Volk’s Electric Railway

The world’s oldest operating electric railway: Magnus Volk opened it on Brighton seafront in August 1883, and its cars still run along the beach from Aquarium to Black Rock.

Magnus Volk opened the first quarter-mile on 3 August 1883, from opposite the Brighton Aquarium to the Chain Pier, with 50 volts fed through the running rails. It reached Paston Place, today’s Halfway, in 1884 and Black Rock in 1901, and has since been cut back at both ends, to its present Aquarium terminus in 1930 and to a new Black Rock station in 1937. It runs as a seafront attraction and usually stops for the winter.

Stations

1. 0 kmAquarium
2. 1 kmHalfway Station
3. 2 kmBlack Rock

The stations OpenStreetMap maps along this line, in order along the line as drawn here, with the distance along it. Not every train stops at every station.

Along the way

• Aquarium station by the Palace Pier
• Halfway, the old Paston Place
• Brighton beach
• Black Rock

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 6168019: the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
• Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 4 m from it
• Wikipedia has an article for this line

Questions and answers

How long is the Volk’s Electric Railway?

The Volk’s Electric Railway runs 2 km from Aquarium to Black Rock.

How long does the Volk’s Electric Railway take?

The fastest scheduled journey is 12 min for the 2 km. That is an average of 10 km/h end to end.

Who runs the Volk’s Electric Railway?

Brighton & Hove City Council, with heritage electric cars.

How old is the Volk’s Electric Railway?

The line has been in service since 1883. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.

How often does the Volk’s Electric Railway run?

Seasonal.

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Read more on Wikipedia ↗