Littlehampton track plans

[GeoffW]

I recently visited Littlehampton in West Sussex and am interesting in the layout around the station, dock and gas works. Would some one be kind enough to point me in the direction of a suitable plan and/or map.

 

cheers

Geoff

[John M Upton]

Your first stop should be the Middleton Press 'Crawley to Littlehampton' and 'Worthing to Chichester' editions both of which contain a number of track plans of varying vintages. What you see today is pretty much how it has been since the mid 1970's (appallingly bad modernisation of the station building under NSE in the late 1980's not with standing) with the carriage shed dating back to electrification in the 1930's, all be it that the shed was re-covered and modernised for the introduction of retention tank toilet facilities in about 2002 to 2003.

 

During the 1950's and 1960's a lot of excursions from far afield, often steam hauled visited the town and this will give you a modellers licence for pretty much anything!!

 

The roads off the shed through the carriage washer used to lead to the wharves but this was severed and lifted in the early 1970's when the new main road that now runs down the side of the sight was constructed allowing the old swing bridge across the river to be dispensed with. Pictures of the wharves are not exactly plentiful sadly, there are some but not many.

 

The wharves were the exclusive preserve for many years of light 0-6-0 tanks, usually Class A1X Terriers but also the little 'P' class as well.

 

Hopefully you also took a moment to see the original loco shed, still there and complete at the end of platform 4 and now recently very nicely converted into new acomodation for the station staff and a waiting room.

 

Hope this is of some help.

[Gwiwer]

Littlehampton is queitly one of the more interesting branch line termini in the south east. Unless you are modelling a very recent era you can incorporate the "temporary" wooden station which served for many years and has a certain - if slightly seedy - charm of its own. Four platforms of which two are the full 800' required for 12-car electrics and the otrher two rather shorter and with semaphore signalling from the adjacent box until recently as well.

 

Plenty of electric variety with (since the 1930s) Bil, Hal, Cor, Buf, Gri, Cig, Big, Cep, Bep, Vep, Hap, Sap, Vop, Cop and 377 all daily visitors in their time. Multiple routes to London and both east and west along the coast and with shuttles to Ford and Arundel for main line connections (run for many years by a single 2Bil) make for plenty of action. Steam, deisel and EDL-hauled parcels and specials worked in and there was the wharf as John mentions.

 

If you got ambitous you could also model a working swing bridge for the road alongside the station!

[John M Upton]

Semaphores still in use by the way as is the signal box. The colour light distant signal on the up next to the carriage shed is probably the most modern bit of signalling equipment there and it dates back to the 1930's as there is a picture somewhere dated 1938 or 1939 that shows exactly the same signal!!

 

You missed off my beloved bread and butter 313's off that list by the way...

[Oldddudders]

Plenty of electric variety with (since the 1930s) Bil, Hal, Cor, Buf, Gri, Cig, Big, Cep, Bep, Vep, Hap, Sap, Vop, Cop and 377 all daily visitors in their time.

Don't forget the PULs and PANs that operated via Hove from 3.7.1938, more or less until replaced by the CIGs in the '60s!

[Gwiwer]

Semaphores still in use by the way as is the signal box.

My apologies - I had thought along with the rest of the coastal signalling they were all traffic lights now. My only recent visits to Littlehampton have been late evening diversions when the Brighton main was shut.

You missed off my beloved bread and butter 313's off that list by the way...

No apologies for that!!! Your tongue-in-cheek icon is duly noted!

 

Don't forget the PULs and PANs that operated via Hove from 3.7.1938, more or less until replaced by the CIGs in the '60s!

And 6Cor units, the last service working of which I was witness to was a very surprising one on an up "16" Littlehampton - Hove - Victoria working almost at the end of their lives and apparently a substitution for the usual Cig + Big of the time. We cannot forget the occasional 4Lav appearance either, more often from London via Crawley than along the coast though they did work the "35" Brighton - Littlehampton stoppers on infrequent occasions.

[Oldddudders]

http://www.signalbox.org/diagrams.php?id=108 shows a modern layout. As noted above, it was the electrification of 1938 that caused major change, although this was done piecemeal, using the existing signalbox, rather than wholesale, as per Horsham and Dorking, for example, which got whole new signalling systems. E.g. on 2.1.1938, platforms 1 & 2 were extended, and no 1 siding became platform 3, at 400 feet. I think platform 4 is more recent still.

[John M Upton]

Platforms 1 and 2 - 12 Cars

Platform 3 - 8 Cars

Platform 4 - 4 cars but can stable six in there with care if required

 

Platform 4 definitely a more recent addition as the trackbed does not line up with the bricked up portals of the old loco shed at the buffer stops end.

[Gwiwer]

Platform 4 could (just) cope with a 6-car train of Bil or Hal stock within the signals and in service IIRC. The stopping mark might be a little farther out today meaning the effective length has been reduced by a metre or two, or drivers back along would know they had to draw up until the coupling kissed the red light on the buffer which is definitely frowned upon these days