THE weekend of August 12/13 was a momentous occasion for Brighton seafront’s Volks Electric Railway as it celebrated 140 years of operation, reaffirming all of its position as the world’s oldest electric line still operating.
On August 4, 1883, enthusiastic inventor Magnus Volk opened his electric line along a quarter-mile of Brighton’s seafront between Swimming Arch (opposite the aquarium entrance) and Chain Pier. As soon as his line opened, Magnus was keen to see it extend further into the town, but