2025

LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL

APRIL 2025

WE MUST NEVER FORGET

On from 4 March 1989, at 13.34, I am hoping many will still remember the terrible events of

that day when, sadly, five people lost their lives along with 100 walking wounded.

The incident took place on the up Brighton fast line at the north end of Purĺey station

which involved a Littlehampton to London Victoria service which ran into the back of a Horsham to Victoria service shortly after leaving platform 3 at Purley station and crossing onto the up fast line.

The aftermath was that six coaches of the Littlehampton service were down the embankment with the leading coach facing the direction it had come from and laying in the back gardens of houses in Glenn Avenue.

Since 1989 I have escorted families, year in year out, to the Purley memorial on platform 1 at Purley station to lay wreaths and flowers in memory of their loved ones. At the time of the

crash I was a guard based formally at Caterham. On the day of the incident my driver Eddie Rowen (Big Ed) and I were working a London Bridge to Caterham via Forest Hill service. Shortly after departing Purley Oaks we were brought to a stand at the home signal T155 where Eddie contacted me, via the cab to cab, and told me what he had just seen

happen.

We were advised to help out where we could and evacuated our train and passengers from the carriages of both trains involved in the incident under instruction assisting passengers to Purley station and safety. I was a young 23-year-old at the time, having joined British Rail in 1986, and am now well into my 39th year of service. I will never forget the events of that day and I think it is important that, as a safety-critical industry, we never collectively forget.

The families normally visit the memorial on the Sunday nearest the anniversary or on the actual date, lay wreaths and flowers and then have a moment in silence to remember their

loved ones. This year the Clark family visited on Sunday 2 March, a lovely early spring after-noon and a lovely sunny day.

Each year with the assistance of Southern facilities and the Horsham maintenance team the memorial and embankment are always prepared for the visit of the families, for which I am truly grateful. A personal thanks to the station staff at Purley for making the day a success with station presentation.

Robbie Lowndes

Redhill drivers’ depot

LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL

MAY 2025

HORSHAM

Horsham Icons

Horsham says a fond farewell to two retirees: Andy Coombe, a member since 2003, and our ex-branch chair (a Horsham driver after working a few feet behind one as a guard) and Martin Richardson, a member since 1998, who’ll be spending his retirement with horses, making a change from passengers.

Both will much-missed as they are icons of our depot. The Horsham team wish them the very best in their retirements.

Mike Ryan
Horsham branch 102 Chairman

A.S.L.E.F. PRESENTATIONS AT THE 2025 REUNION

Ian Buxton Collection

A.S.L.E.F. presentation made by Mick Whelan, A.S.L.E.F., General Secretary.

Top left Ian Osborne retirement certificate, right Bary Shilliam retirement certificate.

Bottom left Alan Hardy retirement certificate, right Chris Gun retirement certificate.

LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL

JUNE 2025

BRIGHTON

BRIGHTON & Sussex ASLEF branches held our annual social gathering on Tuesday 6th May, with members past and present travelling from all parts of the district, and with some ex- members travelling from various parts of the country, from Scotland to Cornwall and many points in between.

The branch also had the pleasure of six special guests in attendance: GS Mick

Whelan, AGS Simon Weller, EC Alan Boulton, Alan Hardy, Barry Shilliam, Ian Osborne,

Ian Johnston member Marz Colombini, district organiser Paul Donnelly, former DO Graham Morris, and DO4 Nigel Roebuck.

Mick gave an account of life since the long-running pay dispute ended. This was followed by the most important part of the afternoon, making presentations to members: Ian Johnston (5 year badge); Alan Boulton (20); Chris Horlock (40); and retired member Stewart Bartholomew-Jones (45). Retirement certificates were also presented to Ian Osborne, Barry Shilliam, Alan Hardy, and Chris Gunn and a special presentation was made to former district organiser Graham Morris.

Mark Johnson once again produced our annual reunion badge; proceeds from the sale of these

badges goes towards the cost of this long- running event and, once again, was well-supported by those in attendance.

If you are interested in coming to next year’s social it will be on Tuesday 5 May, at the Brighton railway club, and you will be made very welcome.

Ian Buxton

Brighton 035

branch secretary

Ian Buxton Collection

A.S.L.E.F. presentation made by Mick Whelan, A.S.L.E.F., General Secretary.

Top left Stewart Bartholomew - Jones 45 year badge, right Chris Horlock 40 year badge.

Bottom left Alan Boulton 20 year badge, right Ian Johnston 5 year badge.

Ian Buxton Collection

Brighton Branch presentation to retired District Organiser, Graham Morris,

made by Branch Secretary Ian Buxton

REMEMBERING DRIVER CHARLES PATTENDEN

TUNBRIDGE WELLS A.S.L.E.&F.

On Thursday 3rd July 2025, a quiet moment of remembrance was held in a small coastal

town of Bishopstone in Sussex. Inside the booking hall of the small station, members of the

local community and family, gathered to honour a man whose name had, for too long, been

missing from the roll call of wartime sacrifice.

The event was organised by the Friends of Bishopstone Station (FOBS), a small but

passionate group of volunteers who have taken it upon themselves to uncover and preserve

the forgotten wartime history of their coastal town. That history includes the tragic tale of

Charles Henry Pattenden, a steam engine driver from Tunbridge Wells West (TWW), who

became the first railway worker to be killed by enemy action on British soil during World

War II.

Eighty-five years to the day since his death, a memorial plaque was unveiled in his name, not

far from the site of the enemy air attack that took his life.

A Forgotten Tragedy Unearthed

This story begins not in a history book, but in a conversation. In December of the previous

year, FOBS member Graham Moore reached out after visiting the Igniting the Flame of Unity

website—a digital archive dedicated to the history of the Brighton railway enginemen. His

message was a simple one: did anyone know more about the railwaymen involved in an air

raid near Bishopstone in July 1940?

That question sparked a six month-long collaboration between researchers, railway historians,

genealogist, and finding various family members. Through diligent searching, they uncovered

wartime newspaper cuttings, railway service records, a photograph of the train crew, and

even made contact with descendants of Charles Pattenden and Guard Edward Batchelor.

In the spirit of community, a badge was designed by the Brighton Branch of A.S.L.E.&F.—

the railway union both Charles Pattenden and his fireman Frank Cox belonged to—with

proceeds helping to fund the new memorial. The badge proved so popular, it sold beyond all

expectations. It seemed that, even after all this time, people were still eager to honour a man

who had quietly given everything in service to his country. Thanks and gratitude goes out to

the members of the Brighton Branch, and fellow A.S.L.E.&F. members who supported this

cause.

July 3rd, 1940: A Day of Firsts

On Wednesday, 3rd of July 1940 was the day Sussex first felt the war on its doorstep. Britain

was still adjusting to the hard new rhythm of wartime life. Just weeks earlier, the British

Expeditionary Force had returned from the beaches of Dunkirk. France had fallen. Across the

Channel, the Luftwaffe was now at Britain’s doorstep.

That morning, a lone Dornier bomber from occupied France carried out what is believed to be

the first aerial attack on a land target in Sussex. The town of Newhaven, its soldiers and

civilians alike, scrambled for cover as the bomber strafed the beach and buildings, before

dropping its bombs harmlessly into the sea.

But the enemy was not finished. That evening, another Dornier returned.

At 5:37 pm, amid distant sirens and the lingering unease of the morning’s raid, a two carriage

push-pull train departed Seaford for Horsted Keynes. It was a local service, crewed by TWW

enginemen Driver Charles Pattenden, Passed Fireman Frank Cox, and Brighton Guard

Edward Batchelor. Even though the line was electrified, this line still had booked steam trains

working over some of the branch lines in the area. The train had only a few passengers on

board, with many people heeding the government’s advice to avoid unnecessary travel in

wartime.

As the train departed Seaford, Pattenden, was driving from the front cab situated in the

leading carriage, and Cox remained on the engine’s footplate. The train made its first stop at

Bishopstone and continued eastwards, approaching a windswept and exposed section of track

near the now-ruined village of Tide Mills and the beach lying to their left hand side.

But as the train drew onto that vulnerable stretch of track, a dark speck grew larger on the

horizon. Without warning, the aircraft tore out of the sky.

It was a lone German Dornier Do 17 bomber, sweeping low across the Channel from France.

As it approached, the scream of its engines broke through the calm, and moments later,

machine gun fire unmercifully ripped across the landscape—and into the train.

The bullets ripped through the wooden carriages with terrifying ease. Inside, the passengers

dropped to the floor, clutching children, crawling under seats, shielding their faces from

splintering glass. The train shuddered to an abrupt halt.

Above, the bomber banked and dropped its bombs—six of them—likely 50kg each. They

exploded in the nearby Oyster Ponds; close enough to rock the train and blast out what little

glass remained. Though the train was not directly hit, the damage was brutal.

In the cab, Driver Pattenden, was hit by the splinters, was mortally wounded in his cab.

Guard Batchelor suffered a severe injury to his back. Fireman Cox, unscathed, leapt into

action, he scrambled forward ignoring the danger. Despite the horror around him, he checked

on the wounded, including his stricken driver. With Pattenden beyond help, and the line

ahead was still passable, he took charge of the train and brought the damaged train safely

into Newhaven Harbour Station arriving 12 ½ minutes late.

Guard Batchelor, himself hit by shrapnel and bleeding from a back injury, staggered through

the train to assist the injured. Despite his pain, he refused to rest, and gave assistance to the

passengers on board his train.

Though help was waiting, it was too late for Charles Pattenden. He died shortly after arrival

and had become the first railway worker killed by enemy action on home soil during the war,

a casualty not on the frontlines, but in service just the same.

A Quiet Farewell and a Long-Awaited Honour

Three days later, on Saturday morning, on the 6th July, Charles Pattenden’s funeral was held

at The Borough Cemetery. It was a solemn affair, attended by fellow enginemen and fellow

railwaymen from Tunbridge Wells and beyond. The TWW branch of A.S.L.E.&F. was well

represented. Pattenden’s fireman, Frank Cox, along with other enginemen from TWW loco,

were pallbearers, who carried their friend and colleague to last his place of rest.

Six weeks later, on 18th August 1940, a small but dignified ceremony took place at Waterloo

Station. Southern Railway awarded the first batch of its newly created Meritorious War

Service Medal to eighteen members of staff. Among them were Fireman Frank Cox and

Guard Edward Batchelor, recognised for their bravery under fire and their devotion to duty in

the face of attack. The medal, designed in silver gilt, bore a laurel wreath, a locomotive

driving wheel, and echoes of the Victoria Cross.

The Lines Behind the Lines

The story of the 5:37 Seaford to Horsted Keynes train is not one that made local headlines for

long. It was just one small part of what would soon be known as the Battle of Britain. But it

was a harbinger—of the war that had truly arrived, of the danger that now stalked British soil.

Their citations told the story clearly: though under fire and with their train attacked by a

German bomber, they showed extraordinary calm, courage, and duty. Cox not only tried to

save his friend but ensured the passengers were brought safely to Newhaven. Batchelor,

wounded, still assisted others.

Much has been said about the bravery of soldiers on the beaches of Dunkirk, or the pilots of

the Battle of Britain. But it is men like Charles Pattenden—whose daily duty kept the country

moving through war even when the sky above turned deadly —that form the invisible

backbone of national endurance.

The attack at Tide Mills was not the last. The war would bring many more air raids, more

lives lost, more trains attacked. But the story of Charles Pattenden reminds us that every

journey made in wartime came with courage, even if it never made the front page.

In recent years, historians have spoken more often of the “lines behind the lines”, the

logistical networks that fed, clothed, armed, and evacuated a nation at war. Railways were

lifelines. Their crews were the silent and invisible heroes of the war.

A Promise Remembered

Eighty-five years on, a plaque now stands at Bishopstone Station, a permanent reminder that

sacrifice does not always come with ceremony or spectacle. Sometimes, it comes with coal

smoke and courage—on a stretch of exposed track, under a summer sky, where one man’s

final duty became part of history.

The Charles Pattenden Memorial Plaque

For more information please go to 1940 Tide Mills

https://ignitingtheflameofunity.yolasite.com/1940-tide-mills.php

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