A visit to Southend Pier to ride the 3ft gauge railway which extends some 2km to the end of the pier, as well as the Southend Pier museum, which includes a 1890 toastrack tram, 3 of the original 1949 pier railway carriages and a working signal box, amongst other exhibits.  We also visit Southend Cliff Lift, Britain’s shortest commercial railway at only 130 metres long!  

Meet at the pier at 11.30.  It is ten minute walk from Southend Central station to the pier.

The cliff lift is approximately six minutes walk from the pier.

The day will conclude with an open top bus ride to Leigh-on-Sea for the train back to London.  

Booking:

To book, please click: Southend Pier to email Malcolm Pym

Or call Malcolm on 07771 830 403

Cost

Costs are as follows:

• The Southend Pier Railway is £7.50 return, which includes £3 admission charge to the pier.  The cost is reduced to £4 return for concessions.
• The Southend Pier Museum is free, but donations are welcome
• The Cliff Lift is £1 each way, £2 return
• The open top bus is £3.00 single.  Note that concessionary bus passes are not valid for free travel, but fares are halved, so £1.50 single

See below for details of National Rail fares to East Grinstead for those without free travel / use of an educational free pass.

Educational Free Pass

This is an educational visit, so those members with protected (safeguarded) travel facilities can apply for an educational free pass.  Please see: Free Pass for further information.

The free pass ticket should be from your home station to Southend Central or Southend Victoria (if travelling via Liverpool Street).

Train Tickets - for those without free travel facilities

The cheapest tickets are as follows:

• An Off Peak Day Return from London Fenchurch Street to Southend Central is £12.10 or £7.95 with a railcard.  Note that the railcard discount is not available with a Network Railcard as the full-fare ticket price is below the minimum Network Railcard price of £13 on a weekeday.  

Note that this fare does not appear to be available from all rail ticket retailers, including other TOCs, so purchase at: https://www.c2c-online.co.uk  This ticket is valid for return on any train that day.

Meet at Southend Pier entrance at 12.00 noon

Return to London from Leigh-on-Sea

Return trains to London are at frequent intervals with around six trains per hour.  The journey time to London Fenchurch Street is just under an hour

Travel from London

Note platform numbers are those booked, but could change on the day - check customer information screens before going to the platform