Category:Brighton Belle

This page is about the electric Pullman train. For information on the Friendly Museum Dog, see Belle the Museum Dog

1935: "BRIGHTON BELLE crack electric express of the Southern Railway. The train runs thrice daily between Victoria Station, London, and the terminus at Brighton, covering the fifty-one miles in sixty minutes. The Brighton Belle replaced the steam-hauled Southern Belle, the first all-Pullman express in Britain, which during a quarter of a century carried over four and three quarter million passengers." [image info]

1935: Two of the five-car units combined to make a ten-car train. "THE DOWN BRIGHTON BELLE passing Clapham Junction. The electric express is scheduled to cover the 51-mile journey to the coast three times a day in either direction in one hour." [image info]

1942: A Bassett-Lowke exhibition model of Brighton Belle car "Hazel", with hinged lid to show interior [image info]

1948: "Pullman and Perfection" [image info]

~1963: Cutaway diagram of a Brighton Belle / Bournemouth Belle Pullman carriage, British Rail [image info]

~1963: "Brighton Belle" and "Bournemouth Belle" leaflet [image info]

~1963: Waiter service: "Brighton or Bournemouth in Pullman luxury" [image info]

Hornby R2987 Brighton Belle five-car set [image info]

Brighton Belle Mural, Trafalgar Street, Brighton, production drawing [image info]

"Brighton Belle" Brighton Walk of Fame floor plaque, Brighton Station [image info]

2013: Brighton Belle on the front cover of "The Brighton Belle and Southern Electric Pullmans", by Antony M. Ford, Pullman Profile No.4, ISBN 1909328057 [image info]

"The Brighton Belle: The story of a famous and much-loved train", by Steven Grant and Simon Jeffs [image info]

The Brighton Belle was a luxury electric Pullman train which ran on the Southern Railway from Victoria Station in London to Brighton Station on the Sussex coast. The first electric all-Pullman service in the world, it ran from 29 June 1934 until its withdrawal on 30 April 1972.

Construction

Following the electrification of the London to Brighton line in January 1933, Pullman could have chosen to run existing cars with new electric motor units. Instead (in keeping with their longstanding special relationship with Brighton and particularly the Victoria to Brighton service), they decided to commission three entirely new five-car sets to replace the outgoing Southern Belle cars.

Built by Metropolitan Cammell, and with all-steel construction, each EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) set comprised three different types of car: (1) Third Class Motor / Break Parlour, (2) First Class Kitchen, and (3) Third Class Parlour, and were made up in the following configuration:

3rd M/B Parlour — 3rd Parlour — 1st Kitchen — 1st Kitchen — 3rd M/B Parlour

The cars within each set were vestibuled to allow movement between them, however the Brighton Belle train was usually made up of a pair of these five-car sets (ten cars in total), with no access between each set. The sets were used in rotation with the spare third set either having maintenance done, or in the summer months between 1948 and 1957 being used as the Sunday-only Eastbourne Pullman service.

Cars

The three sets were made up as follows and each set was given a unit number by the Southern Group.

Unit 2051:	(	Car 88	—	Car 86	—	"Hazel"	—	"Doris"	—	Car 89	)
Unit 2052:	(	Car 90	—	Car 87	—	"Audrey"	—	"Vera"	—	Car 91	)
Unit 2053:	(	Car 92	—	Car 85	—	"Gwen"	—	"Mona"	—	Car 93	)

As with all Pullman cars, the first class vehicles were given popular girls names of the time and the third class cars were simply designated numbers. On the 1st of January 1937 all existing Southern unit numbers were increased by 1000 so the Brighton Belle Units became 3051, 3052 and 3053 respectively and kept these numbers until they were retired in 1972.

Motive power for the train was provided by British Thompson Houston Company (BTH) 225 HP traction motors. Eight of these were fitted to each Motor 3rd car and these gave the train a top speed of 75 Mph (120 Kph).

Popularity

As opposed to its predecessor the Southern Belle, the Brighton Belle had a ready made customer-base and was extremely popular from the outset with business travellers as well as theatre patrons and actors alike, due to its regular scheduled 60-minute non-stop runs, eight a day, Monday to Saturday, for most of its working life.

The train was withdrawn from service by British Rail in April 1972 due to the cost of maintaining the ageing cars. The decision to cancel the service provoked a campaign to save the train, which had become one of the most famous luxury trains in the world, but to no avail.

It is commemorated on a mural running the length of the Museum, on Trafalgar Street.

The 5BEL Trust (Registered Charity No. 1133545) aims to restore a set of five carriages and bring the Brighton Belle back into mainline service by 2016.

1933 description:

1934 news:

"The Brighton Belle"

The name of the Southern Railway's luxurious all-Pullman electric express which, like its predecessor, has hitherto been "The Southern Belle", has been changed to "The Brighton Belle". As the train travels only between London and Brighton, making three return trips each day, the new title will certianly give to passengers a more definite indication of the route and destination of the train than was afforded by the original title.

— , -, , "Railway News", , Meccano Magazine, , February 1934

1935 description:

Re: Southern Railway electrification ...

... For the extension to Brighton and Worthing alone 285 new cars were built, including 38 Pullman cars. The most remarkable units, of course, are those used in the all-Pullman "Brighton Belle".
Never previously in railway history have "motor Pullmans" been constructed. Three units have been built for this service, each comprising five cars measuring 68 ft. 9 in. over the buffers, and all equipped in the most up-to-date Pullman fashion. The motor Pullmans are the heaviest vehicles yet put on British metals, for they weigh 62 tons apiece.

Biggest in the World

A complete unit consists of third-class motor Pullman brakes at each end, furnished with driving compartments, a third-class Pullman, and two first-class Pullmans with kitchens, together weighing 249 tons, and accommodating 152 third-class and 40 first-class passengers. At busy times two units are run in conjunction, making 10 cars and weighing 498 tons, and the third unit is kept in reserve. ...

— , -, , ELECTRIC POWER ON THE GRAND SCALE: The Greatest Suburban Electrification Scheme in the World, , Railway Wonders of the World, , 1935

In the museum

Brighton Toy and Model Museum have strong links with the 5BEL Trust, which is restoring the train, and our Pullman-related exhibits include a display dedicated to Brighton Belle models and artefacts, as well as a lifesize Brighton Belle mural on the side of the building.