Seafront railway back on track this Easter

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 will officially open the line next Friday (March 30).

Visitors can also take part in creative workshops on the day and throughout Easter, including decorating a top hat, making a Morse code machine or taking part in a drawing tour of the seaside architecture.

The new Aquarium Station Visitor Centre will house 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.

Alan Robins, chair of Brighton and Hove City Council’s tourism, development and culture committee, said: “It will be 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.”

To find out more, visit: www.volksrailway.org.uk