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Open Day at Brighton Station

There's an impressive line-up of preserved steam at Brighton Station in this film from the early seventies

Amateur film 1974 3 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for Screen Archive South East

Overview

This film records a steam enthusiasts' open day at Brighton Station in July 1974 where, under the glass roof dating from 1883, several preserved locomotives are seen. Among them is Bulleid's Battle of Britain class Pacific 34051, 'Winston Churchill' as well as 'Lord Nelson', the doyen of her class, carrying British Rail number 30850. Another doyen of her class is Bulleid's wartime Austerity Q1 33001 which is joined by a Beattie Well Tank.

In January 1965, the Battle of Britain class pacific, 'Winston Churchill', seen in this film, hauled her namesake on his final journey from Waterloo to Handborough in Oxfordshire. Handborough was the nearest railway station to the parish church of Bladon, where Churchill's body was to be interred. The wartime Prime Minister's family accompanied him on this final journey, travelling in the Pullman car Lydia. All six vehicles which made up this special train, and the locomotive which hauled them have been preserved and in 2015, the National Railway Museum in York celebrated the 50th anniversary of the event by partially recreating the train as a display in its Great Hall.