Phil Sutters' photos with the keyword: southernrailway

My Dad's album notes don't show the location or date, but are on the same page as the T9 at Eastleigh in 1958. The shunter is probably going to climb down to switch the points, using the white lever beside the tracks. Whilst today's freight trains are largely blocks of wagons, usually carrying one commodity, in those days wagons often carried individual loads for local stations and the trains were made up in goods yards at junctions and other interchange points, like docks and factories. When working on and off the running lines, on which trains ran between stations, points and signals were controlled from a signal box nearby. Where there was a self-contained area, off the main lines, as in a goods yard, shunters would be able to switch the points by hand. Their other duties included coupling and uncoupling the wagons or carriages, as needed. In this case the shunter is travelling on the locomotive, but they sometimes had their own truck which carried tools like their shunters' poles, used to lift the heavy couplings on and off their hooks. They travelled on the running board of their trucks, so that they could hop on and off easily.

My Dad's album notes don't show the location or date, but are on the same page as the T9 at Eastleigh in 1958.

One day when my wife was meeting friends in Eastbourne I decided to take the train in the other direction and revisit Shoreham-by-Sea which we had briefly visited a few years ago. Of course the rail traffic isn't too exciting along Southern's 'Western Coastway', but there is an ancient church, the beach & harbour and a large array of house boats. This is my 'ride' back to Brighton.

The diamond-shaped sign, one of four - two on each bank, indicates “S.E.E.B 33,000 VOLTS ELECTRICITY CABLE” - under the river. The trouble with DMUs & EMUs, like this one, is that you don't get a sense of the direction in which it is travelling. In this case it's right to left, if you don't know the area. The houses are at the northern edge of South Heighton