Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway

Every month or so, my sister Clare and I take an evening out for a spot of retail therapy followed by a trip to the cinema.

A couple of weeks ago, we made our usual trip and, amongst other things, I picked up a pack of tea towels that had old vintage posters printed on them. I thought they looked interesting and bought them but because of the way they were pinned together I couldn't really see the pictures in full until I got home and unpacked them.

One tea towel was printed with a 1930s advertising poster for Blackpool and the other - the one I found most interesting - was printed with an advertisement inviting you to take.......

'A Sea Voyage on Wheels at Brighton'.

I decided the tea towels were far too nice for drying dishes and would look good hanging on the wall. I tried various places around the house and came to the conclusion that they looked just right in our little laundry room (which also doubles as a downstairs cloakroom and the posters would be interesting for guests to look at whilst visiting if you know what I mean).

Our laundry room has a rather out of place interior window which looks into our hallway so to make it more private, I had previously covered the glass with some pretty wallpaper. I discovered the tea towels fitted perfectly in the frame and would be an ideal alternative to the wallpaper. 

Here they are:

So this Brighton 'Sea Voyage on Wheels' really intrigued me. It seemed such a Victorian seaside type of thing. I was fascinated by the picture of all the holiday makers crammed onto this pier-like structure with life buoys. And the electric cable that just spelled danger with all that water!

I showed the tea towels to Chris and we chatted about whether this seaside attraction at Brighton had really existed.

Chris seemed doubtful but I wanted to believe that it was real...

Good old Wikipedia.

We looked it up and found that it most definitely had existed in Brighton in Victorian times.

Here's a old photo just to prove it:

You can see why the car had the nickname 'Daddy Long-Legs'!

The railway was invented by Magnus Volk who designed it to compliment and extend the route of his existing more conventional seafront railway (which is still running to this day).

 

The railway opened in 1896 and ran from Brighton through the shallow coastal waters to the nearby village of Rottingdean......

What an incredible sight it must have been...

 

And even though it looks so precarious, how exciting it must have been to take a trip aboard the Daddy Long-Legs....

Apparently due to regulations, a qualified sea captain had to be on board at all times......

There was a promenade deck and a central ornate saloon.....

Sadly but not surprisingly the railway was fraught with problems and closed in 1901. Volk failed to raise finance to re-build it and Daddy Long-Legs, the track and other structures were eventually sold for scrap.

At low tide however, some of the concrete sleepers may still be seen.

Fascinating isn't it?

Just a quick word about Spencer's Sunday Hat. I had a hat all ready for him to wear but technical difficulties meant that this Sunday's photos had to be abandoned...

(technical difficulties = the hat wouldn't stay on his head)

......so I've done a compilation of all the hats so far instead which you can see
here.

Let's hope for a nice bit of sunny weather this week - not too hot - just lovely and warm with a gentle breeze.....

See you soon,

Maggie xx

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia and volkselectricrailway.co.uk

For more information, please visit:
Wikipedia
and
volkselectricrailway.co.uk