A lot of pretty strange means of getting around have been invented over the years, with things like the steam-powered car, the hoverboard and amphibious bus all once promising to be the future of transport. They could all be beaten to the title of strangest means of getting from A to B by this elevated railway, however, as it featured a high-riding carriage, lifeboats and could only be piloted by a qualified captain.
This weird looking railway was built in Britain, of course, and ran along the south coast from 1896. It was designed by an engineer called Magnus Volk, who previously assembled one of the first electrified railways in the country.
That electrified line was called Volk’s Electric Railway and it ran through the city of Brighton from 1883 and is still operational to this day. Back in its heyday, however, Volk wanted to extend the line but wasn’t able to due to the rough terrain around the British city, explained the UK’s Railway Museum in a recent blog post.
Instead of remodeling the terrain to make the extension work, Volk designed a new railway in Brighton that could transport locals and tourists from Brighton to Rottingdean, which I promise are both real place names. Volk built this new line along the beach to get around the awkward scenery, and it ran on specially designed rails under the sea:
Construction started in 1894 and the railway was opened in November 1896. Passengers were carried in a large tramcar-like carriage on a deck mounted on long stilts. It was named ‘Pioneer’ but popularly known as ‘daddy long-legs’.
Power was provided by an electricity cable mounted on tall poles along the shoreline, connected by trolley poles to motors in the bogies at the foot of the stilts.
Because this wild railway carriage technically operated in the sea, it had a few quirky rules governing its operation. First, it had to have a lifeboat on board and life rings in case anyone ended up overboard. Secondly, it had to be piloted by a qualified ships captain, rather than a normal train driver.
Despite having a captain on hand to keep things running smoothly, the Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway did have its problems. Just days after opening, a storm took out sections of the line and it was put out of service until summer 1897.
Another incident in 1900 damaged the track bed, and local councilors in Brighton demanded to rip up the tracks in order to improve sea defenses in the city. This was the final nail in the weird line’s coffin.
Thankfully, there are still some pretty weird train lines running around the world. There’s a brand new rail network in Switzerland that runs on trains that can expand and contract, and the biggest steam train in the world still runs under its own power.