In 1949 the original Volk cars Nos.1,2,and the enclosed No.5 were declared beyond repair and scrapped . The railway needed nine cars to operate a full service and have a maintenance spare . At this time the Southend pier railway was upgrading its stock and the opportunity was taken of purchasing two of it’s 1899 built cross bench trailer cars . The cars were obtained for the princely sum of £10 each . They were built by the Falcon works in Loughborough and were part of a fleet which grew to number 32 cars before the First World War. They were regauged from 3’ 6" , motorised with parts salvaged from electric milk floats , and put to work on the railway , being used at busy times only, as they have a higher current consumption than the Volk cars .
As Nos. 8 and 9 they ran until the early 1990s when they were put into store . No.8 has a very long wheelbase and with recent improvements in the trackwork which now has a more accurate and consistent gauge , it has proved to be unusable . So the decision was made to donate it to the 'Southend Pier Museum' . No.9 needs considerable electrical and mechanical work done to it , so it remains in store in Brighton at present .
There are several photos of the current Southend
Pier railway here.
A full history of the Southend Pier railway can be found here .
