Those of you who have been regularly following the fortunes of the Volk’s Electric Railway will be aware that the 2022 season started with a shortened route as services were only able to run between Aquarium and Halfway owing to works taking place on the seafront further along the line. This all changed from Saturday 28th May with the full route opened for service and in this pictorial article Tony Sullivan shows us the sights of the railway on Friday 10th June 2022.
9 at Halfway/Peter Pans Playground with a service from Black Rock to Aquarium.
Side view of 9 at Black Rock showing the modern buildings there which includes a deep bore hole to the Brighton sewage disposal system.
9 stands at Black Rock. The station sign clearly shows it as Black Rock although there have been continuing attempts to name it as Marina.
8+7 round the bend towards the car sheds. This is the area where the line when originally built was on an iron viaduct as it crossed way above the then beach level. Over the years the pebbles have been driven by the sea under the viaduct – but if you know what you are looking for it is still possible to see some of the iron work.
Seen though the car shed is Peter Pans Playground/Halfway with 9 working Black Rock to Aquarium and 7+ 8 with a service from Aquarium to Black Rock.
7+8 run though the car sheds with a service from Aquarium to Black Rock. (All Photographs by Tony Sullivan, 10th June 2022)
To my knowledge, this is the earliest inaugurated electric railway still functioning and predates the original Blackpool Tramway by a couple of years. Brighton as a seaside resort is indeed blessed with something every bit as special as the Blackpool Tramway and is therefore well worth a visit.