The Railway Arrives in Fletton

Prior to the advent of the railways to the area, water transport was the key to economic and industrial development. The wharfs of Woodston and Stanground united the towns of Bedford and Northampton, via Peterborough with the North Sea. These wharfs were vital in the transportation of all manner of goods and produce to the markets of the Midlands and London. But as the demands of the cities grew faster transportation was required.

The faster transportation came in the shape of the railways. On Monday 2 June 1845 the first train on the Blisworth to Peterborough line arrived at the East Station, Fletton to a crowd of 8,000 spectators ‘the ringing of the church bells and the bands of music’. This line, operated by the London and Birmingham Railway Company, linked London via Northampton to Peterborough and then on into the fens at March via the Eastern Counties Railway. The Blisworth to Peterborough line had been economical and quick to build and the Illustrated London News reported:

‘Perhaps, few railways of similar length have effected a greater change than is likely to result from the Northampton and Peterborough… all parties, we do not doubt, will derive pleasure and benefit from the intercourse newly facilitated’. 

This appeared to hold credence as within a few years a trip to London became so convenient that tradesmen in the city complained of losing business and on the 1902 ordnance survey map, it is evident by the sheer number of sidings, works buildings and lines that the East Station had witnessed considerable growth.

In quick succession other lines, including, the Great Northern, Midland and London and North Western, came to the East Station at Fletton, the North Station at Peterborough and to the station in between, the Crescent Station. Within 21 years the railway map of Peterborough was largely complete with a total of five different railway companies running through the Peterborough area. In addition, between the stations, there were numerous shunting operations and a myriad of companies vying to convey the passengers from one train to another for their onward connection.

Solicitor, Andrew Percival, remembered that when he first arrived in Peterborough in 1833 you could not enter the city without paying a toll, the only communication with Northampton was a twice weekly one-horse carrier cart, and Peterborough relied on Stamford for a London coach. He recalled that a journey from London to Edinburgh occupied two whole days and nights and the expense was five to six times as much as the ordinary first-class railway fare. He quite correctly observed that ‘the introduction of the railway system has made a stationary nation into a nation of travellers’ and Peterborough into a ‘railway centre of major importance’.

The railways were not just important in themselves. They were multi-faceted and included workshops, carriage and cycle works, ironmongers and conveyors of people and goods. In the Fletton entry in the Kelly’s Directory for 1880 alongside the East Station there were also listed wagon manufacturers and repairers including the Birmingham Wagon Co, Thomas Coote and Son, Metropolitan Wagon Co, Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Co, Thomas Moy railway wagon works, Rickett, and Smith and Co.

The ease with which the railways could be easily accessed for transportation of raw materials and goods attracted new industries to the numerous sidings that were available in Fletton. In the 1880s this of course included the developing brickyards, in 1893 J. P. Halls and Sons, water pump manufacturers, came from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to Queens Walk, New Fletton and in 1902 Joseph Farrow, and his wife Mary, opened a model canning factory in Old Fletton on land rented from John Cathles Hill. A newspaper report complimented its position adjoining the Great Northern Railway and not far from the ‘famous’ Wisbech mustard fields.

Look out for future blogs about the impact of the railways on Fletton, and its people.

1560s   A wagon way, which was powered by animals pulling cars or wagons, was used by German miners in Caldbeck, Cumbria.

1600   Wagonways were built at Prescot, near Liverpool by Phillip Layton. This wagonway carried coal from a pit near Prescott Hall to a terminus half a mile away.

1603-1604   The Wollaton Wagonway was built by Sir Francis Willoughby to carry coal. 

1671   The Tanfield Wagonway, to carry coal, opened in Durham. This type of wagonway was a simple affair consisting of two straight parallel rails of timber on which carts with iron wheels could eb pulled by horses.

1793   Benjamin Outram replaced the wooden rails with L-shaped cast iron rails. These were soon superseded by William Jessop’s cast iron rails which required no guiding ledges. Instead, the wheels of the cart had flanges which guided it. The problem with cast iron was that it was brittle. In 1820 John Birkenshaw devised a method of rolling wrought-iron, which was stronger, and this was used from then on.

1802   The age of steam arrived when Richard Trevithick designed and built the firsts team locomotive to run on smooth rails.

1807   The Swansea and Mumbles Railway at Oystermouth was the first passenger carrying railway. This looked very different to later trains as it was really just a horse-drawn carriage utilising the existing tramline.

1812   The first successful commercial steam locomotive was the ‘Salamanca’. It was built by John Blenkinsopp and Matthew Murray for the Middleton Railway. Not long after was William Hedley and Timothy Hackworth’s ‘Puffing Billy’, which ran on the Stockton and Darlington tramway.  The wheels of the ‘Puffing Billy’ were coupled together which allowed for better traction but only a year later Stephenson’s ‘Blucher’ improved on this design with single-flanged wheels.

1821   The Stockton and Darlington railway were so impressed that they employed Stephenson as their engineer. The track was supposed to be horse drawn but after surveying the route it was decided to allow steam haulage.

1825   On the 27^th September 1825 the Stockton and Darlington railway opened a 25 mile route.  ‘Locomotion 1’ became the first passenger locomotive -hauled public railway in the world.

1830   The Liverpool and Manchester railway opened. This was the first recognisable modern railway with scheduled services, a timetable and stations. The world’s first goods terminal was at Park Lane, Liverpool’s south docks. This was accessed by the 1.26 mile Wapping Tunnel. The world famous ‘Rocket’ made its first commercial journey on the Liverpool to Manchester railway. In 1836 the line was extended to Lime Street Station via a 1.1 mile tunnel.

1840   The railways now entered a period which became known as ‘railway mania’. Small private companies embarked on railway building with little regard for potential traffic or investment. In 1840 there were a handful of railways and yet just 10 years later there was a vast network connecting the majority of towns and villages.  Alongside this there was increased involvement from the government in matters of safety. The ‘Act for Regulating Railways’ allowed for railway inspectors and the Railway Inspectorate was formed to enquire into he caused of accidents and how to prevent them.

1844   A move was made to nationalise the railways. This was not successful, but it did introduce minimum standards for the construction of carriages and the compulsory provision of third class accommodation for passengers.

It was in this hot bed of expansion that the first railway line came to Peterborough. The Blisworth to Peterborough line terminated at the East station in the north of Fletton and on Monday 2^nd June 1845 the first train arrived.