Brighton And Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway

Two children looking up at the car of the Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway. Photo: Hemmings Motor News For five years towards the end of the 19th century, there was a peculiar seashore attraction at Brighton, on England’s south coast. It was an electric railway, and an extension of the already popular Volk's Electric Railway that runs on the seafront. Only this section ran underwater. Magnus Volk, the British railway engineer, attracted attention in Brighton when he opened a narrow gauge tourist railway that ran along Brighton’s beach skirting the waters of the English Channel. Named after himself, the Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883, and ran as far as Paston Place. But Volk’s plan was to take it all the way to Rottingdean. The only obstacle was the geography. Extending the railway the remaining three miles would require either a steep climb to take it over the cliff, or a tunnel under it. Magnus Volk chose neither. In 1892, Volk decided that the most cost-effective solution was to build a railway that travelled through the sea. Construction of the line started in 1894. It consisted of two separate tracks of 2 feet 8½ inch gauge that ran parallel with the outer rails 18 feet apart, making it the widest gauge passenger railway ever built. Rolling stock consisted of a single car named “Pioneer”, 45 feet long and 22 feet wide that sat on four long legs, 23 feet above the rails, to keep the train car and the passengers dry. Power was supplied by an overhead electric wire that was used to drive two 25-HP General Electric motors to power the car’s wheels. The line ran almost 200 feet from the cliffs, affording travelers a fine view of the sea front. The Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway, affectionately known as “Daddy Long-Legs”, was essentially a ship. It was required to have a sea captain at all times, who decided when the sea was safe to travel over.