Saturday, 24 January 2026

Part 2b - The Secret of the "Hush Hush" Shop

 

Part 2b: The Secret of the "Hush Hush" Shop

While many in Lancing knew the Carriage Works as the heart of the Southern Railway, few realised that during the height of the war, a section of the works had been transformed into a high-stakes aeronautical factory. This was the "Hush Hush" Shop.

While men like Mr Warr (whose story we tell in Part 3) were training as the first line of defence against incendiary bombs, Evelyn and her team in the 'Hush Hush' shop were fighting a different kind of battle—one of precision and volatile chemicals."

Evelyn Steadman was one of the few transferred from the Upholstery department to this secret world. Her task wasn't just to "sew"; it was to engineer the wings of the Airspeed Horsa Glider. These weren't standard railway repairs; these wings were built to a staggering precision of 0.001”.

Evelyn’s transition from the Upholstery department to glider production was a natural fit. The Trimmers at Lancing were world-renowned for their work on luxury railway interiors; the same steady hands that stitched plush velvet and leather were now tasked with the '8-stitch' precision required for Grade A Linen aircraft skins. It was a shift from the comfort of the commute to the survival of the soldier."

Evelyn Steadman and her workmate Ada
"We had to stretch calico over the frames with eight stitches to the inch and a double knot every six inches," Evelyn recalled. "Once stitched, it went to the 'Dope Room' to be hardened until the fabric felt as solid as plywood."

Note the rhythm of the workers and the scale of the wings as they are finally loaded onto the trucks—the very moment Evelyn and her colleagues handed their precision work over to the front line.

The precision required for this work was absolute. While the men in the same shop constructed the wooden frames for the wings and elevators to a staggering tolerance of one-thousandth of an inch (0.001"), it was up to Eve and her friend Ada to provide the "skin."

The technical requirements were staggering:

  • The Woodwork: The men crafting the wooden wing frames worked to a tolerance of one-thousandth of an inch (0.001").

  • The Stitching: Calico was stretched over these frames and secured with buttonhole stitching.

  • The 8-Stitch Rule: The standard was exactly 8 stitches to the inch—never 7 and never 9.

  • The Security: A double knot was required every 6 inches, with a long needle and string used to stitch from top to bottom and back again to prevent any movement.

Once the 'Dope Room' treated these wings, they became as hard as plywood. Evelyn and the other girls never saw them again, but their work was the literal fabric of the D-Day invasion."

The girls from Lancing Carriage works/"Hush Hush" shop. Evelyn Steadman front centre left. 

The Fortress in the Garden: From Coaches to Gliders

"With the arrival of the 1940s, the Lancing Carriage Works was pulled into the heart of the war effort."The site—often celebrated as a 'factory in a garden'—found itself repurposed as a vital military fortress. The video at [33:45] illustrates this transition perfectly, showing how the Southern Railway’s engineering shops were unmatched in their versatility.

The skilled hands that once polished the mahogany of luxury coaches were suddenly turned to the production of Horsa glider frames, aircraft tail planes, and even small ships. The 'saw-tooth' sheds of Lancing provided the perfect environment for these secretive projects, where the precision of the railwaymen and the newly trained 'Railway Girls' met the urgent demands of the front line.

As the narrator notes at [34:25], the women literally 'sewed the fabric' onto the gliders and applied the foul-smelling dope, working alongside veterans who remembered the peacetime works. This wasn't just industrial work; it was a high-stakes race against time. The very tracks that once carried the Lancing Belle now bristled with anti-aircraft guns, defended by men like Dixy Dean and Mr Maple, who stood ready to protect the 'Fortress' they called home."




"To see the end result of the 'Hush Hush' shop's labour, you can watch this footage of the Horsa Gliders in action. Notice the fabric-skinned tail units and fuselage sections—this is exactly how the Lancing-produced components looked as they headed for the front line."


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The Longest Floating Bailey Bridge

A notable example is the bridge constructed across the River Maas at Gennep in February 1945:

  • Scale: This was the longest floating Bailey bridge ever built during the Second World War, stretching nearly 1,400 metres.

  • Construction: It required a vast amount of Bailey bridge equipment and pontoons, which were assembled in sections and floated into place.

  • Strategic Role: This bridge was essential for bringing over troops and supplies for the final push into Germany. After the river levels dropped, the pontoons and bridge equipment were collected and moved to the Rhine for the massive river crossings in March 1945.

The Role of the "Hush Hush" Shop

The floats identified in the wartime footage were the critical components that made these crossings possible:

  • Pontoon Manufacturing: The shop at the Lancing Carriage Works was a key production site for these airtight floating pontoons.

  • Precision Engineering: Each float had to be perfectly manufactured to remain buoyant under the weight of heavy military vehicles, a task that required the skilled workforce of the "Hush Hush" shop.

    The Bailey Bridge Floats

    The Bailey bridge was one of the most critical engineering feats of WWII, but it wasn't always a fixed structure. To cross wider rivers like the Rhine or the Seine, the modular bridge panels were supported by floating pontoons.

    • Materials & Design: While the main bridge was steel, the "floats" (pontoons) were often large, airtight metal or rubberised containers. The metal versions required high-precision welding to ensure they remained perfectly watertight under the immense weight of crossing tanks.

The Lancing Connection: It is now a recorded historical fact that the Lancing Carriage Works was a key site for constructing both Bailey bridges and the tailplanes for Horsa gliders.

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Did You Know?

  • At the height of the Second World War, 105,743 women were employed on the railways and in workshops across the country, working side-by-side with men to keep the nation moving.

    Right here in Lancing, the secret "Hush Hush" Shop at the Carriage Works was a hive of this female-led industry. While some were meticulously stitching fabric onto Horsa Glider wings, others were involved in the manufacture of massive Bailey Bridge floats.

    These airtight pontoons were the unsung heroes of the Allied advance; as seen in the footage, they provided the buoyancy needed for floating bridges to carry tanks across the great rivers of Europe, like the Maas and the Rhine.



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