The volunteers who keep Volk’s Railway running are calling for drastic action to be taken over the shabby building which currently sits at the eastern end of the line.
While the rest of the area around Black Rock station is slowly being restored, the station building is beginning to stick out even more.
To add insult to injury, volunteers working there also have to put up with unpleasant smells from the storm drain access tunnels under the building, which is owned by Southern Water.
This week, a glass roof was removed because of health and safety concerns. But with Southern Water only committing to “look at plans to schedule maintenance” it seems unlikely the rest of the building is going to get a facelift any time soon.
The Volk’s Electric Railway Association is now running out of patience – to the point where it says it may even be time to abandon the station entirely in favour of extending the line to the marina.
The association said: “We are dismayed at the increasingly poor state of the Volk’s Railway’s Black Rock Station.
“We understand that the owners of the building, Southern Water, have been approached many times at senior level by Brighton and Hove City Council, who run the railway and directly by the railway management as well.
“But still nothing happens while the building continues to decay.
“The Volk’s Railway recently won the Heritage Railway Association’s prestigious “Railway of the Year 2024” award so it is doubly disappointing that guests and visitors were confronted by such a dilapidated structure at one end of the line.
“There were many complaints, not least about the pervading smell of sewage caused, we are told, by inadequate ventilation equipment servicing the underground reservoir tunnel. The working conditions for staff and volunteers working there are poor.
“For almost 30 years, our association has been trying to persuade the council to extend the railway towards the marina, the destination for almost every passenger travelling to Black Rock.
“Before the last war, the Volk’s Railway was extended to a new station at the entrance to the council’s brand-new Lido.
“This visionary project was jointly funded by Magnus Volk Ltd and by the council.
“Is now the time for the council to take the bold step of abandoning the unpopular Black Rock Station entirely and once again extend the line towards where the passengers actually want to go?
“VERA would welcome and assist any initiative that improves the situation.”
Residents have also been calling on Southern Water to do something about the building. Derek Wright, who runs the Madeira Drive development Facebook group, said it was in “a sorry state” and called on people to contact them with their concerns.
A Southern Water spokesperson said: “We are looking at plans to schedule maintenance works at the station.”
The completion a new access road to the marina from Madeira Drive, part of the wider Black Rock revamp, has been delayed by months because Southern Water had not carried out necessary works.
This also meant events due to take place at the new performance space there in the summer had to be moved to elsewhere in the city.
The council said Southern Water had now completed the works, and the project is now due to be finished early in the new year.
I did a FOI to find out who was responsible for it as reporting it to the council had no result. There is no way of contacting Southern Water, so instead I sent photos to them on X .
So far they have closed of the area and removed the glazing . I doubt that will be replaced and they will leave it open. So do contact them if you can by raising a complaint on their website .
It would be a shame if this characterful but of history was lost. It should be restored and kept in use – perhaps as a bar or cafe if not a station?
The present building is a hideous monolith and nowhere near as nice as the little island platform with roof which it replaced. It’s no good asking Southern Water to do anything with it, they are too busy giving their shareholders big fat dividends and bonuses to their Chief Executive whist putting up our bills to pay for it! Extending it to The Marina is a nice idea but with the arches on Madeira drive still crumbling away and looking like they have been bombed out, I doubt you will ever see council money being spent on the Volk’s Railway to extend it!
Why are things not maintained. Walk from the Marina to Hove lagoon you see so much in decline. Lots of which the council are responsible for. If someone owns a listed building the council comes down heavily on them if they don’t look after it. But the council lets listed items that it owns go into decay. Perhaps private companies should sponsor certain structures such as the seafront shelters and be allowed to advertise on them. Its cheaper to maintain to avoid major works.