Wisbech and Upwell Tramway

Wisbech and Upwell Tramway
Wisbech and Upwell Tramway
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Wisbech North Wisbech Quay Goods Station River Nene Wisbech Quay Goods Station Wisbech East Planned Wisbech and March Bramley Line Elmbridge Boyces Bridge Outwell Basin Outwell Village Upwell

The Wisbech & Upwell Tramway was a standard gauge steam tram through a rural area in East Anglia .

history

The Wisbech & Upwell Tramway was built by the Great Eastern Railway between Wisbech in Cambridgeshire and Upwell in Norfolk mainly for agricultural traffic. Although called a tramway , it is more of an ordinary light rail than a tram .

Their success was the basis for the creation of the Light Railways Act of 1896. Six passenger trains ran there and back every day. They needed an hour for the one-way trip. By October 1884 the transport volume grew to 3000 passengers per week with up to 2000 per day for festivals or special events. Initially, the railway competed with freight traffic on an existing canal, which the railway line made unprofitable and was taken out of service. Passenger traffic was discontinued in 1927 due to increasing competition from buses, but freight traffic continued until the Beeching Ax project in 1966.

The originally used two-axle GER Class G15 / LNER Class Y6 0-4-0T box locomotives had control levers on both sides as well as the side covers and cow catchers required in the Board of Trade guidelines . They were later replaced by the more powerful three-axle 0-6-0T GER Class C53 / LNER Class J70 and even later by Drewry 0-6-0DM (Class 04) diesel shunters . A passenger car is still preserved.

For a short time, 1930-1931 two LNER Class Y10 Sentinel geared steam locomotives were used.

Route

The Tramway street sign

The former office in the Outwell Village Depot

The 7.9 km (4 mile 72 chains ) route ran near several farms and small towns whose agricultural products were to be brought to more densely populated areas via the Wisbeach tram and main line to be marketed there.

The railway line had 11 sidings on which more than 100 wagons could be parked during the harvest season. Two tracks were originally reserved for passenger traffic.

The Upwell depot had a cattle loading station, a depot office, a waiting room for people and a coal merchant's office at the coal port of the canal. There was an ash pit and an old GER - Tender was used as a water tower to 1953rd

From the depot in Upwell, which was the southern end of the railway line, the trains went north towards Outwell. They crossed the Small Lode and drove past a farm before arriving at Low Side , the first stop on demand. Today a dirt road runs along the former railway line.

The route ran parallel to Well Creek , the former river bed of the River Nene , and then on a grassy embankment along the creek before reaching the Goodman's Crossing request stop , from which it continued as a tram on the road.

The Outwell Village Depot was located between the former river bed of the River Nene and St. Clement's Church. There were originally four sidings and coal chutes that could be used to transfer coal onto barges for distribution in the fenland . There was a small red-brick office and a discarded freight car superstructure for storage. The historic brick building is still standing, but the rest of the depot area has been built over with modern residential buildings. The street name The Tramway, a cul-de-sac, is a reminder of its earlier use.

Thomas, the little locomotive

Children's book author Rev. W. Awdry was inspired by the steam tram for The Railway Series , made famous by the television series Thomas, the Little Locomotive . In his book Toby the Tram Engine , Toby and his car Henrietta are based on the originals in Wisbech.

Web links

Commons : Wisbech and Upwell Tramway  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Wisbech and Upwell Page at the LNER Encyclopedia

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Evelyn Simak: Wisbech & Upwell tramway - Outwell Village depot. The geographer (T 5103).
2. ^ The Wisbech and Upwell Railway: Introduction

Coordinates: 52 ° 38 '42.4 "  N , 0 ° 11' 0.8"  E