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built near the railway were found to have led to underwater scouring under the sleepers and the railway was closed during portions of July and August of that year while this was repaired. Immediately afterwards, the council decided to build a beach protection barrier, which required Volk to divert
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The track, car and other structures were sold for scrap but, as of 2021, some of the concrete sleepers can still be viewed at low tide. Eventually Volk's
Electric Railway was extended onshore, covering a portion of the same distance; it remains in operation.
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In 1901 the right-of-way was broken up for construction of the barrier. One further attempt was made to raise money for a conventional over-water viaduct along roughly the same route, but Volk was unable to gather enough funds and nothing came of this.
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on two of the four bogies. Rod-operated brakes were fitted to the other two bogies. The controls were on the upper promenade deck (the railed enclosure surrounding the skylight of the passenger saloon). Although originally intended to be powered by
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and avoid difficult terrain. While the unique railway was popular and carried tens of thousands of passengers, it was ultimately abandoned to make room for new sea defences, and Volk was unable to raise the funds to construct a replacement.
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Construction took two years from 1894 to 1896. The railway officially opened on 28 November 1896, but was nearly destroyed by a storm the night of 4 December. Volk immediately began rebuilding the railway, including the
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mortised into the bedrock. The single car used on the railway was a 45 by 22 ft (13.7 by 6.7 m) pier-like building which stood on four 23 ft (7.0 m)-long legs. The car weighed 45
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through the rails (or the sea itself at high tide). The power station, beneath the pier at
Rottingdean, was equipped with a 100-horsepower (75 kW) steam engine from William Sissons and Co. of
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The railway was popular, but encountered difficulties. The car was slowed considerably at high tide, but Volk could never afford to improve the motors. In 1900,
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and the railway were complete, service resumed on 20 July 1897. By the end of that year, 44,282 passengers had travelled on Volk's "Sea Voyage on Wheels".
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353:"Volk's Electric Sea Railway, Daddy Long Legs, The Brighton to Rottingdean Seashore Electric railway, Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK"
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was salvaged and brought ashore, and rebuilt with the legs two feet higher than the previous design. After repairs to
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A model of the railway car is on display (along with a poster for the railway) in the foyer of the
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Illustrated feature on Volk's
Brighton to Rottingdean Seashore Electric railway with 3D animation
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are arranged to operate on underwater rails; for example, some diesel-powered ferries across the
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across the harbour, running on submerged rails, bearing a strong resemblance to Volk's
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The Volks
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422:"The Daddy Long Legs | VERA | Volk's Electric Railway Association, Brighton"
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105:. This was also home to Volk's Seaplane Station which was used by his son
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25-horsepower (19 kW) electric motors operating through shafts to
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Highly detailed illustration of the
Pioneer tramcar, by Conor Gorman
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Winchester, Clarence, ed. (1936), "Brighton's electric railway"",
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driving a 50 kW dynamo at 500 volts. It was officially named
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374:. Vol. 16. London. 8 November 1895. pp. 536–541.
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from its terminus in Paston Place to the village of
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41:An advertising, offering "a Sea Voyage on Wheels".
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447:"Daddy long-legs—a weird and wonderful railway"
142:) gauge, the measurement between the outermost
302:Several theme-park attractions, including the
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342:Coast. BBC2 programme. Transmitted 6 May 2013
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112:The railway itself consisted of two parallel
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549:Photo by Dmitry Karpenko
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385:Easdown, Martin (2019).
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49:Former trackbed in 2004.
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372:The Electrical Engineer
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887:Hove and Portslade
559:, pp. 604–608
499:. Plateway Press.
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31:5,486 mm
23:
19:
1765:
1707:Stanmer Park
1672:Queen's Park
1667:Prestonville
1657:Preston Park
1537:Carlton Hill
1501:
1454:Stanmer Park
1444:Queen's Park
1439:Preston Park
1261:Sussex C.C.C
1179:
1175:Radio Reverb
1152:
1144:
1137:
1113:Trolleybuses
1102:
976:Preston Park
938:Queen's Road
851:
817:City Council
703:
702:Beaching of
671:Wellesbourne
555:
496:
475:. Retrieved
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180:earth return
176:accumulators
111:
93:
54:
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18:
1787: /
1737:Woodingdean
1697:Seven Dials
1682:Rottingdean
1627:North Laine
1617:Moulsecoomb
1577:Hollingdean
1572:Hollingbury
1542:City centre
1280:Rugby union
1165:Heart South
1001:Moulsecoomb
651:Pipe organs
477:25 November
323:Sea tractor
171:worm drives
132:825 mm
103:Rottingdean
95:Magnus Volk
83:Rottingdean
75:Magnus Volk
1802:Categories
1772:50°48′19″N
1687:Round Hill
1632:Old Steine
1612:Montpelier
1552:Downs Park
1517:Black Rock
1494:Aldrington
1160:BBC Sussex
1047:Rowan Halt
1042:Lewes Road
986:Aldrington
933:Lewes Road
892:Peter Kyle
879:Siân Berry
866:Chris Ward
330:References
184:Gloucester
161:; 46
159:short tons
136:18 ft
27:18 ft
1727:Whitehawk
1717:West Hill
1637:Ovingdean
1602:The Lanes
1597:The Knoll
1587:Kemp Town
1562:Hangleton
1557:Elm Grove
1512:Bevendean
1464:Wild Park
1459:The Level
1429:Hove Park
1383:Libraries
1378:Landmarks
1346:Buildings
1149:(defunct)
1139:The Argus
1037:Kemp Town
991:Portslade
904:Transport
666:Transport
456:22 August
431:22 August
155:long tons
1775:0°4′30″W
1755:Category
1732:Withdean
1722:Westdene
1692:Saltdean
1607:Mile Oak
1592:Kemptown
1522:Brighton
1499:Balsdean
1198:Football
971:Brighton
810:Politics
704:Athina B
600:City of
270:St. Malo
264:On rails
151:sleepers
148:concrete
128: in
63:Brighton
1702:Stanmer
1677:Roedean
1662:Preston
1642:Patcham
1567:Hanover
1547:Coldean
1393:Schools
1254:Cricket
1181:SchNEWS
957:Railway
881:(Green)
724:Culture
680:History
636:History
289:ferries
282:Pioneer
220:groynes
208:Pioneer
204:Pioneer
200:Pioneer
188:Pioneer
123:⁄
67:England
59:railway
1006:Falmer
894:(Lab.)
868:(Lab.)
661:Sewers
609:Topics
503:
393:
274:France
231:Legacy
214:In use
1486:Areas
1301:Other
1191:Sport
1131:Media
1108:Trams
1091:Other
911:Roads
311:Other
287:Some
144:rails
1582:Hove
1388:Pubs
981:Hove
928:A259
853:2023
847:2019
842:2015
837:2011
832:2007
827:2003
501:ISBN
479:2021
458:2021
433:2021
391:ISBN
317:BARV
157:(50
53:The
923:A27
918:A23
295:in
61:in
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
