The Record Shot

LITTLEHAMPTON

(All 21.6.1986 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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A succession of pictures taken on 21 June 1986 from the former footbridge at Littlehampton station. This was just before the NSE colours started appearing on trains, and this was just an everyday scene (repeated six times!) Much has now changed, 30 years on. The slam door trains of course have gone, the track layout has been changed and the footbridge has been removed, replaced by a far less photographer friendly one closer to the station.

These days I try to get a lot of atmosphere shots, in an attempt to set the trains within the context of the wider social scene. But I still take plenty of record shots as well. I find the more everyday and mundane the scene the more interesting they become as years pass. Far too many railway photographers take the same shots of steam specials, of the glamorous but slightly fake stuff. Or they pop along to a heritage line and take lots of 3/4 front view shots concentrating on the engine. All the time there are fantastic shots that never get taken!

I also hear a lot of complaints about 'railways not being as interesting as they used to be'. This has always been said, and probably always will be. It's true to an extent of course, but we are all affected by this feeling that we've just missed out. I did just miss out on everyday steam, at least for photos, but I did at least see real steam on action on the network - at Ryde, at Lyminster, at Waterloo. But I got to photograph the class 33s and 50s on passenger duties, the WR diesel-hydraulics on the sea wall at Dawlish, the Bridport branch, Swanage, Okehampton, Kemp Town and a good few other lines that have closed or become heritage lines.

Just get out there and snap and don't complain! Future generations will be grateful that you did, and envy what YOU saw ...

Littlehampton 27.5.1986

LITTLEHAMPTON

7360 Littlehampton 27.5.1986

7334 Littlehampton 27.5.1986

7754 Littlehampton 27.5.1986

2107 Littlehampton 27.5.1986

7800 Littlehampton 27.5.1986

(All pics © Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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When I lived in Littlehampton a favourite afternoon excursion was to the footbridge at Littlehampton station throat, and over the years I must have taken a few hundred photos from this point. This is an unrepeatable location, the footbridge was demolished many years ago and a newer (and I suspect far less useful) bridge has since sprung up closer to the station. Amazingly the signalbox and semaphores are still there, though the trains have completely changed.

So on an afternoon in May 1986 there was a regular procession of electric slam door units, boring at the time but I understand they are a lot more popular now - just as the current 'boring' units will be to the next generation.

If you're wondering about the open connecting door in picture three this unit is being driven into the large carriage sheds just behind me.

Littlehampton had (and of course still has) regular trains to Portsmouth, Bognor, London via Arundel, Brighton and London via Hove. All in all a fantastic service if you lived there, with two separate routes to London! We were very spoiled.

Arundel 1973

7001 Arundel 12.5.1973

7359 Arundel 12.5.1973

Arundel 12.5.1973

(All copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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Arundel is an intermediate station on the Mid-Sussex line, the first stop coming up from Ford. It serves the town famous for its castle, about a half mile walk from the station.

The train service has been fairly basic since I've known the station with EMUs making up almost all services. Back in 1973 there was still a bay line in place, which until the year before was used by the useful Littlehampton-Ford-Arundel shuttle which helped to tie in the various services in the area. I'd always found it useful but BR obviously didn't think the same! I actually travelled on the very last Arundel to Littlehampton train but sadly the photos didn't come out as it was pitch black!

The Mid Sussex is a very scenic route and highly recommended. There has been talk in recent years of building a brand new link from south of the station to the Coastway West route with a junction facing Brighton, to serve as a diversionary route when there's trouble on the Brighton Main Line but logic would suggest the Lewes-Uckfield link would be more useful as well as generating a lot of new passenger traffic. We'll see! 

The station building at Arundel still stands and was almost identical to the original Littlehampton station, which was demolished before World War Two.

Additional info (via Wikipedia)

Arundel railway station serves the market town of Arundel in West Sussex.

The station is on the eastern side of the town, about 550 yards (500 m) from the High Street, across the River Arun.

History

Opened by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, it became part of the Southern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Network SouthEast until the Privatisation of British Railways.

Services

The typical Monday-Saturday off peak service is:

• 2 trains per hour (tph) to London Victoria
• 2 tph to Bognor Regis

On Sundays this is reduced to:

• 1 tph to London Victoria
• 1 tph to Bognor Regis

rover ticket 1973

6070 Sittingbourne 10.8.1973

1205 Redhill 10.8.1973

 7794 Littlehampton 11.8.1973

7048 Littlehampton 11.8.1973

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Back in August 1973 I'd just turned 17 and was beginning to explore the rail network in southern England. I think the Rover ticket cost about £15 (well over a week's wages back then!) There were two choices from where I lived in Littlehampton - westwards to Weymouth, up to Yeovil and across to Salisbury or eastwards into East Sussex and Kent.

These were a few shots taken on an eastwards trip over a couple of days. The top pic is Sittingbourne, I'd also covered the Sheerness branch and remember finding a disused miniature railway down by the seafront (no photos unfortunately - film was expensive!), and obviously returned via Redhill as that's where the second picture (of a 'Tadpole' unit) was taken later that day.

The next day I was back at Littlehampton for my onward trip - no doubt more pics will follow as I've found an old album from the attic!

These pics remind me that back in 1973 I was still cross I'd just missed the steam period - ten years earlier and who knows what lines I'd have travelled on and what shots I'd have got? At the same time looking back on these it strikes me just how much has changed since, and also just how much classic steam-era infrastructure still remained. I was lucky in a way that the glamour stuff didn't really interest me (then or now) but rather the everyday, and I hope my pics manage to convey some of the ordinariness of the times. Following on from that I think we should all be out photographing the everyday on our rail network - believe me you won't regret it. Forget steam specials, heritage lines and the obvious locations - your local line will have plenty of interest even now, if you look closely enough!

west coastway

LANCING

(All 4.9.1986 copyright Steve Sainsbury/The Rail Thing)

MINIWEB/BLOGSITE - SOUTHERN REGION

My childhood and teenage haunts were mainly along the Coastway West line, in West Sussex. This route was - incredibly - under threat of closure in the late 60s and early 70s, but I don't think the threat was ever real. It would have ruined my life had the line closed, as I used it to get everywhere!

I went to school in Durrington and used the train nearly every weekday between 1967-1972, Littlehampton to Durrington-on-Sea. I knew every inch of this route. Further east Lancing was a bit more exotic, though I did occasionally travel there after school to visit the J D Morris model shop, which had N gauge!

Years later I got these shots of Lancing which turned out to be a pretty good spot for photos. I must visit it again one day!

More info (from Wikipedia)

Lancing railway station is in Lancing in the county of West Sussex, England. The station is operated by Southern.

Platform 1 is for trains to Brighton and London Victoria, and Platform 2 is for trains to Worthing, Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton.

The station has 1 ticket office located on Platform 2, and 2 self-service ticket machines, one on Platform 1 and one outside the front of the main station building adjoining Platform 2.

There are no ticket barriers at the station, however regular ticket checks are carried out at the exits from the platforms, by Southern Railway staff and Rail Neighbourhood Officers

Services

Typical off-peak service consists of 5 trains per hour (tph) in each direction:

Eastbound

• 4tph to Brighton
• 1tph to London Victoria

Westbound

• 1tph to Southampton Central
• 1tph to Portsmouth Harbour
• 1tph to Littlehampton
• 2tph to West Worthing

Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.729 million
2005/06	0.744 million
2006/07	0.758 million
2007/08	0.801 million
2008/09	0.817 million
2009/10	0.833 million
2010/11	0.911 million
2011/12	0.952 million
2012/13	0.972 million

where it all began ...

 

(Photo copyright Peter Martin)

 

 

It's hard to pinpoint exactly when I got interested in railways, but it was mainly disused lines that captured my attention first, with regular trips towards London crossing over the old Midhurst line at Fittleworth and holidays westward crossing the Bishops Waltham branch and, perhaps most importantly, the S&D.

 

I was brought up in Littlehampton and remember the early green electrics, and this photo says a HUGE amount to me! I used to practice in a band in a house behind the second carriage above, my uncle's company painted that big gasholder and in later years I took loads of pictures from the footbridge in the background. I travelled to school in these older units between 1967 and 1972, getting off at Durrington-on-Sea.

 

Perhaps a boring commuter line electrified since the 1930s wasn't the usual inspiration for a railway enthusiast, but we also had a short docks line at Littlehampton and a unique gauge steam miniature railway on the seafront.

 

I also caught main line steam (just once!) on the outskirts of Littlehampton when I saw a big Merchant Navy or similar pulling the through train to Plymouth in around 1963.

the atmosphere thing

(27.10.1983)

It doesn't always work, but sometimes an atmosphere shot works better than a straight record shot. The above was pretty radical for me in the days when every shot cost money! This was Littlehampton station before the big rebuild, a gloomy place made almost entirely of wood. I used it almost every day from 1967 to 1972 when I was at school in Worthing, and this out the window view was very familiar. I caught it on a foggy day in October 1983 and this is one of my favourite atmosphere shots.