Opened on May 11th 1840

Brighton railway station stands on a man made plateau at the top of Trafalgar Street. It opened for use on May 11th 1840 with the opening of the line to Shoreham. The main terminus building was completed for the opening of the line from London on the 21st September 1841.

The building in the Italianate style popular at the time was the work of the architect David Mocatta who was responsible for the original stations on the line; it is the only one surviving. Its façade is now much hidden by the later, 1880’s, porte-cochere and originally there was a colonnade on the south, west and east sides.

Spanning the tracks and rising 22m (75ft) above the platforms is the recently restored magnificent cast iron and glass train shed which was erected in 1882/3. Following the curvature of the tracks the roof is supported on cast iron columns some of which bear the name of the Midlands engineering firm, the Patent Shaft and Axletree Company of Wednesbury who had won the contract to supply. All the ironwork was delivered by rail and erected above the existing shed with not a single day of train service operation being lost.

The new train shed was lit by arc lamps supplied by the Hammond Electric Light Company (the generating plant was in the works of the Regent Iron Foundry in North Road, the site of which is now occupied by the postal sorting office).