If a town can be defined by a single landmark then the jewel in Southend's crown must surely be its record-breaking pier. While not the oldest - that honour goes to Ryde Pier, which was built in 1813 - it is the world's longest. The pleasure pier at Southend extends 1.34 miles into the Thames Estuary and looks likely to receive £18m in local authority funding for improvement work.Included is £3.25m for new trains, which takes us back to April 1949 and the introduction of electric trains on to a pier which had provided public transport for its patrons for more than 100 years. This was not lost on our correspondent, who breezed through a description of the new vehicles before providing a potted history - and ringing endorsement-of their electric predecessors. As noted, the pier's original "train" was drawn by two horses and continued in use until 1890, when the first electric tramway was installed by Crompton and Co. of Chelmsford. The company was subsequently incorporated into Crompton Parkinson Ltd, which provided the electrical equipment for four new trains introduced in 1949.
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