FIRST ELECTRIC RAILWAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 15, 17 July 1937, Page 11

FIRST ELECTRIC RAILWAY

Mr. Magnus Voile, who built the first electric railway in Britain and began his experiments by blowing himself out of his mother's house when chemicals he was using exploded, died recently at his home in Dyke Road, Brighton, aged 85 (says the "Daily Mail"). '

"I was born with a passion for inventing, and as soon as I could handle a few tools I began to make toy windmills, steamers, and clocks," he said once.

Mr. Yolk's1 house was the first in Brighton to be lit by electricity provided by his own plant, and to have telephones .installed. .But his greatest pride was in his electric railway which runs to this day along Brighton front from the Aquarium to Black Rock. -.■■■'"

It came about as a result of chance. A customer left on Mr. Yolk's hands an electric motor and dynamo, and he decided to build them into a car. Requiring rails on which to run it, he obtained permission from the corporalion to lay a track along the beach.

When it was first opened one minister told his congregation not to go near "this latest invention of the devil."

Mr. Yolk's son, Mr. M. H. Yolk, said: "Tho railway has been a very prosperous business, but maintenance and alterations ■■ absorbed a good deal of money, and I don't think it will be found that my father left more than a few thousand pounds."