Sunday 3rd May 2026 saw four trains running in service at the same time on the Volk’s Electric Railway in Brighton. This was believed to be the first time in 40 years that such an intensive service was able to be operated.
On a normal operating day the railway runs a two-train service (albeit usually at least one of these works as a double train) with services passing at Halfway. But there are passing loops between the stations and in days gone by these were used to allow a 10 minute frequent service to operate.
The Volk’s Electric Railway Association (VERA) have long been looking at how possible it would be to return to a more frequent service on special occasions and so it was decided on Sunday 3rd May 2026 – which coincided with annual Historic Commercial Vehicle Railway – that they would attempt to run the four train service.
4, 6, 9 and 10 were the trains which were allocated to service on the day, with all four running separately.
The day was an example of collaboration between the paid staff on the Volk’s Electric Railway as well as members of VERA and figures released on the VERA Facebook page show that between 1015 and 1820 there were 58 departures from Aquarium – on a normal day there would be 33 departures. This saw an average of departures every 8.5 minutes.
- The Volk’s Electric Railway runs seven days a week (weather permitting). It is due to continue running this year until 30th September 2026. More details of timetables and fares at https://volksrailway.org.uk/