2011
TQ3303 : Remains of the Daddy Longlegs Electric Railway
taken 13 years ago, near to Kemp Town, Brighton And Hove, England
Remains of the Daddy Longlegs Electric Railway
The railway linked Banjo Groyne to Rottingdean and was the brainchild of inventor Magnus Volk. The vehicle was placed on four long legs which ran along the track on the sea bed at all states of the tide. It opened in 1896 was partially destroyed by the great storm of the following year that finished off the Chain Pier though Volk got it working again and continued in operation until 1901 when it was closed after Brighton Corporations new sea defence plan necessitated moving the track bed further out to sea. Some of the poles remained in place until the 1930s though the only reminders today are the huge concrete blocks used to lay the track on west of the Marina, and the cut through the eroded basis of the cliffs east of the Marina towards Rottingdean. It is possible to walk by the blocks at low tides.
The people in the distance are out collecting shellfish.
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