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The Former Southend Pier Railway.

This page shows the former electric trains that operated on the 1½ mile long pier at Southend-On-Sea, in Essex. They were introduced in 1949 (replacing older trains which operated a pre-war service) and in all there were four 'trains' each of which consisted of seven four-wheel carriages. The system was electrified at 500v dc using a centrally located third rail and the track gauge was 3ft 6in (approx 106cm).

The line closed in the late 1970's - some reports suggest 1978 whilst others say that public services ended in October 1976 but for the benefit of the lifeboat crew some occasional trains continued to operate until July 1979. In 1986 a new two-train die-sel service was opened (diesel train not illustrated).

The first image dates from the late 1970's; the rest were taken in 1982 and show the vehicles on the promenade awaiting removal for scrapping. The first image was taken using 126 print film and digitised in 2003 - unfortunately by which time the colours on the negative had began to "change". The other images were taken on Kodachrome 64 film - the external views also on a "126" format film Instamatic camera and the internal views on a "110" format camera which featured a fixed aperture but an automated electronic shutter that facilitated low-light and indoor photography without the use of flashguns. These images were digitised using the Kodak PhotoCD system. Unfortunately there are no views of a train travelling between stations or arriving / departing stations.

A train (in passenger service) standing in the platform at the pier head station.
This view was taken during a lunch break on a business trip to Southend - most of which was spent getting to / from the pier. It is regretted but there simply was not the time to spend waiting to photograph moving trains. Immediately after taking this photograph the train was boarded to await the return journey.


A driving motor carriage seen on the promenade.
Unfortunately it proved to be impossible to take this photograph without having a pole appearing to stick out of its roof. It was also not possible to source a side view showing an entire vehicle.


Side elevation of the driver's cab showing some of the electrical control gear.


A rare view of the end of a trailer carriage - rare because they would normally be coupled next to other carriages so the ends of these carriages would not be seen as clearly as here.


Inside the driving motor carriage looking towards the driver's cab.


Inside a trailer carriage.


Window detail - inside a trailer carriage.


Front three-quarter elevation of a works carriage.


Rear three-quarter elevation of a works carriage plus part of an adjacent trailer.

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