Kempston gravel pit railway was a narrow-gauge tramway which connected a gravel pit in the Hill Grounds area of Kempston, Bedfordshire to Bedford Road. [1] There are a small number of records of its operation in the late 1910s and 1920s and perhaps some years early. The terminus lay by the entrance to the Robert Bruce School site on what is now Bedford Road. [2]
A narrow-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard 1,435 mm. Most narrow-gauge railways are between 600 mm and 1,067 mm.
Kempston is a town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. Once known as the largest village in England, Kempston is now a town with its own town council. It has a population of about 20,000, and together with Bedford, it forms an urban area with around 100,000 inhabitants, which is the sole significant urban area in the Borough of Bedford. Kempston serves principally as a dormitory town for Bedford.
The gravel pit lay on the banks of the River Great Ouse. The tramway is shown on sheet 84 of the Ordnance Survey Popular Edition Map, which was surveyed between 1912 and 1923 and first published in 1919. According to this map, the track was about 750 metres (2,460 ft) long and ended in the area where Mahew Court now stands on Emmerton Road. Trains consisting of three or four trucks were pulled by horses to the road where the gravel was transferred to road vehicles for onward transport. [3] [4] Along the length of the left-hand side of the line lay Hill Grounds, 'a lovely wooded copse, full of wild flowers going down to the river'. [5] For much of its length, the tramway shared the same route as the road which provided access to Hill Grounds. [6] There is some evidence that this street running was the cause of at least one accident in July 1907:
The River Great Ouse is a river in the United Kingdom, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in central England, the Great Ouse flows into East Anglia before entering the Wash, a bay of the North Sea. With a course of 143 miles (230 km), mostly flowing north and east, it is the one of the longest rivers in the United Kingdom. The Great Ouse has been historically important for commercial navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows; its best-known tributary is the Cam, which runs through Cambridge. Its lower course passes through drained wetlands and fens and has been extensively modified, or channelised, to relieve flooding and provide a better route for barge traffic. Though the unmodified river probably changed course regularly after floods, it now enters the Wash after passing through the port of King's Lynn, south of its earliest-recorded route to the sea.
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose, which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was also a more general and nationwide need in light of the potential threat of invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. Since 1 April 2015 Ordnance Survey has operated as Ordnance Survey Ltd, a government-owned company, 100% in public ownership. The Ordnance Survey Board remains accountable to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. It is also a member of the Public Data Group.
On-street running or street running is the routing of a railroad track or tramway track running directly along public streets, without any grade separation. The rails are embedded in the roadway, and the train shares the street with pedestrians and automobile traffic. Street running trains generally travel at reduced speed for safety reasons.
A young lad named George Graham, met with an accident early on Friday morning, whilst riding his bicycle on the road leading to Mr. Folkes' gravel pits. It appears that in trying to pass in front of the horse drawing up the trucks he was knocked down and run over. Fortunately, no bones were broken, and he is progressing favourably. [7]
Hill Grounds and the area containing the gravel pit were owned in the 1800s by Reverend Edmund Williamson of Kempston Manor. [8] Ownership later passed to Mrs Anne Charles-Williamson, one of Reverend Williamson's daughters. [9] [10] By this time, the Hill Grounds pit was being worked by Mr William Folkes. [11] The Folkes family lived at 'Stoneyside', a large cottage close to the line's southern terminus. [12] Stoneyside's outbuildings included stabling for two horses, [13] so it is possible that these housed the animals used to pull the trucks.
After the death of Mrs Anne Charles-Williamson in 1927, the Kempston Manor estate was divided up for sale. The auction brochure confirms that the tramway was still in place, and that it ran over several of the advertised lots. The brochure also states that 'the tram lines and sleepers on this Roadway and on Lot 23 are the property of Mrs Folkes and will not be included in the Sale'. [14] Mrs Folkes, who had taken over running the gravel pit following the death of her husband bid successfully on Stoneyside and the Hill Grounds wood. These purchases clearly went down well with many of those present at the auction, who applauded as the sales were completed. [15]
The Hill Grounds gravel pit had begun operation in the 1860s [16] and was finally worked out by the mid-twentieth century. The area subsequently became a small residential caravan site. [17] The growth of the area of Kempston formerly known as 'Up End' is thought to be due largely to the employment opportunities presented by the gravel pits in this area, including that at Hill Grounds. [18] Such was the importance of this industry that the area around Bunyan Road was known as 'Gravel End' by 1877. [19]
Narrow gauge railways are known to have served at least two other gravel pits in the area nearby. Short 2 ft (610 mm) gauge railways operated at Biddenham Gravel Pit [20] and Radwell Gravel Pit, near Milton Ernest. [21] The former appears to have been operating around the same time that the Kempston line ran. The latter was a latter development, associated with quarrying to support the second world war effort. It is unclear whether the Kempston tramway was also 2 ft (610 mm) gauge.
Little today remains of the Kempston tramway, beyond—perhaps—a short section of embanked roadbed/trackbed at the southerly end of the line. Stoneyside and its outbuildings still stand.
