Further to yesterday’s what3words post here are few more photos of the Southend on Sea pier and railway. The pier extends 1.33 miles (2.14 km) into the Thames Estuary, and the first one, made of wood, was opened in 1830 to enable steamers carrying day tripping Londoners to stop at Southend. Even that had a primitive tramway. In 1889 it was replaced with an iron structure and since then the track and trains have developed to today’s 3ft narrow gauge track and modern battery electric trains.
Naming a train after Sir John Betjeman was to commemorate his involvement in saving the pier from demolition back in 1980, just as his campaign saved St Pancras Station featured in a recent post.
“The Pier is Southend, Southend is the Pier”. Sir John Betjeman.
John's Postcards 
wonderful!
shame SJB wasn’t around to help save this now-gone sorry structure:
Haven’t yet seen it in person, but the replacement truncated mini-pier looks a little silly, IMHO…
https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/colwyn-bays-mini-pier-host-24065618
LikeLiked by 1 person
He was a great man and I’m delighted he saved this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes Sue. It seems to me that he did so much work behind the scenes that we weren’t always aware of.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful that this pier survives and is maintained so well. It must be constantly under threat from budget constraints.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It just shows it can be done. An example to others.
LikeLiked by 1 person
During its lifetime it has burnt down four times and was sliced in half in 1986 by a tanker that had lost its navigational bearings. One unfortunate man was in the pier toilets at the time and only just made it out in time before they tipped over the edge!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looking at the history of piers, they do seem to burn down easily and frequently. I wasn’t aware of the toilet near-miss!
LikeLike
I used to work in Southend, that’s how I picked up the story
LikeLiked by 1 person