Volk's Electric Railway (VER) is a narrow gauge heritage railway that runs along a length of the seafront of the English seaside resortof Brighton. It was built by Magnus Volk, the first section being completed in August 1883, and is the oldest operational electric railwayin the world, though it was not the first electric railway to be built. It was preceded by Werner von Siemens' 1879 demonstration line in Berlin and by the Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway of 1881, although neither of these now remain in operation. Stations Aquarium station opened in 1930, as the new western terminus of the line following its shortening. As the new station was closer to the old Brighton Aquarium than the Palace Pier, the new station revived the old Aquarium name. It remains the western terminus. Originally provided with two platforms, one was closed in the 1960s, and the tracks were later taken up, leaving today's station as single-platform. The station was completely rebuilt in 2016-2017 and now has toilets, a cafeteria, staff rooms, a ticket office, and an exhibition centre. Halfway station is located in the middle of the railway, and has previously been known as Paston Place, Children's Playground, and Peter Pan's Playground. The original station opened in 1884 when the line was extended, and was both the eastern terminus and the depot. Volk also built his own offices at this location, inland from the station. The original station was located on the same site as the depot, and remained there until the station remodelling just after the second world war, when the new station platforms and passenger shelters were constructed about 50 yards further west than the original site.[9] The station has two platform faces, on a single central island platform, in the centre of a passing loop. There is a public viewing gallery in the neighbouring railway depot and workshop. Black Rock station opened in 1901 when the railway was extended eastwards. The original station, with two platforms, a ticket office, and a waiting room, was situated in an isolated location. Subsequently, a Corporation swimming pool gave further purpose to the location, and today it is close to the thriving Brighton Marina. The original station was replaced in 1911 with a much larger bungalow-style building. This was in turn closed and demolished in the winter of 1936-1937 when the line was shortened to allow for the construction of the Black Rock swimming pool. The new Black Rock station opened in May 1937, still with two platforms.[10] The station building was again rebuilt in 1948 in Art Deco style,[9] still with two platforms, although from the mid-1960s the south platform was abandoned. In the 1980s the second (south) platform was restored and used for special school visits trains, operating around the timetabled service. This was short-lived, and in 1989 the south platform track was lifted. The station was briefly renamed Marina Station in the early 1990s, but was in turn demolished in the mid-1990s during a storm drain project, with a new Regency style station building opened in 1998. This new station, which reverted to the original Black Rock name, was provided with only one platform (plus ticket office and toilets), and remains in current use. Rolling Stock The numbering of cars can cause some confusion as numbers were duplicated when new cars replaced scrapped vehicles. In 1948 cars nos. 8, 9 and 10 were renumbered 5, 2 and 1 respectively after the cars bearing those numbers were scrapped. All cars reverted to their original numbers in the year 2000. The cars were often built in pairs. Currently, there are seven electric cars and one diesel locomotive in operation on the line with an additional two electric cars on static display elsewhere. I think it will be a good toy for TSW2,it may sell for a lower price if dtg made it.
It's cute, but I don't think that many people want to buy this. I wouldn't for example, although bought most DLCs. But nice idea
This is the kind of route the community could make for Train Simulator or Trainz rather than a serious contender for a TSW route. It don’t think it would appeal to many people and the driving experience would be very limited. It would have to be a passion project for someone and that doesn’t fit with the TSW model.
It's of obvious historic interest but short, slow and almost devoid of operational variety. It'd be cute and I'd quite like to see it and, for that matter, Volk's other venture the Brighton-Rottingdean Railway which waded through the sea on 20ft legs but TBH they'd be one trick ponies like the Mag-Lev.
I used to go on this route all the time , as I live just 30 minutes away . I would love to see it recreated in TSW2 for the price of a loco dlc . This seems like the sort of project rivet could do
i was in brighton yesterday and i went on this railway it is a fantastic route at the moment Black Rock Station will remain closed until further notice. but the line does go from Aquarium Station to halfway station . the cars look very similar to the Great Orme Tramway in north wales which i have also been on.
Looks cute. Although I'm not familiar with the route, it reminds me of the Corris Railway. Routes like that certainly do have their charm. I'd be interested
As stated… cute. But realistically no one is going to pay more than £5 for it. If DTG decided to do something more offbeat then there are probably better candidates, one of the 15” gauge railways for example.
The Volk's Electric Railway sounds like a great idea for a route i went on it last year in 2022 it was a fantastic ride it only went as far as half way station because the rest of the line was having work done on it.
I'd probably get it even if it did cost too much because I lived in Brighton for a while, but realistically, this is not the sort of route a studio like DTG would develop commercially.
