THE SON of a German clockmaker was fascinated with electricity.

Born at 35 Western Road, Brighton, on October 19, 1851, Magnus Volk later took a post as an apprentice to a scientific instrument maker. But on the death of his father in 1869 he came back to Brighton to help his mother run the family business.

He was forever experimenting with electricity, telegraphy and telephony. The budding inventor and engineer was the first person in Brighton to fit his house with electric light and he was awarded a contract to fit the Royal Pavilion with electric incandescent lighting.

At noon on August 4, 1883, Mr Volk presented his latest creation to the town – an electric railway operating over a quarter of a mile of 2ft gauge line extending from the then Aquarium to the Chain Pier.

Power was provided by a 2hp Otto gas engine driving a Siemans D5 50 volt DC generator. The small electric car was fitted with a 1½hp motor giving a top speed of about 6mph.

No sooner was the railway open than Magnus sought to extend it westwards along the beach to the town boundary.

To his dismay the council turned this proposition down so he reversed direction, succeeding in getting permission to extend eastwards from the aquarium to the Banjo Groyne.

He rented an arch at Paston Place for a workshop and designed two more powerful and larger passenger cars.

The new line opened on April 4, 1884, using one car. A station was built by the Banjo Groyne and a loop with a halt built halfway along the track so cars could pass.

As a second car was introduced a five or six-minute service was offered every day in summer and winter except Sundays until 1903.

In 1896 a storm swept away the Chain Pier and almost financially ruined Volk’s invention.

Thankfully it continued to prosper, attracting large numbers of visitors in the late 1880s.

He extended the railway beyond the Banjo Groyne to Black Rock, bringing the total length of the track to 1¼ miles in 1901.

With the increased power requirements of the newly extended railway the gas engine powered dynamo was replaced in favour of connection to the town’s mains electricity.

In the 1920s the number of cars grew to 10 to handle around a million passengers a year.

In 1930 redevelopment of Madeira Drive saw the line cut back at the western end to a site opposite the aquarium. In this year a purpose-built winter car – the last car built specifically for Volk’s Electric Railway, was introduced.

The new Black Rock station opened on May 7, 1937, and Mr Volk, aged 85, rode on the railway with the deputy mayor. This was his last public appearance and he died peacefully at home 13 days later. His son Herman took control of the railway but by 1938 the Brighton Corporation (Transport) Act took control.

At first the organisation leased the line back to Herman but in 1940 took full control. The threat of invasion closed off the beaches and the railway ran its last train in July.

Parts of the railway were refurbished and revamped after the war and it reopened in May 1948.

After 1954 winter services were not offered.

In 1983 the railway celebrated its centenary and Magnus Volk’s youngest son Conrad drove a special train and, with a few modifications and improvements, it continues to operate today.

It remains the oldest operating electric railway in the world. It was not the first but it is the longest lasting.

l Information thanks to The Volk’s Electric Railway Association which supports the attraction now operated by Brighton and Hove City Council. Visit volkselectricrailway.co.uk.