New And Old Southend Pier Railway Trains

This film shows and rides the new 2021 battery-electric trains on the iconic Southend Pier Railway.
There are also still image slide shows showing the 1949 third rail electric and 1986 diesel-hydraulic trains, plus some views of the pier and the shore from the pier.
At 1.33 miles from shore to pier head the Southend-On-Sea pier is the longest pleasure pier in our world. It needs to be this long to ensure that ships can dock at the pier head even when the tide is out.
Southend-On-Sea is an east coast / Thames estuary city in the English county of Essex. It is served by two rival rail services from London's Liverpool Street station (Greater Anglia) and Fenchurch Street station (C2C). Between 1910 and the start of WW2 in 1939 it was also served by the 'Southend Corridor Express' trains which linked Ealing Broadway in west London with Southend via the London Underground District line.
Music: "Glitter Blast" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons...

[@markcf83]

I remember doing the Southend Pier by train as a thirteen or fourteen year old on a day out with my mother and sister in the 80's. I seem to remember we walked back as it was a good day.

[@treytavares6410]

A video that I wasn't waiting for. But a video I needed.

[@punzel]

Thanks for an interesting video and captioning

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

Thank you for watching and commenting

[@chriswade7470]

The nay time I ever went on it was when it was still double track and electrically powered( by 3 rd Rail. There was a Bowling Alley over the line at the shore end.

[@PtrkHrnk]

1:45 the train sounds like it's going 80 mph!

[@Jules-zo3ds]

The new trains look quite nice. I've not been on one yet. A couple of things you might not know, what remains of the 1940s converted driving car is stored at Mangapps and a preserved driving car is in a shop in the coastal village of "Leigh-on-Sea"

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

Thanks, I've heard about the driving car in a shop in Leigh-On-Sea, the Pier Museum also have a preserved car.

[@Jules-zo3ds]

It's well worth a visit if you're in that neck of the woods and Leigh village is very pleasant but it's a tourist trap.

[@harryelliott4310]

Southend Pier Railway

[@kgroveringer03]

Yes, that’s the topic of the video

[@Denzelsworld]

Interesting!

[@Andrewjg_89]

Apparently the new battery powered pier trains have had problems before when they entered service. At least now they are now working and are lot more quieter and very enjoyable to ride on.

[@clarky2356]

The diesel trains where my favorite they seem to have a character about them the new ones are boring and look cheap

[@srfurley]

I was there on May 14th, my birthday. The old carriage bodies which were used as shelters had all been removed and were nowhere to be seen. The red single car, which I have never seen in use, had been moved to the pier head, on the track next to Sir William Heygate. I don’t know if it has been withdrawn.

[@MrJozza65]

It's great that the new trains used the livery of the old ones, and they are much better for accessibility and environment, but they have somehow lost the charm of the old trains. Shame also that when you get to the end of the pier there isn't a lot to do; it would be really good to see more attractions at the pier head.

[@Andrew-xg5ge]

How much weight do the batteries add to the weight of the new trains? I wonder if some sort of conductor rail system (maybe based on that used on the DLR) would have been more efficient. It would have saved carting those batteries up and down the pier all day!

[@Asiufburger377]

"prochaine station bonaventure"

[@Steven_Rowe]

I remember the old trains. I don't know why you would want to use batteries when providing a third rail or even an overhead wire and using a pantograph would be easy. I think we have an obsession with batteries today.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

This system is relatively quick, easy and cheap to install. New electric rail installations are now illegal (seen as too dangerous). Overhead wiring is expensive, especially as the Office of Road and Rail (ORR - who set safety rules & regulations) require bridges over the railway to be rebuilt so as to create an air space around the overhead wires suitable for larger European trains rather than British trains. Their heavy-handed attitude which ignored many years of proven safe air-gap dimensions (here in the UK) dating back to railway electrification by BR in the 1950s / 1960s caused the cost of the GW electrification scheme to rise further than they should have. Media reports I read said that the ORR actually forced the expensive rebuilding of bridges that were already 'within scope' according to British practice elsewhere in the UK

[@boz1810]

I haven't checked recently but I understood from others that the museum was under new management and did now permit photography. Of course, the owners have the right to make and enforce whatever rules they like, but it always seemed rather a pointless restriction.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

Thank you.