YouTube Pick – Pleasure Beach Express (1930s)

The park’s Pleasure Beach Express is a fine example of a miniature railway that originally opened in 1933. Its layout has remained almost unchanged since its introduction, save for a few minor tweaks to aid a century of development around it.

In this rare footage taken from our collection, we see the ride in its opening year, the aftermath of the fire in its second season and the ride back in action post rebuild. It is shot on 9.5mm Pathescope film.

The clip is a great snapshot of what the southern area of the park looked like very early in its development, with few buildings and a small number of rides operating among the sand hills. Look out for the scale mode of the Forth Bridge that the train passes over near the Boating Pool.

This and other videos are available on our YouTube channel.