A line we rarely feature on these pages is the subject of Picture in Time today as we head to the south coast and Brighton’s Volks Electric Railway.
The Volks Electric Railway is the world’s oldest operating electric railway having first started operation in 1883 at which time it was built to a 2ft gauge and running for just ¼ mile between Swimming Arch and Chain Pier. An extension and regauging to todays 2ft 8 ½” followed in 1884 before a further extension in the early 1900s to Black Rock. Since 1930 there have been a number of shortenings of the line until it reached its current 1.02 mile length in 1990 running between Aquarium and Black Rock with one intermediate station at Halfway. The line was recently awarded a £1.6 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund which will see the provision of a new visitor centre and ticket office at Aquarium, a new depot including viewing gallery at Halfway and the restoration of cars 4, 6 and 10 to operation. This work has recently commenced.
In this 1985 view we are at the depot where three unidentified cars can be seen awaiting their next duties.
I think one of the cars came from Southend Pier Railway not sure if it’s still there.
No both Southend cars are no longer there.
A complicated story regarding the ex. Southend cars. There were two at VER taking the numbers of existing Volks cars 8 & 9 which were themselves retained and renumbered 2 and 5. Both the Southend cars operated at Brighton from 1948 to the 1990’s when they were retired, one going to the museum at Southend pier and the other to another museum. The original Volks cars then reverted to their old numbers and are both operational members of the fleet.