The Great British Railfanning Trip: Volk's Electric Railway

Frank writes...

This entry is the eleventh and last part of our trip to Britain in June. If you're truly bored you can check out the other parts at our Trip Report page, or if you're an outright masochist you can read through it from the beginning.

On the morning of Tuesday, we roused ourselves, checked out of the hotel, had one last "full English" at the little cafe across the street, and hopped on the District Line at Hammersmith to make our way to Victoria. However we didn't make it very far; due to signal problems further along the line, which I believe were attributed to the high temperatures (the high that day was around 90 F, I believe), the entire Circle/District line came to a complete stop. We ended up at Earl's Court, which was somewhat fortunate because we were able to walk across the platform and board a Piccadilly train to Green Park, where we were able to board I think the fourth train to Victoria Line train to Victoria Station because the first three were so packed we couldn't get aboard with our luggage. So we missed our train to Brighton, but fortunately there was another one about 45 minutes later and in the meantime we were able to stop at a hobby shop just up the street. Then it was southbound on the Southern main line to Brighton.

When we think of beaches we usually think of Florida or Mexico, but Britain has some nice beaches too if you know where to go. Brighton is among the best known and it's long been a favorite holiday destination for Britons. When we arrived at the station we walked down the hill on the main drag, Queens Road, until we got to the beach. It was a glorious day and was slightly cooler in Brighton than it had been in London.

We were in Brighton not for the beach but for the Volk's Electric Railway, the third electric railway ever built for commercial passengers and the oldest one still operating. It was constructed in 1883 by Magnus Volk, who designed the entire system using the nascent technology of electric motors. It was initially a 2' gauge railway running at a whole 50 volts DC, but in 1884 the entire line was rebuilt to 2'8-1/2" gauge and the voltage was raised to 160 volts DC (today it's 110 volts). When new power was supplied by one of the rails, just like an HO or S gauge model train; they added a separate third rail for power in 1886. At the western terminus, near Palace Pier, there is a nice little museum including some exhibits about the line's history.

When the VER was new it was only a quarter mile long and ran from Swimming Arch, just slightly west of its current terminus, to Chain Pier but was extended in 1884 to Paston Place (now Halfway), about a half-mile run. Starting in November 1896, passengers could transfer at Paston Place to the Brighton & Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway, one of the nuttiest electric lines ever built. Volk designed the B&R to run three miles to Rottingdean on a pair of 2'8-1/2" gauge tracks spaced about 16' apart located between the low and high tide lines. At high tide, the single car - which was built on stilts - would actually be traveling through the water. It even carried a lifeboat and a sea captain. Within its first week a storm had knocked the car - of which a model, shown above, is on display in the VER museum - on its side but Volk raised it and rebuilt it. The insanity lasted for four years or so until the B&R was abandoned in 1901.

Following abandonment of the B&R, the VER was extended another half-mile east to Black Rock, giving it a total length of almost exactly a mile. This is its current extent. There are three stations, Aquarium in the west, Halfway, and Black Rock in the east. We boarded at Aquarium. We had looked up the schedule and noted that there was a car every 15 minutes, but when we arrived it turned out that one of their cars had developed a controller problem and was back in the depot (which is located at Halfway). So service was only half-hourly. We had missed the car by just a few minutes but fortunately didn't have any trouble getting tickets for the next departure.

And here's the train! The car running that day was VER 9, a 40-seat open car built in the company works in 1910. It's not uncommon for VER to run two-car trains on busy days, but it turns out they're not MU; apparently the front car just tows the back car.

Here's the driver's position on the rear platform. The driver keeps the controller handle with them and there's also a key. On the left is the hand brake, while out of sight on the right side of the controller is the horn. There's no air on these cars so the horn is what you'd hear on a Model T

The car we were on was quite full; we were fortunate that there was some space under the seats for our luggage (there aren't any luggage lockers at railway stations in Britain for security reasons). The car is divided into thirds by bulkheads with windows bearing the letters VER, so like with most open cars you can't walk the length of the car.

The ride was fun. The car probably had a top speed somewhere between 5 and 10mph and the ride went along the edge of the beach, with various pedestrian crossings at points along the route and the driver dutifully blowing the horn for each. Immediately after our stop at Halfway, where we let off some employees who were going to the depot, we passed right through the depot itself - the main line goes through the building, as shown above. The VER rosters half a dozen or so cars, with one or two others in museums elsewhere. For a while there were a couple of cars in service that the VER bought secondhand from the Southend Pier Railway but those have left the property.

And here's our car at Black Rock, the end of the line. The entire length of the line it is sandwiched in between the beach and a road, Madeira Drive, with the bluffs just on the other side of the road. In fact the original power plant for the VER was built into the face of the cliff at Halfway.

On the outbound trip we'd been on the back platform but on the return trip we were on the front platform - funny how that works. Here's one of the pedestrian crossings along the VER. Note the cattle guards to keep people from walking down the right-of-way. You can also see the third rail, which is between the running rails and offset to the side London Underground-style. It's like the CA&E in its proximity to the crosswalks!

I got some video heading back; this is at one of the intermediate passing loops, in this case at Bedford Street. Besides Halfway, where there is a loop, there are also passing loops between Halfway and each of the termini. You can see the driver braking for the switch and also hear the nifty horn at the crosswalk.

After our trip on the VER we didn't have time to dawdle; we needed to get to Gatwick. So rather than drag our luggage back up the hill to the railway station at the top, we wised up and hailed a cab. Here we are at the Brighton Railway Station, about ten minutes after I lost my wallet in the cab and about two minutes after I luckily retrieved it from the very helpful cabbie! Regardless, the station in Brighton is beautiful. Trains depart here going north to London, east towards Seaford and Eastbourne, and west towards Portsmouth and Southampton.

While we were waiting to board our train, we saw a train of Class 313 EMUs - the same type we rode from Stevenage to Moorgate on our first evening in Britain. These are the oldest EMUs in service in mainland Britain and besides the route we rode to Moorgate, their primary haunt these days are the lines emanating out of Bristol.

And so that was our trip. A quick ride up the Southern main line to Gatwick and an eight-hour flight home, and it was all over. On behalf of Zach and Greg, I want to thank all of the folks who showed us around the museums and heritage railways we visited. We had a terrific trip, met some wonderful people, and saw a lot of great stuff. It's time to start planning the next trip!