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Historic street and seafront tramway

Heritage and seaside tramways

A handful of historic tramways still run on public streets and seafronts rather than inside museums, which is what separates them from Crich or Beamish. Two of them are world firsts: Volk’s at Brighton is the oldest operating electric railway anywhere, and the Great Orme is the last cable-hauled street tramway in Britain.

Serves
Llandudno, Brighton, Seaton, Birkenhead
Operator
Various trusts and local authorities
Opened
1883
Lines
4
Fares by
Flat return fare per line
Heritage and seaside tramways — Historic street and seafront tramway

Photo: Darrelljon · CC0

Ticket options

Great Orme Tramway return

£12.00

Best for Llandudno

Cable-hauled up the street since 1902, and the only one of its kind left in Britain. Runs late March to October.

Volk’s Electric Railway return

£5.60

Best for Brighton seafront

Opened 1883 and the oldest operating electric railway in the world. A mile along the beach.

Seaton Tramway return

£16.50

Best for The Axe valley, Devon

Narrow-gauge open-top trams along a former railway through two nature reserves. Longer and more of a day out than the others.

Birkenhead Heritage Tramway

£3.00

Best for Wirral waterfront

A short line linking Woodside ferry terminal to the transport museum. Weekends and holidays only.

Great Orme combined with cable car

£19.00

Best for Seeing the whole headland

Up by tram and down by cable car, or the reverse. Better value than two returns.

Fares checked September 2026. Confirm on the operator’s own fares page before you buy.

How to pay

  • Card and cash at the terminus
  • Online booking at the Great Orme in peak season
  • No transit smartcards or through ticketing

Concessions

  • Under 5s travel free on all four.
  • Child and family tickets are offered everywhere.
  • Concessionary bus passes are not valid — these are attractions, not registered services.

Worth knowing

  1. All four are seasonal. Volk’s and the Great Orme run roughly Easter to October, Birkenhead only at weekends.
  2. Blackpool is the exception that proves the rule: its heritage trams share a line that is still a real transit system, so they are covered on the Blackpool page instead.
  3. The Great Orme Tramway and the Llandudno Cable Car are different things on the same headland, and the combined ticket covers both.

Photos

Volk's Electric Railway, Brighton
Volk's Electric Railway, Brighton Clem Rutter, Rochester Kent · CC BY-SA 3.0
Seaton Tramway, Devon
Seaton Tramway, Devon Wusel007 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Birkenhead Heritage Tramway
Birkenhead Heritage Tramway Ian Roberts · CC BY-SA 2.0

Common questions

How much is a single on the heritage tramways?
The cheapest single listed is £12.00 (Great Orme Tramway return).
What do children pay on the heritage tramways?
Under 5s travel free on all four.