It was a vast shingle bank between Eastbourne and Pevensey Bay.
In 1862 from just north of Eastbourne Station a siding was laid extending for about three miles to a desolate area of foreshore known as the Crumbles.
Its purpose was for transporting shingle ballast from the beach for use on the LB&SCR's permanent way. With the formation of the Southern Railway, angular granite ballast was used and the far end of the line had closed by 1932.
... but the line continued much further. The map fron the 1920s/1930s shows no housing but suggests that the ponds might well have been created by the excavation.
We shall meet the remnants of this line later in the expedition.
The second bit of railway infrastructure arrived in 1954. This was Claude Lane's miniature tranway, now, of course, one of the delights of fbb's current home at Seaton.
This ran from opposite the Princes Park gates ...
... along what was the cul-de-sac end of Royal Parade.
fbb was searching for a good map of the tramway when he came across this one:-
It turns out to be one the old man drew for a blog way back in 2011!
It shows the outer terminus on Wartling Road, by then a mere track into the shingles area.
If you look very closely centre left you can see a grey shape on the horizon. This is the Martello Tower at Langney Point.
Martello towers are gun towers constructed to defend the vulnerable south eastern coast of England against the threat of ship-borne invasion by Napoleonic forces. Built as a systematic chain of defense in two phases, between 1805 and 1810 along the coasts of East Sussex and Kent, and between 1808 and 1812 along the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, the design of Martello towers was based on a fortified tower at Mortella Point in Corsica which had put up a prolonged resistance to British forces in 1793. The towers take the form of compact, free-standing circular buildings on three levels built of rendered brick. The towers of the south coast were numbered 1-74 from east to west,
The tram terminus was somewhere near the present car park for the Sovereign Centre leisure complex.
It was the planned development of the Crumbles that led to the tram being ousted from Eastbourne, whose loss is Seaton's gain!
This blog will continue tomorrow, but as promised, we need to pause and take a quick trip to Bolton.
First Bus Bolton; Rotala's Bolt-on!
The rumour that circulated earlier in the year was that First Bus was selling off its "unprofitable" Manchester operations to "several operators". In the end only (!) the sale of Queens Road depot and the Central Manchester routes was announced; this to GoAhead.
But there are no diesel fumes without fire, as the old adage goes, and bus watchers have been waiting for the next parcel of the operation to be passed on to some other brave (reckless?) buyer.
The announcement came formally from seller and buyer yesterday 27th June.
The Bolton depot and business goes to Rotala (of Diamond and Preston Bus fame). A detailed press release has been issued by Rotala and fbb will simply quote much of the information therein rather than trying to paraphrase.
The Headline
The Detail
And some financial stuff
It has long been know in and around the industry that Rotala has designs on becoming a major player. Attempts to become more dominant in the Bristol area failed when they were soundly thrashed by First and withdrew from the area completely. Now the poacher has turned gamekeeper and Rotala will have a more significant presence in the North West.
How all this fits in with First's new strategy to hive off or sell the bus division is not yet clear.
And there is still some First left in Manchester viz Oldham depot and its operations.
What will happen to the "highly successful" Leigh Busway services?
Clearly there is much more to happen.
Next Eastbourne blog : Saturday 29th June
The Vantage busway service remains with First. Commentators point to restrictive conditions by TfGM that prevent its sale. Some suggest it will be operated from a re-opened Rusholme depot.
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