Disregarding those who worried about foxhounds being electrocuted, he pushed the suburban trains out to the coast, Brighton was not going to be deprived of its Southern Belle after over half a century of profitable service.
Lord Dalziel ordered new Pullmans, which came from Metro-Cammell of Birmingham.
From the front, the end Third Class (motor) cars looked just like the Southern Electrics used elsewhere in the line since they had no trough corridors;
but they were finished in Pullman chocolate-umber and bore the Pullman badge below the driver’s windows.
These cars also had luggage compartments, for in 1933 people still travelled with trunks and heavy fitted suitcases, handled (of course) by porters.
Such pieces were far too large to go into the hand-baggage bays which were situated close to the vestibule so that no luggage should spoil the elegance of the interior decor.
The three centre coaches of each rake comprised two First Class coaches with kitchen and one Third Class car without kitchen.
One last change in name occurred in the long history of the train, when the mayor of Brighton (at that time a lady, Miss M. Hardy) renamed it Brighton Belle on 29th June of 1934. By then management had introduced the Bournemouth Belle to the West and the Kentish Belle to the South East Coast resorts of Margate and Ramsgate.
The Brighton Belle was to outlive all the other Belles.
The reason for the Brighton Belle’s long life can be found in its wartime history.
After a first short withdrawal in the interests of sacrifice, during what was called “the national emergency”,
The Brighton Belle began running again in 1940, albeit with rationed food and customers as well as staff who had been up all night in the Home Guard.
The bombing made it necessary to withdraw the cars and hide them in unlikely places, such as the Crystal Palace in outer London where there were some spare sidings.
The war went on for another five years, after which the railways were nationalised. The Pullman Car Company. said nothing and to everyone’s surprise, it was not included in the list of companies forcibly taken over. Moreover, the bill agreed to honour all contracts entered into by the old companies prior to nationalisation and in 1947 here she was again, in all her pre-war glory, running as usual three times a day and with a contract not expiring until 1962 !
Having been bought in 1954 by the nationalised British Railways, the Pullman Car Co., Ltd ceased to exist when its contracts expired at the end of 1962.
Not until 1976 did a Wagons-Lits internal document come to light, showing how Pullman had been totally owned by CIWL since 1935 !
Darstaed intends to manufacture the Brighton Belle along with the Golden Arrow and many other Pullman coaches.
Sources : Luxury Trains by George Behrend British Pullman Trains by Charles Fryer Die Pullman Wagen by Renzo Perret
Home / Profile / products / History / Gallery / News / Events / Purchase / Contact / catalogue The copyrights / trademarks in all material provided on this Site belong to Darstaed.
None of the material may be reproduced, copied, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form with out the prior written consent of Darstaed.
