the Southern Belle in 1933.
An interesting antidote to this picture is that the Southern Railway was able to borrow, with government help, huge amounts to electrify the Brighton Mainline and other routes. Incidentally, Brighton & Hove was electrified from the 1880s to 1963. Given the pollution in the city now could we do with a return of electrification?
Lifeboat drill aboard a paddle steamer moored at the end of Brighton (Palace Pier).
The most likely identification from Brighton Past is that the ship is The PS Brighton Queen (ex - Gwalia, ex - Lady Moyra) which used to operate out of Bristol as the Lady Moyra before working on the South Coast.
She was the most regular ship operating out of Brighton in the 30's. Sometimes alternating with the Glen Gower and very rarely the Waverley.
Miss Paddy Naismith driver of vehicle reg no GF 8440. which is pictured in Brighton having just arrived from Manchester, via John O'Groats. She lived between 1908-1963. According to the website Intriguing People, Paddy Naismith was a stage and screen actress, a racing driver, a Labour party office holder and campaigner, a pilot, and Britain’s first air-hostess. Of Irish-Scottish parentage, she had a striking appearance with her red hair complemented by the green leather jacket and green overalls she wore when racing.
In 1929 she attended the Brighton Motor Rally and presented her car for the Concours d’Elegance. The papers described it as ‘a woman driver’s dream car – a symphony in the palest blue bordered by a neat cream line.’ The car had its own cocktail bar, a scent spray disguised as a bunch of roses, a needlework basket, a seat that turned into a bed, a box for cigarettes and an automatic lighter. Paddy and her sister, Phyllis, wore matching pale blue dresses with yellow collars and cuffs. They had driven all night to reach Manchester where they danced until midnight and then drove through the night to reach Brighton.
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Picture 125: 1936
A Brighton Hove & District Omnibus bus in North Street, Brighton.
The date of this photograph was idendified by a post on Brighton Past that pointed out the livery on the side of the bus was changed in 1935 from Thomas Tilling to Brighton Hove & District. The livery changed in 1939 to cream lower deck window frames when the operating agreement with Brighton Corporation came into force.
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A bus crash at Montpelier Road jnct. Montpelier Place, Brighton, looking north.
The bus is a Southdown Leyland Titan TD1, fleet number 820, from a batch delivered in 1929. As previously mentioned, service 27 ran from Brighton to Devil's Dyke, with certain journeys continuing to Henfield. The route included Montpelier Road
Picture 35: Circa 1955
Picture 35: Mansfield Garage, Kingsway, Hove. Replaced by a block of flats. In 2019. Pictured is a Vauxhall Wyvern EIX first built is 1953.
Mansfields was taken over by the Rawsons Group who then closed their Kingsway Branch.
An interesting photograph taken on Brighton Seafront with the Albion Hotel in the distance.
There were a few theories about what the horse and carriage was doing. Perhaps the theory I liked best was that this might have been the last Horse drawn taxi, which might make this a newsworthy occasion.
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Picture 138: Circa 1937
A crowd gather on Brighton Seafront to see a crashed plane pulled into shore.
Crashed RAF plan on Lyndhurst Road, Hove on January 24th 1938.
A Sea Plane landed at Brighton Seafront. It is likely that this was the plane that Dutch foreign minister Eelco van Kleffens used when he landed his Fokker T.VIII seaplane on Brighton Beach, 22 May 1940 to escape the Nazis.
The world famous Queen Mary. Presumably at Southampton Docks. In the foreground could possibly the Brighton Belle, recognized by its single funnel taking passengers up close.
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These brand new Rovers are on sale for just over £300 somewhere in a car showroom somewhere in Brighton & Hove.