The Sussex Armoured Train

On Saturday the 19th of May 1894, the international press gathered in the afternoon, as it was revealed that the 1st Sussex Artillery Volunteers had become the only regiment in the British Empire equipped with an armoured train.

The regiment itself had been recruited from employees of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. A detachment was deployed at Shoreham Fort and the regiment’s task at the time was to defend the entire length of the Sussex coast from a German invasion.

The idea for an armoured train had come about after an inspection of coastal defences. Shoreham Fort was considered adequate, but it was thought the older Napoleonic Martello Towers along the coast could not repel the modern warships of the German navy. Colonel Charles Boxall, a Brighton solicitor, along with his officers, came up with the solution. This was the ‘Flying Martello’ - a train mounted with cannons to broadside the German navy and landing craft of the invasion force. A camouflaged armoured train had the advantage of using the cover of the countryside or a coastal town, as it fired shells over buildings and onto the landing beaches or directly at ships at sea. The enemy would find it difficult to spot the train and retaliate against it.

The idea for mounting cannons on rolling stock had initially been rejected by engineers because of the weight of the guns and the recoil when fired, which would tip the train over and off of the track. Railway and artillery experts suggested that a train could carry and fire a cannon however, if the carriage was counterweighted with from five to ten tons of metal. For heavier ordnance it was proposed larger rail trucks would be mounted upon bogies that would be bolted down before firing. This would though restrict the train’s ability to shoot and then move to a new position, possibly making it easier for enemy ships to target.

The 1st Sussex Artillery Volunteers, who were employed by Brighton Railway Works, had pressed on with their project and had built an armoured gun carriage. The cannon was a 40-pounder Armstrong breech-loaded gun - the type favoured by the Royal Navy. It was taken from Shoreham Fort and mounted on to a turntable upon a railway truck and encased in armour. The cannon was then able to turn in any direction and fire the required broadside.

The armoured train came in for a considerable share of attention at its unveiling to the international press at its military trial in Seaford. The train consisted of a locomotive, its gun carriage mounted with the 40-pounder cannon and a further two carriages containing four sets of horse harnesses, gunners and ammunition. The harnesses meant that if the locomotive failed or was damaged, the gun carriage could be towed to safety by horses.

The train was covered in a mix of iron and steel 18-inch thick armoured plating. Colonel Boxall explained the mechanics of the train’s operation to his enthusiastic