SOUTHDOWN BUSES IN NEWHAVEN
By Bruce Macphee
Although the subjects of these photos are Southdown buses, the backgrounds also illustrate some of the changes to the Newhaven road scene.
Photo 1: Bridge Street bus shelter, next to the Crown Inn, 1956. Passengers waited here for ser.12 to Brighton, 123 to Lewes and Haywards Heath and 26 to Gibbon Road. Visible behind the shelter, in the Railway yard where the War Memorials now stand, is the original West Pier lighthouse, which was subsequently restored and sited at Tideway School.
Photo 2: The Drove, c.1958-59; barely wide enough for two buses or lorries to pass. The only building visible is the sorting shed of Wheatley’s scrap yard; the Wheatley brothers' bungalows hidden by the bus. Service 123 ran hourly between Seaford and Lewes, every second one going on to Haywards Heath; it is difficult now to imagine the need for a relief on this service!
Photo 3: New Road, same period. Goods shed visible beyond railway track but there were no buildings between the road and railway other than allotment sheds. New Road had a tarmac surface but no firm base; if the bus did over 20 mph, it was likely to take-off. Service 26 made twenty round trips from Gibbon Road to Denton and eight to East Side every weekday, three less of each on Sundays; conductors never bothered to alter the screen at either end of the journey, except when going to East Side “26A NEWHAVEN - EAST SIDE” was shown. Some might have found the repetition of this journey tedious, but one driver who lived in Newhaven worked a “middle turn” on ser.26 every day, taking over and handing over in Bridge Street; he only ventured as far as Seaford on a Thursday to pick up his wages!
(photos 1,2 and 3 by the late Eric Surfleet; copyright of the Southdown Enthusiasts’ Club by whose kind permission they are reproduced)
Photo 4: Top of Lewes Road, Oct 1960. Floods had washed away part of the A27 Lewes to Brighton road so this bus from Lewes, apparently required at Brighton, was having to come via Newhaven.
Photo 5: Same spot but ser.123 on normal route from Haywards Heath to Seaford, turning into High Street. This house belonged to the Amy brothers, proprietors of the garage. Many will remember Mr. Phil Amy, also Mr. Robinson, in their Special Constables' uniforms, directing traffic at this busy junction on summer Sunday afternoons. Along with the house on the opposite corner (photo 4), this house was demolished when road “improvements” were made. Recently, I showed this photo to Newhaven resident John Lonsbrough, who had worked for Southdown for many years; he was surprised to find that the photo also featured his wife and children!
Photo 6: The Drove, adjacent to the MCM Garage, c.1961; note how the road has been widened. The large building on the corner of New Road is the power station, where the town’s electricity was generated by large marine diesel engines before the days of the National Grid; does anyone remember seeing the engines and know what make they were?
Photos 7 + 8: My attempts at “artistic” shots, 1970: Falaise leaving for Dieppe with Cresta Marine’s boat park in the foreground; the view from Fort Road today is somewhat reduced!
Top of Gibbon Road, with school buses departing. Royal Sovereign light tower under construction on East Beach just visible. Photos taken from cab (whilst stationary!) on ser.26 Relief (schooldays only).
Although it is not of Newhaven, I will try to sneak-in photo 9: The forecourt of the "new" Seaford Southdown depot, now demolished.
Up to c.1956 and before this depot was built, this part of Claremont Road shown was the main road from Newhaven; the road adjacent to the station was access to the station only, and had gates at one end.
This photo was taken in 1970; the lorries are Chandler-Tomsett's; the two Austin A40s belonged to Bob Russell and Don "Whiplash" Nicholson (who had four more). The Austin FX3D is mine; I bought it from George Still!
Thank you Jim for your kind comments.
We thought the photos deserved to be seen as large as possible, so this page is in Photo Gallery mode. Click on the thumbnail image to see the larger version. Andy-editor