RAILWAY AND WEST QUAY SHIPPING
A harbour view from the mid 1960s
By Andy Gilbert
Newhaven Harbour, 1966
Old postcard
This old postcard cropped up on a regional Facebook page, so I thought I'd share it here for those who don't 'do' Facebook.
We're looking up river from a West Quay landing stage, possibly the one just North of the one used by the RAF 'crash boats'. I'll try to identify the vessels in the image, from left to right. The blue trawler is possibly Denrow? Behind it, there are two METREC tugs, that look like Tidworth with MNS52 outside of her. Up at the Coal Wharf is the suction dredger Ron Woolaway (infamous for capsizing when brand new, then being salvaged and fitted with sponsons to stop it happening again!). The large ferry is Maid Of Kent and then come the two Isle of Wight paddlers, Ryde and Sandown. I remember the light blue former fishing boat but don't recall the name. Finally, we see a bit of the harbour bucket dredger Testside.
Date? The ships are in post 1965 British Rail livery but the Sheet Loft is still there on the West Quay and Tidworth was sold in 1966 or 1967, IIRC. So I'll go for 1966