Living in Sunny Littlehampton (Little'ampton, LA to the locals... - Ed), even next to the railway, its quite rare to get interesting trains visiting. Mostly we see EMUs such as the class 377 or 313s, but occasionally we are privileged to get glimpses of more obscure locomotives.
The occasional rail tour might be hauled by locomotives like this Class 37 for example, in West Coast Railways livery.
The Network Rail test trains can also appear pulled by some older locomotives, such as the Class 73 in various liveries or even a pair of Class 47s or a Class 37 pair.
Some good photo opportunities are also provided by the still-working semaphore signals controlled by the nice original signal box, or outside the old engine shed, now the waiting room.
With all the works going on between Brighton and Three Bridges, we are also now seeing Thameslink Class 700 EMUS, and even some re-routed Gatwick Express services making an appearance. The Class 700 units now have regular diagrams to and from Littlehampton regardless of whether the blockade is in place.
Up until recently we did also have a Class 313 (running number 313 201) in the old blue/grey BR livery to celebrate 40 years of the units being in use, but apparently this had a slight accident so we may not see this one again.
We have even had the steam locomotive Royal Scot visiting, but I can't find any photos of that in my collection (you tease! - Ed).
I hope this little insight into the local station is of interest, and I shall continue to keep the eyes open (and the camera ready!) just in case.
Happy modelling,
Martin.
MARTIN LOVELL shows us what he has seen in sunny LA.