Rails in the Shingle - the Volk's Railway at Brighton

All photos 17.8.2018 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing

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The Volk's Railway is an unusual line that runs along the seafront at Brighton for just over a mile. It has always been electrically worked and is the oldest surviving electric railway in the world. It is narrow gauge, using the unusual gauge of 2 feet 8½ inches.

There are single platform stations at each end, a depot and station ('Halfway') with passing loop in the middle and passing loops halfway between Halfway and the two terminals at Aquarium and Black Rock.

Aquarium, the station closest to Brighton city centre, has been rebuilt and is a modern and functional station. In contrast the station at Black Rock is a rather forbidding concrete structure.

The whole line has been recently refurbished after a long closure (14 months).

Although I was brought up just 20 miles from this line, and a regular visitor to Brighton,  I had only travelled and photographed it once before, back in the 70s.

The line was very busy on the day we went, a Friday, and several passengers were stranded at Halfway as there simply wasn't room on the trains. If a regular occurence this really needs to be addressed!

There was an unusual event on our outward journey. As we passed a basketball court that borders the line the players asked if the driver could throw their ball back! This he duly did, but he'd come to a halt on a dead spot and the train wouldn't move. He eventually pushed the train, passengers and all, a few metres until we were live again! This is the first time I've ever had this happen! (It does of course show the lack of friction between steel wheels and rail, which gives railways a HUGE energy efficiency advantage).

All in all a fascinating slice of history in a city with many attractions. Highly recommended!

Brighton tramways

(Pics sourced via Internet)

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The Brighton Tramway network was run by Brighton Corporation, the first line opening on 25 November 1901 and the last route closing on 1 September 1939. The gauge of the network was 3 feet 6 inches. All lines were electrified from the start.

There were 8 routes at the network's peak. Routes had letters rather than the usual numbers.

Route B ran from the Aquarium to Beaconsfield Road with trams every 4 minutes. Route C ran from Seven Dials to Lower Rock Gardens every 5 minutes. Route D from Aquarium to Ditchling Road ran every 4 minutes. Route E ran from Aquarium to Race Hill every 10 minutes. Route L ran from Aquarium to Lewes Road every 4 minutes. Route N ran from Aquarium to Dyke Road every 5 minutes. Route Q ran from Aquarium to Queen's Park every 10 minutes and Route S ran from Aquzrium to Brighton Station every 5 minutes.

There was a tram depot at Lewes Road, just short of the tram terminus, this building is now used by Brighton and Hove buses as its central depot.

The last routes were replaced by either buses or trolleybuses.

The total route length at its greatest extent was 9.48 miles.

Some infrastructure survives from the tramways, including shelters at Ditchling Road (Florence Place), Queen's Park Road (Pepperpot) and Dyke Road (Reservoir). One found a new home on the Volk's Electric Railway. Three others survive elsewhere, two at the Amberley Museum and one at Stanmer Rural Museum.

One tramcar also survives, number 53, and a society exists to restore this.

A tramway also operated between Hove and Shoreham. This was always steam worked and operated between 1884 and 1913. This had no connection with the Brighton Tramway system.

East Grinstead. 1977

(All 1.8.1977)

East Grinstead will soon have trains to the south again once the Bluebell Railway finally gets through Imberhorne. Back in 1977 the dream of steam returning to East Grinstead would have been an impossible one, which just shows how much progress has been made in the last 34 years!

Of course back in 1977 rail was on the defensive, you couldn't even be sure that East Grinstead would survive, beoing on a dieselised and truncated route. Once East Grinstead had lines to all four points of the compass, by 1977 you could only go north. Soon you'll be able to head south again, and no doubt eventually east and west as well as the Three Bridges to Eridge route returns to the map. The 1967 closure of the route which gave access to Gatwick Airport and Tunbridge Wells was particularly short sighted!

East Grinstead originally had both an upper and lower station - the lower station is the one that survives. Hopefully future developments will allow all trains to use this lower station to make interchange easier.

Once trains start to operate southwards of East Grinstead how long before the pressure builds on the Bluebell to restore the Sheffield Park to Lewes line? This would give the Bluebell a genuine purpose again as well as allow it to tap into tourist traffic from Brighton and Eastbourne. Okay, so today a lot of people visit the line by car or bus, but these options will disappear altogether over the next few decades. And with the Bluebell also owning the Ardingly route they are setting themselves up nicely for THREE eventual Network connections, surely assuring them of a future role in an energy constrained world?