Coming Soon....
Following a number of comments from visitors to the site, we are aware of some of the problems caused when opening the webpages, particularly on some older computer systems, due to the size of some of the graphics files used for the pictures.
We DO listen to and read your comments and take them seriously!
To this end, we are about to embark on an ambitious project to attempt to compact EVERY SINGLE PICTURE throughout the entire project, in order to speed up loading times and prevent computer crashes and server time-outs. Please bear with us though and be patient, there are a lot of pages to deal with and many hundreds of images, so it will take a lot of time (something we don't always have a huge amount of, sadly).
We are also looking to add "tape recorder style" transport buttons to the websites across the board to simplify moving around the site and to give it a more modern and professional look. This will take a lot of work, so these features will appear gradually over the next few months, hopefully.
We are starting to run out of space!!! Yola is a great domain provider and has allowed us to produce 6 websites so far (ghost-trains, ghost-of, kemptown, brighton-works, devils-dyke and hollingdean). However, with some of the websites being as popular as they are and with so many things to explore, we are having to consider upgrading the websites so that they can handle 5gB of data each instead of 1gB. This will cost us, though. Yola are asking US$50 (roughly £30) to upgrade the domain and allow us to do this. If anyone would like to make a contribution towards helping me expand the sites, please get in touch - any help would be greatly appreciated.
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KEMPTOWN RAILWAY:
The Kemptown Railway website disappeared briefly in August2008 because the original domain supplier went into liquidation, so I had to construct a complete new website totally from scratch. It has taken a great deal of time and effort, but the new site is (for the most part) up and running. The link from ghost-trains works exactly as it did for the old website and should take you straight to the new one.
We are also looking to add "tape recorder style" transport buttons to the websites across the board to simplify moving around the site and to give it a more modern and professional look. This will take a lot of work, so these features will appear gradually over the next few months, hopefully.
The Guestbook page is now complete and fully operational and I am very pleased with how this operates, so if anyone would like to leave comments, stories, memories or anecdotes then they can now do so easily without having to e-mail them to us.
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BRIGHTON WORKS:
The new user interface for Brighton Works has now been completed. Please contact us if you like it, or if you hate it or have any suggestions on how we might improve it, please let us know!
Comments are being added to the photos gradually, expanded and updated. We have been sort of neglecting this part of the project because there has been so much going on elsewhere, so now I think it's time to give it some TLC while there's a bit of a lull!
We are also looking to add "tape recorder style" transport buttons to the websites across the board to simplify moving around the site and to give it a more modern and professional look. This will take a lot of work, so these features will appear gradually over the next few months, hopefully.
There are also some new photos to be added into the various pages, as the "OneBrighton" development is now nearing completion and the old Goods Line Trackbed will soon reopen as a "green corridor".
The ability to add comments etc. via a Guestbook page will be added soon - we are waiting to see how this technology performs on the Kemptown website as a pilot scheme. Once we are satisfied with its performance we will roll them out across the board for each and every page which could evolke comments.
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GHOST-of:
New pages are being added all the time, the most recent being coverage of our treks to West Park and Cane Hill Lunatic Asylums. These pages are in development and are being constantly added to as time permits.
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We had our trek along some of the Cuckoo Trail on Sunday 8th November and covered a mere fraction of the 14 mile trackbed, so there will be several more days on the line as a result. Some parts are highly accessible, others are virtually untouched. These will all be in the new year, when weather will be much improved.
We are also looking at the possibility of trips to Epsom's West Park Lunatic Asylum and the Pyestock National Gas Turbine Centre in Fleet in the new year. These will be members only, sadly, as both require "creative trespass" to gain access. The outcomes will be posted on ghost-of.
There are 2 new projects which we are closely allied to, which could be very interesting for members to get involved with. The first is "Past2Present", which involves restoring a Leyland Lynx bus to its former glory and converting it into a mobile museum of Brighton Corporation's Tramways history. This is an ambitious project, but is progressing at an enormous rate. Some of the artefacts uncovered by the Past2Present team have been absolutely staggering, including the original 100 year old working clock from the frontage of the original tram depot in Lewes Road, Brighton. Please contact us if you would like further details of this project or would like to get involved.
The second project to watch is the "Tram53 Project", who have found the very last tram to run on Brighton Corporation's tram network. The project is currently recruiting volunteers to help wih the restoration of this tram (which is in remarkably good condition!) to its former glory. Please contact us if you would like further details of this project, or would like to get involved.
Last updated 2130, 23rd December 2009.
