Volk's Electric Railway

Volk's Electric Railway is a streetcar in Brighton and the oldest electric tram in the UK. It has a track gauge of 825 mm.

The railway was opened on August 4, 1883 along the coast and joined originally the aquarium with the Old Chain Pier. Built it has Magnus people, a son of German immigrants. He owes the track its name. Since it was constructed without catenary, was the power of the two 610 mm apart rails with 50 V voltage. Electricity generation took over a 2 hp gas engine that powered a D5 generator from Siemens. Top speed was six miles per hour. The train was almost half a kilometer long at its opening, in 1884 but expanded to include a 1.2 -kilometer route through the Old Chain Pier out to Paston Place. At the same time the gauge was altered to 838 mm and increased the driving voltage to 160 volts. In 1886, the track width to 825 mm has been changed, also the railway was extended to a third rail, which now served as a power rail for power supply. To avoid short circuits in the humid environment, the route was moved along its entire length on wooden Jochbrücken. As the also built by people carrying terminal stretch of Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway had to be abandoned by the sea, followed in 1901, a further extension to Black Rock, so that the web was now two kilometers long. Among the most notable constructions here included a bridge that led directly over the water and the beach.

1939 was the web after the death of Magnus people into the possession of the city. The Second World War caused an interruption of the operation, which was resumed only after eight years on 15 May 1948. In the years from 1952 to 1953 resulted in a thorough overhaul of the web and from 1954 it will only operate between Easter and September. Then runs 11:00 to 17:00 and on weekends, until 18:00 clock.

The train today between the termini station Aquarium and Black Rock, both of which were slightly shifted in the 1930s by shortening the distance to each 183 m. Here, in 1899, completed Palace Pier is connected to the Marina. Besides the two termini, there are still in the middle of the track to stop Peter Pan's Playground. The beach level has become so increased by Buhnenbau and by rearrangement of gravel along the English Channel, the route also runs without bridge structures sufficiently high above the sea level.