One of the two new battery-powered trains, Sir David Amess, at Pier Head on April 16.
ALL PHOTOS BY SIMON MURDOCH
SOUTHEND’S Pier Railway opened more than 130 years ago in 1890, but in April it entered a new era with the introduction of two new eco-friendly, lithium battery-powered trains costing more than £3 million. The railway runs along most of the length of the 1.3mile (2.1km) pier, which claims to be the longest pleasure pier in the world, and has become an international landmark and tourist attraction over the years.
Southend’s first pier, a 500 yard (457m) wooden structure, opened in the 1830s and the only way to convey people from one end to the other was in a series of trolleys pushed by hand. When the wind was favourable, sails were used to blow the trolleys along, but when the pier was extended to 1¼ miles (2km) in 1846, it soon became apparent that a better form of transport was needed.
Horses were introduced in 1875 to haul trams along an iron track with wooden planks. However, they were quickly found to be unsatisfactory because their hooves kept going through the piers’ wooden planking, and in 1881 the horse tramway was closed.
Faced with a serious loss of revenue from the closing of the track, a decision was made to build a new pier from iron with an electrified railway. The railway was built as a third-rail system with the electrified rail running down the middle of the track. A 3ft 6in gauge line was laid along three-quarters of a mile track with two open-air stations at either end. The new pier and railway opened on August 2, 1890, then two years later in 1892 the Southend Pier Railway Company was established.
Toast racks