Pleasure pier lines
Below us the waves: a look at the origins, history and preservation efforts of eight British pleasure pier railways.
Railways played the headlining role in the formation and development of Britain’s Victorian seaside resorts.
But as Paul Atterbury explains in his 2014 treatment of the topic, although many British resorts owe their existence to the railways (for example, Blackpool, Llandudno and Skegness), an iconic feature of these resorts - their pleasure piers - was scarcely the product of railway company investment.
One reason for this was that the early development of the seaside pier came before Queen Victoria and much of the rail network.
Nevertheless, as was the case across Britain, the railways came to make their presence felt. Not merely confined to the land, some railways extended their influence over the waves as well, and onto some of Britain’s piers.
Our tour charts the origins, history and preservation efforts of eight British pier railways, at: Blackpool, Felixstowe, Hythe, Ramsey, Ryde, Southend-on-Sea, Southport and Walton-on-the-Naze.
It provides insight into how rail powered the growth of the Victorian seaside resort, providing a vital passenger link to ferry and steamer services that enabled travellers to venture further than ever before in the pursuit of travel and leisure. But our story also reveals the challenges of running railways over the waves along Britain’s storm-prone coast.
So significant was the impact of rail on Britain’s piers, these eight examples form only part of the picture of pier railways. Excluded are those pier railways where all trace of them is now lost to time, or those which used horsepower - such as the first pier at Swanage (1859-96), which serviced cargo boats and passenger steamers using horse-drawn carts on a fixed tramway.
Also excluded here, yet worthy of note, are the baggage-only pier tramways (at Aberystwyth, Beaumaris, Bognor, Hunstanton and Margate), and non-pleasure piers such as those serving industry, where railway piers formed a part of dock complexes (such as at Southampton and Immingham).
Another chapter in the pier railways story beyond our scope are those piers traversed by main line trains (at Burnham-on-Sea, Folkestone, New Holland, Port Victoria, Ryde, Stokes Bay and Wemyss Bay), which provided uninterrupted access to Britain’s steamers from across the rail network.
Ryde, for example, holds the distinction of being the birthplace of Britain’s seaside piers - predating Brighton’s famous (and lost) Chain Pier (1823-96) by almost a decade.
Also omitted from our survey are aligned sea-rail subjects, such as the fascinating story of Victorian seaside railways that ran under the waves.
The Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway (or ‘Daddy Long Legs’), records of which seem futuristic even today, is the best example. Its track ran through the shallow coastal waters of Brighton.
This short-lived (1896-1901) enterprise was marketed to holidaymakers as an invigorating ‘sea voyage on wheels’, rising high above the shore at low tide and sailing through the ocean at high tide. It proved exceedingly popular but was beset with problems from the outset and was fiscally disastrous for its owner-designer (Magnus Volk).
The steamship and the pleasure pier
The pleasure pier, as its naming suggests, is best remembered and enjoyed today as a site of especially British leisure traditions - of enduring the bracing wind for a walk out over the waves, or in summer for deckchair sunbathing and kitsch amusements.
But piers also provided a more practical service, especially the early ones. Long before the railways connected holiday traffic with the seaside, Britain’s resorts were serviced by coastal steamers.
To quote from Tim Phillips, chairman of the National Piers Society (in a 2014 book he prepared for English Heritage), before piers offered visitors an “escape into a fantasy world created by the pier owners … first [they were] allowing travellers to disembark”.
Therefore, just how far a pier would stretch out to sea was generally dictated by the draft of steamers at low tide. And it was on the longest of these that railways were often built - for the added convenience of the travellers, and now as a novel seaside attraction.
The explosion of Britain’s seaside rail network ultimately curbed the growth of steamer and overland stagecoach routes, eventually leading to a decline or repurpose of piers - and the emergence of the pleasure pier as we know it today.
Herne Bay (1832, 1873)
At 3,633 feet, Herne Bay Pier in Kent was the longest in Britain when it opened in 1832 (an achievement that stood for close to 60 years, when Southend claimed the record). This great length was needed to cope with the shallow tides of the town.
Old Neptune, a large sail-powered car, was initially used to convey the baggage of passengers down the length of the pier. But this system was imperfect - it needed to be pushed by hand when there was insufficient wind, and in 1840 a woman was run over by the car.
In 1862 the system was replaced by electric trams, but this did little to turn the fortunes of the pier around, especially with the railways reaching the town at around the same time. The owners of the pier went into administration in 1870, and sadly the pier was dismantled for scrap.
In 1873 the town received a second pleasure pier of only 320 feet in length, but this was extended in 1899 when an electric tramway was added. This rebuild and subsequent extension led to the pier combining pleasure with passage (and at 3,787 feet, it exceeded the length of the original pier by more than 100 feet). Tragedy visited the pier on July 16 1901, when the tram derailed and plummeted into the sea, claiming the life of an elderly passenger.
During the First World War, the pier’s tramways were called into service as air raid shelters.
In 1940, like other piers along the British coast, it was broken into sections to avoid it being used as a landing platform for an anticipated German invasion. It was restored using reparation funding from the War Office after the war. But a shortage of steel meant that wood was used, and only a miniature railway ran part of its length.
Steamers returned in 1947, but violent storms in the following decades wreaked havoc. A decisive blow was delivered on January 11 1978, when the neck to the pier head collapsed in a storm, stranding its octagonal building at sea. Today it is just a stub with the rest remaining in ruination, its landing stage alone and at sea, abandoned and derelict. Restoration plans have as yet not come to pass.
Southport (1860)
Southport Pier was designed by James Brunlees, who also designed the Grade 2*-listed ‘Queen of the Welsh piers’ at Llandudno (1877).
The pier’s opening on August 2 1860 was marked by the arrival from Liverpool of paddle steamer Storm King. Steamer travellers initially had to walk the 3,600-foot length of the pier, until May 7 1863 when a manually operated passenger tramway was introduced.
Two years into operation a female passenger was killed when the train derailed.
At the close of the 1800s the pier was widened, and the track moved south from
its centre, being electrified in 1905.
Silting of the seabed proved to be a problem for the pier, and in 1868 it was extended to 4,380 feet in an attempt to keep the steamers coming - but to no avail. Steamers stopped calling at the pier in 1929, and it was reduced to close to its original length.
Following the Second World War, the rail track was widened from 3ft 6ins to 4ft and the Silver Queen, an eight-car diesel tram, was introduced. But substantial loss of its buildings to fire hit the pier hard, and it narrowly avoided demolition from its owner (Sefton Council) after a 1990 review - it was saved by just one vote.
It found a new lease of life at the start of the 21st century with the granting of funding for a new pier head pavilion, and in 2005 with the launch of an 80-seater, two-car batterypowered tram running down the centre of its deck. This ceased in 2015 and now only a land train remains.
Blackpool North (1863)
North Pier is the oldest of Blackpool’s three (its two other piers, Central and South, opened in 1868 and 1893 respectively).
Blackpool is, of course, famous for its piers, especially its early (and now lost) Chain Pier. There were even plans for a companion to the three left standing today (the Palatine Pier), but it never got off the page.
North Pier is 1,450 feet long, 28 feet wide, and was designed by Eugenius Birch. It was built with promenading in mind and developed a reputation as a hub for topnotch entertainment. Its landing jetty was also a setting off spot for boat passengers visiting places such as Barrow-in-Furness and Llandudno.
Its rail chapter came late into its history - in 1991, when a 3ft gauge tramway was installed to take patrons to the Pier Theatre, only for services to cease in 2004 for failing to comply with new disabled access regulations. Its tram track remains.
Walton (1871)
Walton-on-the-Naze’s first pier was built in 1830, making it the third oldest in Britain. However, it proved inadequate for the service of steamers and was demolished in 1880.
Its second pier was spearheaded by railway engineer Peter Bruff and was built in 1871, following the opening of Bruff’s branch line from Thorpe-le-Soken in 1867. At 530 feet, the pier still fell short of low tide steamer requirements and was substantially lengthened to 2,600 feet in 1898.
This lengthening opened up the town to profitable steamer services and justified the laying of a single-track 3ft 6in-gauge electric railway in 1899.
The railway comprised a locomotive and two open-sided trailers, with benches for 32 passengers in each. Sadly, its fine Victorian buildings, including a 750-seat pavilion at the pier head, fell victim to fire and dilapidation during war closures.
After the Second World War its railway was replaced with a 3ft gauge and became diesel-hauled. Operations ceased in 1977, when a rubber-wheeled Dotto train took over its duties.
Hythe (1881)
Hythe Pier is home to the world’s oldest operating pier train, receiving a mention in The Guinness Book of Records.
Never strictly a pleasure pier, its primary purpose remains as a landing jetty (although it is no stranger to promenaders admiring the sight of passing ocean liners).
When the 2,100-foot pier was opened by the Mayor of Southampton on New Year’s Day 1881, it transformed the ferry route across the Solent to Southampton’s Royal Pier (now derelict, but with rejuvenation efforts ongoing).
The pier did not receive its railway until 1922, when a 2ft gauge electric railway was installed. Two Brush locomotives (16302 and 16307) were sourced from an Avonmouth mustard gas factory, for the task of pulling four carriages. The carriages came from the Drewry Car Company, with a facility for the transportation of 48 passengers to and from the pier head.
These trains have enjoyed a continuous service to this day, and in their history have carried such distinguished guests as Kaiser Wilhelm II (in 1907) and King George VI (in June 1944, ahead of the D-Day landings).
Incidents on the railway include a vandalism-caused derailment at the landward station, when a wooden plank was placed on the track on September 13 1962.
The service has also faced threats from calamity to the pier itself. Its greatest challenge came on November 1 2003 when an aggregate dredger ( Donald Redford) collided with the pier, slicing it in half and leaving a 150-foot gap in its wake.
The train is open to visitors for a small toll, while fares for the service between Hythe and Southampton Town Quay (a crossing of 12 minutes) include a ride on the train. There are proposals to replace the railway with a broad-gauge Parry People Mover and extend the service into Hythe village.
Ramsey (1886)
The Isle of Man received its first pier in the capital (Douglas) in 1869, but that closed five years later.
The current Queen’s Pier was given naming permission by Queen Victoria (also Lord of the Man) and opened on July 22 1886. It was designed by Sir John Coode, famous as a builder of harbours and who also served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (1889-91). Douglas and Ramsey were connected by an electric tram service in 1893.
During construction on the pier, a 3ft gauge tramway with a passing loop was used. It was then retained as a baggage line once the pier had opened, with an enclosed passenger van added soon after. In 1937, it received a petrolpropelled Planet car.
At 2,248 feet in length, the pier was designed to meet the needs of steamers, with the town a popular watering-place among Victorian and Edwardian visitors. It received three royal visits over its history, from King Edward VII (in 1902), King George V (in 1920) and Queen Elizabeth II (in 1965).
The last steamer - the Manxman bound for Belfast - called at the pier on September 10 1970, after which its landing stage was abandoned to dereliction. Tramway services ceased on September 9 1981, and by 1990
the landing stage had rotted away and become detached from the main deck.
After fire and vandalism of its buildings in 1991, the pier was closed. But its future looks bright, with restoration works currently under way.
Southend (1890)
Southend is the standout pier on our tour. At 1.38 miles, it is the longest pleasure pier in the world.
A 600-foot wooden jetty was erected on the site as early as 1830, but it took the investment and ingenuity of a railway enterprise - the Eastern Counties Railway Company - to purchase (in 1846) and extend it to a requisite length that would accommodate steamers in all stages of the tide.
However, that extraordinary length also made it prone to calamity, and in 1880 it was severed beyond repair by a barge collision.
A new pier of similar length was soon commissioned, with James Brunlees (of Southport Pier fame) as designer. The current pier opened on August 24 1890 and boasted a ‘toast rack’ passenger train service, with longer trains soon introduced to meet passenger demand - 250,000 would use the service in 1895 alone.
The pier suffered an alarming collision rate. In 1908, when the Marlborough conservancy vessel severed it, this was the fifth collision in little more than ten years. But robust care and reconstruction policies of its owners ensured that it prevailed.
The 1930s brought rejuvenation of the pier, with the opening of a double-deck art deco building and extension of the railway to double track.
It also showed its mettle during the Second World War when, under the purview of the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Leigh, it ran trains night and day, carrying 1.5 million servicemen (which equated to 3,367 troop convoys or 84,000 ships). The pier continued its success in peacetime, with its trains transporting more than three million passengers in 1947.
Steamer services ceased in the early 1960s and the railway was reduced to single track in the decade following. After fires and pier deterioration, the railway was deemed unsafe and closed on October 2 1978.
However, support from the local council safeguarded Southend’s future, and in 1986 its current pier train service opened. It features a 3ft gauge with two diesel locomotives, Sir William Heygate and Sir John Betjeman.
Fire destroyed the railway terminus station in 2005, but again the pier and its railway recovered. Tickets for the train are sold in the information centre in the pier entrance building.
Felixstowe (1905)
We end with the only Edwardian pier on our list, at the twilight of the pleasure pier in Britain. When it opened in 1905, at a length of 2,793 feet it was one of Britain’s longest, and ran a narrow-gauge track for tram cars (in the summer only) along the east side of the pier.
In 1931 the three original railcars were retired and replaced by a single repurposed Ipswich tram.
The pier was cut short for security during the Second World War, and sadly was never restored or returned to its original purpose. A new structure was opened at its shore end in 2017, as part of a multi-million-pound rejuvenation project.
Piers in the picture
The 1987 book British Piers was written at a time when Britain’s seaside resorts were perhaps at their lowest ebb, with a groundswell of support for rejuvenation and conservation just beginning.
Tragically, by this time it was already too late for many of Britain’s piers, as is captured in this book by the exhilarating (sometimes haunting) contemporary photographs of Richard Fischer.
Historian John Walton provides an introduction to the book and gives us much insight into the parallels between piers and railways.
Piers “were designed by engineers rather than architects,” he writes. “For all their variations and occasional idiosyncrasies, their differing lengths and outlines, they formed a characteristically Victorian building type whose construction, purpose and use says a great deal about the nature of the culture which produced and maintained them.”
Walton confined himself to pleasure piers - as places for promenading and seeking amusements in one regard, but as engineered structures in another serving vital and practical functions (in the transportation of passengers and cargo, for example). Much as railway engineers continue to strive for today, piers were built to straddle pleasure and practical functions.
Of course, pleasure can always be found in good engineering, and the Victorians were famous for this. The breathtaking Barmouth Railway Viaduct in Wales demonstrates this - wholly practical, yet also pleasurable and in a location that is picturesque in the extreme.
Unlike its railways, Britain never truly succeeded in exporting pleasure piers. This leaves these structures (those still with us) as an invention of British industrialism and leisure that, in Walton’s words, are “much more insular … a narrowly British, and indeed English (and Welsh) phenomenon”.
This aspect of their character, in my view, makes them all the more fascinating from the perspective of a railway enthusiast - those piers with railways in particular, which were at a generally greater engineering scale.
The piers that survive today serve as especially British pieces of this island’s seaside story, and many have a place in the pages of railway history as well.