The Victorian and Edwardian periods were the heyday for the British Seaside resort. Before the introduction of cheap, long distance, foreign travel, the best that an industrial worker could hope for, was a few days away at a local seaside resort. The introduction of discount rail travel, often linked to large railway run hotels, produced a provincial mass tourist market. The large crowds attracted to these new, burgeoning resorts, prompted local entrepreneurs to create a variety of new transport facilities, including cliff lifts (eg. Aberystwyth, Scarborough), trams (eg. LLandudno, Blackpool) and electric trains (eg. Brighton and Southend), all often in association with the development of pleasure piers. Following from my interest in steam trains, I here include brief descriptions of the two above mentioned, at least in the case of Southend, originally electric trains:
For those with an interest in the associated Piers, the references which I have found most usefull are:
S.H. Adamson, 1977, Seaside Piers, Batsford Books in Assoc. with the Victorian Society.
T.J. Mickleburgh, 1979, Guide to British Piers, a booklet produced in support of the Brighton West Pier Society.