As the Volk's Railway in Brighton prepares for its 120th anniversary, important questions are being raised about the future of the world's oldest electric train.

Imagine the furore in August 1883. A Victorian visionary obsessed with technology approached starched-collar councillors with the most radical and ambitious plan.

Magnus Volk's plan to lay a railway line on a prized stretch of Brighton seafront was met with incredulity and not a little indignation.

Volk was a pioneer and showman. He worked quickly and refused to let the nay-sayers get in his way.

When the sun went down on that August bank holiday, he had proved them all wrong. His astonishing little train had chugged straight into Brighton's heart.

In the 120 years since, the carriages have trundled happily up and down the line with a top speed of 6mph and carried up to a million passengers a year.

But what was once a pioneering feat of engineering has now become more than a little forlorn.

Its route, from nowhere in particular near the Aquarium to nowhere much a mile east, means it is has not been an integral part of the city's transport infrastructure.

At the start of the 20th Century, a return ticket cost 2 1/2d. Now the price is £2.50.

Last year, it carried 200,000 people - a fifth of those who rode in its heyday.

But at noon tomorrow, in a tongue-in-cheek repeat of the inaugural journey, comedian Julian Clary will wave off the engine as it begins a commemorative run with mayor Jeanne Lepper as a guest of honour.

A seven-day exhibition on the train's past will be held at the midway station, open from 11am to 6pm.

And when the bunting has come down, serious questions over the little train's future will have to be asked.

The Volk's Electric Railway Association (Vera), the dedicated team which keeps Volk's flame alive, insists his most endearing creation has a role to play.

After years of under-investment, it is restoring the stations and bringing about a mini-renaissance.

Vera chairman Ian Gledhill has ambitious plans which could bring the line into the 21st Century.

He wants to see the track extended from its present limits east to the Marina and west to the Palace Pier.

Weatherproof cars with disabled access are planned so the railway can be used in the winter.

He said: "A heritage centre and museum are needed to place the railway in its context and to show the pioneering place Brighton holds in the development of electricity."

The most recent threat to the train's seafront monopoly has come in the shape of a futuristic plan for a monorail linking the Marina to the city centre and beyond to Shoreham Harbour.

Businessman David Courtney, based at the Marina, has put forward the proposal but insists Volk's would still survive and prosper.

It is a plan which Mr Gledhill gives short shrift.

He said: "Monorails are exceedingly ugly and it is extremely unlikely one would be acceptable in a Regency resort.

"Despite the hundreds of proposals for them over the years only a handful of monorail lines have ever been built around the world.

"If such a line was built between the Marina and the pier, its novelty value might ensure its success but would also kill off Volk's Railway.

"I would suggest that the most suitable site for a monorail would be a circular line round the Marina serving its various areas, and connecting with an extended Volk's Railway."

Were Magnus Volk alive today, he would doubtless be at the forefront of new schemes for rapid transit systems in Brighton - powered by electricity, of course.