Researching my guidebook, Secret Brighton led me to this gem of a discovery: a funny little railway on legs nicknamed the ‘Daddy Long Legs’ that ran through the sea at Brighton for a while in the late 1800s. Who knew!? A clue it once existed can even be found in the city today. Discovering it makes for a fun, off-beat Brighton activity (stay tuned for more).
The Daddy Long Legs train was the work of an eccentric German engineer called Magnus Volk, who lived in Brighton for a time. If you live in or have spent time in Brighton, you may have seen his name around town. He was the inventor of the Volks Electric Railway, the oldest operating electric railway in the world. Its perfectly preserved Victorian carriages run a mile along the seafront. If you haven’t already had a whirl on it, I highly recommend you do.
But back to the Daddy Long Legs. When Volk couldn’t find a way to extend his successful electric railway further than he wanted, he grew bored, and turned his attention to a completely new venture – this crazy looking railway that would travel through the sea!
It was officially called the Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Railway and creating it involved building a railway across the rock pools between Brighton and Rottingdean beaches. Tracks had to be set 5.50 metres apart to carry the hefty carriage called ‘Pioneer’; a 45-tonne tram on seven-metre-high struts. With its gangly appearance, it quickly got the nickname the ‘Daddy Long Legs’.
It took two years to build and opened in September 1896 to great fanfare. The was a sea captain on board at all times and it was an immediate hit with wealthy Victorians. A week later, however, it was destroyed by a storm. Full of enthusiasm, Volk set about rebuilding it and the Daddy Long Legs. It reopened and carried over 44,000-odd passengers in its first year.
Yet despite its popularity, it was beset with problems – it travelled too show at high tide, but Volk could never afford to improve the motors, while groins built near the railway damaged the tracks and forced it to close one day at the height of summer.
Although it reopened again, Volk finally encountered a problem he wasn’t able to overcome. He’d have to divert his line so the council could build sea defences along the coast. To cut a long story short, he closed the railway in 1901. Many parts including Pioneer were sold for scrap and that, my friends, was the end of the Daddy Long Legs train. All that remains of it today are the decaying tracks in the sea.
How to find the remains of the ‘Daddy Long Legs’ railway in Brighton
At low tide, head to the sea immediately east of Brighton Marina, and you might be able to spot a trail of concrete piles running in a line towards the pretty neighbouring village of Rottingdean. They may not look like much, but are actually the remnants of this outlandish invention.
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