Project Brighton: Seaside favourite returns to the rails – Volks Railway

Volk’s Electric Railway are running trains for passengers again. After a year and a half of work and over £1.65 million in investment the 135-year-old train will carry passengers along Brighton seafront between its new Visitor Centre, Workshop and Black Rock station.

To celebrate the start of a new chapter in Volk’s history, news reader and volunteer train driver Nicholas Owen officially opened the line on 30 March 2018.

The new Aquarium Station Visitor Centre is housing exhibits and learning about the history of the railway and its founder Magnus Volk, who built the railway in 1883. Magnus was a prolific inventor and designer who also created the ‘Daddy Longlegs’ which ran along tracks on the seabed, from Banjo Groyne to Rottingdean, powered by overhead electric cables.

The new conservation workshop houses a working model, showing the railway as it was in 1933, and has a public viewing gallery where visitors can watch the trains being worked on.

The new conservation workshop houses a working model showing the railway as it was in 1933

Alan Robins, chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s tourism, development and culture committee, said: “It is great to have the Volk’s back on its tracks, it’s such a well-loved part of Brighton’s seafront; the seaside vista from the train is something to celebrate in itself.

“Magnus Volk was an amazing local inventor and the new workshop and visitor centre are ideal places to learn more about his life and the workings of his trains.”

A round trip of the railway takes around 30 minutes.

Train times – Monday-Friday 10.30am-5.30pm. Saturday-Sunday 10.30am-6.30pm. Trains approx. every 15 minutes.

Prices – For a full list of ticket and workshop prices visit www.volksrailway.org.uk