Tell me about 1940's / 50's Seaside resort towns

[Black Sheep]

I'm in the planning process for my big layout which initially was going to be a mill town, but I've decided against that as my interest is more towards passenger runnings but with some goods mixed in there, a mill town would really be the opposite for my 1947ish time period.

 

So, keeping in with the time period and increasing the amount of passenger trains, especially those terminating, a resort town would seem to be ideal. I've had some help with rail layout of such towns but now, after trips into Skegness and Scarborough recently (being fairly familiar now with Scarborough) I have an ok idea of how such a town grew up, except for the buildings along the promenade as they are the ones that have had the most changes made, turning them into amusement arcades etc.

 

 

So, if anyone who remembers going to the seaside in the late 40's / early 50's can manage to give an overview of what you might find and how a resort town would feel at the time and convey this to someone born during the miners strike I'd really appreciate it.

 

Bonus points for holiday snaps!

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

Evenin' BS,

 

Northern Heritage (0800 716959) released a DVD of life in Northumberland in 1953, in high quality colour. Probably the best commercially available early colour film that I know of. It is called 'Any Man's Kingdom' in 1953 and is an excellent advertisement for holidays in this lovely county, featuring numerous family seaside scenes. http://www.northern-heritage.co.uk/dvds/northumberland/page2/s-48

 

Beware that the later released version (simply entitled 'Any Man's Kingdom') doesn't include the footage of the Border Counties railway from Riccarton Jnc to Bellingham North Tyne because it closed to allow Kielder water to be extended inc. flooding part of the trackbed. Instead more footage of vintage buses replaces the steam railway scenes. The 1953 film should still be available from them.

 

Regards

 

Dave  

Edited April 23, 2013 by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71

[burgundy]

My recollections are of south coast towns - particularly Hastings. The buildings along the promenade are predominantly Victorian and have not changed much, although you sometimes have to look above the street level to see this; the street level shop frontages come and go with fashion. A particular feature of that age was the bombed sites along the sea front, as most south coast towns were the subject of hit and run raids, which would take out a couple of properties in a terrace, leaving a sort of gap toothed look. You would need to check, but I think some were still around throughout the fifties. The other thing in Hastings was "progress" - which in that case meant blasting a new road through the middle of the historic old town.

Best bet is to have a look for books with titles like "xxxx in old photographs" or "xxxx then and now" which are pretty useful for capturing period characteristics.   

Best wishes

Eric

[Gwiwer]

By 1947 many of the resorts which had developed since Victorian times and especially so in the 20s and 30s were beginning to reopen for post-war business and with beaches cleared of barbed wire and barricades.  It didn't take too long for the Great British Family to re-discover the seaside holiday or for courting couples to check in as "Mr & Mrs Smith" for the weekend.

 

Resort towns differed of course but many along the south and south-eastern coastlines took some bomb damage resulting in gaps along previously continuous terraces or arcades.  The railways also suffered of course and by the 50s were a mixture of old, patched and renewed infrastructure ranging from large bridges and station canopies to the humble but necessary platform seat or lamp.

 

Seaside towns often had holiday camps dotted around the outskirts - usually but not always on the coast - which comprised vast static caravan parks or the likes of Butlins with far more infrastructure.  The largest of these had their own stations (Filey Holiday Camp for example which also had its own branch line) while others were linked by bus to and from the station with double-deckers ready and waiting to meet the arriving crowds and take them the last couple of miles.  Those holiday camps which survive to this day often retain these bus links such as Butlins Minehead which is the terminus of most local bus routes including the 28 from Taunton which is now the nearest NR station.

 

Wide streets led down to the focal point on the seafront which was often an ornate pier and sometimes (such as at Blackpool and Brighton) more than one.  Amusement piers also had their own trains or trams including Southend and Southport.  "Penny Arcades" of slot machines and games of skill-with-prize were lit up with flashing lights (incandescent back then) and often with tinny recorded music of the era emanating from within.  In the later 50s these places became the haven of new-found "youth" with rock and roll music often blaring long into the summer evenings while mods, rockers and Teddy Boys gathered on the beaches and in the streets typically up to not much good.

 

New buildings appeared slowly but surely to repalce war losses, often in brave new styles entiurely unsympathetic to those they replaced.  New buses appeared to replace those patched up or persuaded to soldier on through hostilities.  The advent of private motoring generated more car traffic and with that a greater need to provide parking though most was on-street or on levelled bomb-sites in the 40s and 50s and not in high-rise monstrosities.

 

In 1948 the Big Four became BR sweeping away tradition and bringing - allegedly bringing uniformity and new standards to the railways though old ways, habits, signage and uiniforms died hard.   The early 50s, in particular, would have been a time of change, of exuberance and extravagence after the war years, and of hope for an affluent and happy future which included seaside holidays often stil taken by rail.

[john dew]

These comments are from the wrong side of the Pennines......(well to you!)  but this may help

 

I was brought up near Southport, Lancashire ...........here are some quick recollections.......the sort of Iain Rice "Signature Items"  I would include if I were planning a layout in a seaside town 1947.

 

Woolworths, Marks and Spencers (Not M&S in those days), Burtons,Boots, WH Smith Dolcis (Shoes) and other chains but far more privately owned stores on the High Street......no Supermarkets but probably branches of the local Grocery chain (the equivalent of Sainsbury's  down South......on Merseyside it was Irwins)

 

Lots of cinemas...... there were at least five (I think) in Southport.......Odeon, Gaumont, Regent etc.................Variety Theatres.....at least two.......Amusement Arcades/Parlours......Fish and Chip Shops.

 

Most resort had some sort of permanent fun fair.....Round-abouts, Ghost Rides, Dodgems, Big Dipper...... very often a circus would be there for the season.......but if I were doing the layout I would "suggest" this on a back scene rather than model it..................my signature item would be:

 

Streets of "Private" Hotels and Boarding Houses (B&B now I guess)  emblazoned with names that would now fall foul of trade description legislation ...."Sea View" etc........this could probably be replicated with the Scalescene 3 storey terraced housing. 

 

Open top Double Deck Buses......Cream and Black Taxis (not London Cabs)

 

Hope this helps.......quite bizarre writing all this thousands of miles away in Vancouver!

[Gwiwer]

quite bizarre writing all this thousands of miles away in Vancouver!

 

You're closer than I am John

 

Very valid recollections and suggestions.  The circus / funfair might be all in the one spot or at different sites and possibly on vacant land next to the railway.  I don't recall seeing a working model of such a thing as the "Wild Mouse" of Clacton Pier or any of the other "scenic railway" (big dipper) type constructions but they would be fun and a challenge to do and to have running.

 

Some places retained trolleybuses in the 40s and 50s making for a little more added transport interest and the ubiquitous open top bus trips along the sea front were seemingly always popular.  Some of those also ran to local beauty spots and a very few were significant routes in their own right.  The precise route varied over the years but for example Southdown's route 102 ran hourly for 34 miles between Arundel, Littlehampton, Worthing, Brighton and Devils Dyke at its fullest extent requiring no fewer than 5 open-top buses and was reckoned to be the longest route of its kind in the world at one time.  The earliest timetable I have for that in my possession dates to 1962 just a little later than the timeframe under discussion however.  Even that was surpassed by the need for six such buses on the 17 "Sea Front Service" between Portslade, Brighton and Rottingdean which ran at least every 15 minutes and more often if there were queues and they had the staff available.

 

High Street names would include those John lists above and also Timothy Whites (a chemist's chain later bought out by Boots), Home & Colonial Stores (a foodstore with "luxury" items from around the Empire and which IIRC morphed into today's BHS - British Home Stores) and Woolworths which was always F W Woolworth at that time.

[Poggy1165]

I think one main difference is these places were much busier than they are now. A couple of years back I visited Blackpool, mid week in July. It was practically deserted. In the 1950s you'd have struggled to find a paving stone to stand on. From a railway point of view - excursions, and lots of 'em. Something that has practically died now. Some places even had special excursion platforms not used by ordinary trains. And to go with the excursions, you really need a fan of carriage sidings. (And the stock to fill them.)

[Gwiwer]

Some places also enjoyed massively enhanced timetable services on summer weekends.  Blackpool famously required that all passengers hold seat regulation tickets (not a reservation as such but a way of limiting the numbers travelling to something like the capacity of the train) while the concept of the West Country Holiday Train (not necessarily branded as such) dictated that all passengers be in possession of paid-for reservations unless travelling locally within Cornwall or Devon.

 

The holiday trains could be comprised of unusual stock and hauled sometimes by unlikely and sometimes "foreign" locomotives.  They were looked forward to by the spotters of the day and probably accepted as the best way to get there (and back) by the throngs of people packed into them.  Often without any form of catering though in those days "bring you own" was much more widely accepted as the norm - for one thing rationing had only recently vanished.

 

So for your summer holiday layout you could include through carriages arriving at an east coast / north eastern resort formed of Company stock from other areas or (if set late enough) with green BR Mk1 stock arriving in maroon land or maroon into chocolate / cream territory.  Even the Kent coast resorts received an armada of special trains.  Wolverhampton - Margate would be a typical working while for those living nearer there were oddities such as Holborn Viaduct  - Ramsgate workings on summer Saturdays and even through the week making use of commuter stock to do a mid-day seaside and back fill-in trip.

 

What a great way to invoke Rule 1

Edited April 24, 2013 by Gwiwer

[Horsetan]

This is quite a useful book on Weymouth, which includes a look at the town at its peak in the 1950s.

[The Stationmaster]

The big resorts all seemed to have one thing in common railway-wise - masses of day excursion trains especially at Bank Holiday weekends plus the usual Saturday seasonal trains (holidays then were almost entirely Saturday to Saturday hence the huge peak in trains on that day.  This meant large stabling requirements for coaching stock at or within easy reach of the busiest resorts plus loco facilities either locally or not far away and lots & lots of movements plus in many cases special excursion platforms or stations to handle the additional traffic.

 

So a good excuse for very intensive working with all sorts of coaching stock - a lot of which was getting on in years - plus an amazing variety of locos on the day-trip specials as all the regular passenger fleet would be otherwise engaged.

[chrisf]

The only seaside resort I knew in the 1950s was Barry Island, and that only because I was lucky enough to have grandparents at Barry. The constant procession of excursions to the Island was a joy to a pre-teen spotter and how I wish that my notebooks of the time had survived moves, mucking out etc! It was beginning to get a bit down at heel even then with a tatty funfair which has been used for filming in recent years - Gavin and Stacey, Dr Who and the Sarah Jane Adventures - and Forte's ice cream parlour on the sea front where my indulgent grandparents would buy me a knickerbocker glory if I'd been good, so not very often!

 

The local passenger service had been put on a clockface basis in 1953 and 1958 saw the introduction of dmus [the type that became Class 116]. There were never quite enough so the odd train would revert to steam from time to time. The interval service was thinned out on Sundays but this allowed many excursions to be run. On the first Sunday of the summer months there was a regular excursion from Paddington which would arrive soon after 1 pm and set off again just before 7. The larger tender engines had to run light to Cardiff to turn but the smaller ones - 43xx, Super D - would creak their way through the docks, reverse at Cadoxton and retire to Barry shed for the duration. Siding space at Barry Island was nowhere near sufficient for all the visiting sets of stock, which were therefore taken to a bank of sidings between Barry and Barry Docks normally used for coal wagons. These were the days when there would be standby trains at key centres like Pontypridd ready to accommodate surges in demand from the Valleys. If one of P & A Campbell's White Funnel paddle steamers such as the Glen Gower was plying the Bristol Channel a boat train would be provided from Barry Pier, served by a singled track from Barry Island. If you had an Eagle Club badge you could get a discount on the steamer - oh happy days!

 

In the 1960s there was rationalisation and for reasons best known to BR the line from Barry to the Island was singled, rendering it incapable of handling excursions which therefore ceased. There is something of a heritage presence at Barry Island now but there is also a lot of buddleia and just enough of the remaining platform in use to accommodate three Sprinters or Pacers an hour.

 

Chris

[Tin Turtle]

Don't forget the Lifeboat! Although sadly no-one makes one of that era anymore (only two in OO i'm aware of are 1970's and modern day)

[DaveF]

I don't know whether these  photos of Dad's will help - on early Ilford slide film I think for Scarborough and Whitby, Brighton is probably Ferrania film..

 

I haven't got his notes for these at home at the moment so the dates could be a year either way.

 

Brighton c1952 226

 

Brighton c1952 234

 

Scarborough c1952 079

 

Scarborough c1952 086

 

Whitby c1952 091

 

Edited to amend dates

 

David

Edited April 24, 2013 by DaveF

[DaveF]

Also this one in Brighton.

 

Brighton 1950 M17

 

David

[BernardTPM]

If you haven't seen it, then 'Brighton Rock' (the 1947 version) has good period footage and atmosphere.

[lmsforever]

My seaside in the forties and fifties usualy was a trip to Southend on Sea ,as my aunt lived in South Benfleet and I spent all summer there.Southend was a fantastic place ,the Kursal funfare the peir and a lovely walk alongside the railway at Westcliffe On Sea .The peir was fantastic with the electric railway and at the land end some marvelous food shops also the walk up the high street towards the station had many small shops to look at.Train services at weekends was increased with many through trains via St Pancras ,we never traveled on the Liverpool St line but sometimes used the bus from South Benfleet which was run by Westclife On Sea buses not a bad trip but not as good as the train.Southend was a growing town with a wide range of building styles some good some bad.It is a shadow of its former self but the seaside is still there if not used as much now and the peir still has a railway and a rathe nice RNLI  station to visit.

[Black Sheep]

These comments are from the wrong side of the Pennines......(well to you!)  but this may help

I actually live in Lancashire, just north of Bury,

 

but originally from Yorkshire. Not sure which county Milliedale On Sea will be set however...

 

 

 

Thanks to all who have contributed so far

[john dew]

I actually live in Lancashire, just north of Bury,

 

but originally from Yorkshire. Not sure which county Milliedale On Sea will be set however...

 

 

 

Thanks to all who have contributed so far

 

My apologies!!  Its was just that you mentioned a couple of East Coast Resorts and I failed to see the location on your avatar

 

I must say I have found this a very interesting thread.......what a super concept for a layout.......I wish I had thought of it earlier!

[trisonic]

My seaside in the forties and fifties usualy was a trip to Southend on Sea ,as my aunt lived in South Benfleet and I spent all summer there.Southend was a fantastic place ,the Kursal funfare the peir and a lovely walk alongside the railway at Westcliffe On Sea .The peir was fantastic with the electric railway and at the land end some marvelous food shops also the walk up the high street towards the station had many small shops to look at.Train services at weekends was increased with many through trains via St Pancras ,we never traveled on the Liverpool St line but sometimes used the bus from South Benfleet which was run by Westclife On Sea buses not a bad trip but not as good as the train.Southend was a growing town with a wide range of building styles some good some bad.It is a shadow of its former self but the seaside is still there if not used as much now and the peir still has a railway and a rathe nice RNLI  station to visit.

Agree except I always used Southend Victoria (the Liverpool Street line) and never Central. I went back there in 2009 and the place was a mere shadow of its former self, almost a parody.

Stopped off in Leigh for a couple of pints and Cockles, though, that has not changed much...

 

Best, Pete.

[Black Sheep]

My apologies!!  Its was just that you mentioned a couple of East Coast Resorts and I failed to see the location on your avatar

 

I must say I have found this a very interesting thread.......what a super concept for a layout.......I wish I had thought of it earlier!

I'm more familiar with the East Coast resorts from holidays as a child or going to them recently (the wife's gran lives in Scarborough)

No need to apologise, found it ironic as I've actually lived both sides of the Pennines (and went to school half way up them)

[Three Cocks Junction]

Check out Stuart Taylor's superb "Journeys by Excursion Train" series of books published by Foxline.

 

There are accounts of journeys over excursion routes illustrated with dozens of photos of excursion trains, station plans of seaside termini, and many pictures and reminiscences of the resorts and their entertainments. All in the north-west. The period is slightly later than you want but it's the tail end of the old era rather than the start of the new, so it would show you the kind of scenes you're looking for.

[lmsforever]

I forgot about Leigh on Sea and cockles the sheds were right by the railway and the smell was fantastic,plate of cokles pepper and vinegar ,who wants a McDonalds.We used to travel from Leyton Midland Rd as we lived in Walthamstow on a workmans train with an ordinary ticket,my mum was always worried about being caught.We changed at Barking and went down to Benfleet behind a Stanier tank in LMS coaches ,a trip to Tilbury produced some very old Midland coaches but not that often as our main journeys were to Southend.The houses at Chalkwell seem to be as they were in the fifties. Southend Central still has its canopies and you can see where the loco depot was.This was busy in the summer as many extra,s worked from London sometimes with corridor stock,B1,s were to be seen but mostly tanks ran the trains.One restaurant by the peir used to have glass fronted trays with onions,chips and susages on show it did a roaring trade,an open top bus used to ply the seafront ,okay if sunny but not so if it rained.The peir would make a good feature just the start and paint the rest on a backscene ,cars would be Fords in the main such as Populars,Prefects and maybe Consuls but most people came by train or the City Coach company from Wood Green.A feature of the seafront was the lines of coaches offerring half day mystery tours always ending up at a pub.The iluminations were a big atraction and that would look good but now they are long gone ,modeling the seaside could be in the fifties or now showing the decline.A couple of years ago I went to Skegness ,run down station ,tired looking buildings ,dont know why anyone would want to spend a weel there.

[Black Sheep]

Been having a look into piers and found that to get a decent 1000ft pier in, it takes (in N gauge) about 6-8ft so any pier that the resort will have (and I have been suitably persuaded above that a resort town of this era needs one, possibly having a section put back in now the risk of invasion is over) that perhaps a smaller scale pier with a bandstand, helterskelter and a couple of booths selling treats / coconut shy kind of attractions on it. Although I can only stretch to a very modest 200ft unless I paint the pier-head onto the back scene.

[John_Hughes]

Ah, happy days! Some thoughts of my own to add to those above:

 

Punch and Judy - Bandstands - Donkeys - Toastrack buses - Crazy Golf - Lobby Ludd - The Guinness Clock (can you make that work in 4mm?!)

 

And, of course, steam trains everywhere!

[alfsboy]

What about Yarmouth Beach in Norfolk .Right on the sea front  and lots of M&GN traffic .Ok thats about the limit of my knowledge so over to someone who might know more .

Edited April 26, 2013 by alfsboy