So just who are the intrepid
crew they call
ghost-trains?
| "What did you see in the parallel dimension?" "I saw beans, lots of beans....."
Loz Russell (left) is the maniac who started all this stuff in the first place. He is a bus driver by day and besides local history and the ever increasing burden of the ghost-trains project, he is also a keen and gifted musician, gardener and martial artist when time allows.He also loves Lego, kiting, railway modelling and....food! He is married to an extremely patient young lady called Gemma, who has to not only put up with sharing her bedroom with a fully fledged recording studio but also a hubby who seems to spend most of his life either in front of a laptop or hiding in bushes photographing "stupid old things". His other leading passion is his guineapigs, which live in an enclosure in the front room and are a source of constant amusement for visitors. |
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 CLICK HERE to see a few high res photos of the sort of things we are passionate about! | Geoff Marshall (left) is the second in command for the ghost-trains project and has been a key player pretty much from the word go. It is Geoff's boundless enthusiasm for local history and his thirst for knowledge of a bygone era which has allowed this project to grow at a seemingly exponential rate. When he's not regretting not paying closer attention to when the railways were still there, he is a keen motorcyclist and the proud owner of a beasty that has a larger engine than most cars on the road today. He is also known for his acting prowess and has had many leading roles in local theatre productions. We also like to rag Geoff for his idea of "inconspicuous". On a recent jaunt to Devil's Dyke there was a risk of getting caught trespassing if spotted, so naturally, Geoff turned up wearing a luminous orange coat that not only gave passing life forms a splitting headache and caused air traffic problems, but was also clearly visible on the other side of the universe. |
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  | Nick Phillips (left) is the third member of the team and he reckons that his interest in railways stems from the age of five-ish when his father took him to the Chart Leacon Railway Works at Ashford in Kent. Living in Bexhill at the time he also remembers with sadness the closure of the Crowhurst - Bexhill West branch line in 1964. His interest in local history has been strong since moving back to Brighton in 1969 and his other interests include 1960s music and imbibing copious amounts of Real Ale. He has been a 'semi-active' member of CAMRA since 1977. His house is sited a couple of streets away from where the Kemp Town Tunnel runs underneath. Nick also 'works' as a bus driver with Loz, Geoff, Rich and Grant. Pictured left is what Nick says is the sexiest thing to run on rails.
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 | Rich "Skyframe" Sansom is another vital member of the ghost-trains team and has joined us on most of our projectsto date. He was fairly instrumental to our obtaining the photos of the Pullman Works amidst awkward and dangerous conditions, literally days before the buildings were demolished and as a master of covert operations, he likes to retain his anonymity. When he's not attempting to bypass huge spikey fences, keep out signs and barbed wire, Agent Skyframe owns and flies an impressive collection of kites and is also very keen on Kayaking. We are guessing he will find some bizarre way of combining the two of them in the near future. Rich is also a bus driver, but only operates in the hours of darkness, lest he be seen and identified. |
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 | Rick is another invaluable member of the team. He isn't so much into the railway side of things, but if there is anything abandoned in the offing, he is a top man to have around and excells when it comes to the slightly less accessible aspects of exploration. When not on a mission, Rick loves kiting, running and martial arts . He is an accomplished swordsman and has a fairly formidable collection of painful pointy objects. He is also something of a countryman and thoroughly enjoys being outdoors. We would love to know what his full name is, but like Rich, he wants to retain an air of anonymity and aloof cool. His offbeat sense of humour and philosophical take on just about everything from hinges to chavs have resulted in some totally bizarre conversations and it is frequently hilarious to have both Rick and Rich working on the same conversation from opposite ends. |
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 | Grant Smithers (left) is another staunch member of the Ghost-trains team and has joined us on most of the treks to date. He has many fantastic memories of Lewes and the lines around Hailsham & Uckfield and is usually able to fill in a lot of the gaps with fascinating stories about the locations that we visit. Also a bus driver of considerable experience and capability, Grant can be regularly seen on the fabulous 29 bus route to Tunbridge Wells. Despite looking remarkably fierce in this photo, Grant is a fantastic chap to be around and one of the easiest people to get on with and is certainly one of the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic that I've met thus far. |
ALSO INCREDIBLY WORTHY
OF MENTION,
PRAISE AND BEER...
 | One day Chris Bedford (left) was sneaking a crafty smoke at a rubbish dump near his school, when he was (inexplicably) bitten by a radioactive leopard. At first, he thought little of it...but when he started to develop incredible historical railway observation powers, his life changed forever, for when Chris jumps into his trusty Vauxhall Nova and pulls out his huge wad of old maps and a video camera, he becomes the mystical and enigmatic DUMPMAN! A true legend, Chris has been a key instrumental force in us getting our stuff out there. His encyclopaedic knowledge, support and enthusiasm know no bounds and we would not have achieved a tenth of what we have without him. He has produced a huge array of exhaustively and painstakingly researched DVD's, charting the routes and histories of all manner of lost railways, sewers, underground rivers, nuclear bunkers and even a mental hospital, all of which we heartily recommend as essential and compelling viewing. |
 | Andy Nicholson (aka 227angrydonkeys) has joined us on a couple of recent treks, namely Stonehouse Lunatic Asylum & West Park Lunatic Asylum and has also put us onto a couple of other places which could be rather good to have a look around in the near future. When he's not building, painting, plumbing or decorating to keep the wolf from his door (and his expensively populated garage!) Mr. Nicholson is a remarkably adept climber as the photo shows and is also a fantastic artist and musician. He has a penchant for cars and currently owns a Nissan Sunny 4x4 which has a marginally higher MPG than the average bus, but is faster than a cheetah with a bum full of fireworks. He would have joined us for our trek to Southlands Hospital, but was battling with some particularly rebellious plumbing at the time.... |
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