The Edenham & Little Bytham Railway was a railway company formed by Lord Willoughby de Eresby to build a line from the Great Northern Railway at Little Bytham to Edenham, serving the villages of Edenham and Grimsthorpe and also Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, England.
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The railway was originally constructed as a road, at the personal expense of Peter, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, between 1851 and 1853. In 1854 and 1855 an early traction engine, "Ophir", built at Swindon Railway Works and possibly designed by Daniel Gooch, hauled wagons on this road. [1]
Adhesion problems and steep gradients of 1 in 30 and 1 in 27 led to an experimental conversion of short stretches to a wooden tramway, and it was decided in March 1855 to convert the entire line to a standard-gauge railway. Ophir was returned to Swindon to be rebuilt with flanged wheels, returning in November 1855, and the railway completed by the summer of 1856.
The road and its conversion were described in "A Letter on Branch Railways Addressed to the Right Honourable, Lord Stanley of Alderley" , in a section concerning the use of private roads as alternatives to railways:
"The last attempt of the kind, and not the least interesting, is that which has recently been made by Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, on a private road four miles in length, leading from the village of Edenham in Lincolnshire to the Little Bytham Station, on the Great Northern Railway. In this case a solid roadway was formed of two parallel lines of contiguous wooden blocks laid level with the surface of the road, on which it was attempted to work a very perfect small 8-inch cylindered locomotive with flat wheels, built at the Swindon works. The experiment, which was in every respect well carried out^ and is worthy of record, removed the last existing doubt upon the subject; it was ultimately found necessary to place iron rails upon this solid block-road, and the Edenham Tramway, liberally designed for the benefit of the tenants of the Grimsthorpe estate, is now converted into a Railway of the usual gauge, and worked by a locomotive and carriages with flanged wheels." [2]
The railway was carrying coal over part of its length by the end of 1855, and was open for goods to Edenham by July 1856. During the rebuilding, the decision was made to instigate a full passenger service, and a second locomotive, 0-4-0 wing tank "Havilah" (R & W Hawthorn works no. 957 of 1857) was acquired. A third locomotive of the same design, "Columbia", (works no 1047) was bought in 1858.
The standard of construction left something to be desired, and as a result the line failed its first two Board of Trade inspections. It passed its third inspection after the track was relaid with heavier rails and signals installed, but severe speed restrictions were imposed, as low as 8 miles per hour (13 km/h) in some places.
The E&LBR worked the line themselves as the GNR refused to operate it. The line opened to passengers on 8 December 1857 and was originally worked by the steam locomotives. Passenger carriages were supplied by the GNR and built at Doncaster Works. The line struggled, with passengers services being particularly unprofitable. Much coal traffic had been lost with the opening of a railway direct to Bourne in 1860. Peter Lord Willoughby died in 1865, and left his estate, including the railway, to be controlled by trustees, apparently considering his son Albyric incompetent. This left the line without adequate direction. [3]
Ophir had been sold in 1862, and was bought by Isaac Watt Boulton in March 1866 from Grays Chalk Quarries in Essex, in a lot of three locomotives, for a total of £488. She was converted to a conventional 0-4-0ST and remained in industrial service beyond 1867. [4]
In 1863 the passenger service comprised five trains each way Mondays to Saturdays, taking about 17 minutes to cover the 4 miles, and no service on Sundays. Passenger services ceased on 17 October 1871, because the locomotives were worn out and the company could not afford to replace them. A freight service of sorts lingered on using horse traction until 1872 and possibly as late as 1884, when the line closed. [5] [ page needed ]
In 1889, the Eastern & Midland Railway (later part of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway) were surveying a route between Little Bytham and Bourne and considered building from Bourne to near Edenham and reopening part of the E&LBR, as this would avoid the expense of Toft tunnel, but rejected it in favour of the more direct route. [6] [ page needed ]
In 1890 there was a sale of the railway metal. [7]
A history of the line was recently published by the castle. [8] [ page needed ]
The Little Bytham to Witham on the Hill road crossed the line by means of a road overbridge which still exists at grid reference TF025176 . The Little Bytham to Edenham public footpath runs next to the trackbed from TF039195 to TF041196 . Another public footpath leaves the Little Bytham to Witham road at TF024176 and runs along the trackbed as it approaches Little Bytham station. The path then turns north and rejoins the same road at TF019177 . The public footpath from Edenham to Swinstead leaves the A151 road at Edenham at TF060220 and immediately passes through the site of Edenham station, now Copy Lawn Farm, where a weighbridge cabin survives, listed at Grade II. [9]
The Bure Valley Railway is a 15 in minimum gauge visitors' attraction in Norfolk, England. It was created on the original disused full-gauge bed of a defunct passenger service to incorporate a new, adjacent pedestrian footpath.
Bourne is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the eastern slopes of the limestone Kesteven Uplands and the western edge of the Fens, 11 miles (18 km) north-east of Stamford, 12 miles (19 km) west of Spalding and 17 miles (27 km) north of Peterborough. The population at the 2011 census was 14,456. A 2019 estimate put it at 16,780.
The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated in 1893. It was jointly owned by the Midland Railway and the Great Northern Railway, and those companies had long sponsored and operated the predecessor companies.
Grimsthorpe Castle is a country house in Lincolnshire, England 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of Bourne on the A151. It lies within a 3,000 acre (12 km2) park of rolling pastures, lakes, and woodland landscaped by Capability Brown. While Grimsthorpe is not a castle in the strict sense of the word, its character is massive and martial – the towers and outlying pavilions recalling the bastions of a great fortress in classical dress. Grimsthorpe has been the home of the de Eresby family since 1516. The present owner is Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, granddaughter of Nancy Astor, who died at Grimsthorpe in 1964.
The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) was the first name of the railway linking the cities in its name and of the company which pioneered and developed it; the line opened in stages in 1840, using a terminus at Camp Hill in Birmingham. It linked with the Bristol and Gloucester Railway in Gloucester, but at first that company's line was broad gauge, and Gloucester was a point of the necessary but inconvenient transhipment of goods and passengers onto 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in gauge that became the national standard. Nearly all of the original main line remains active as a "trunk" route, also known as an arterial route or line.
Lincolnshire is a large county in England with a sparse population distribution, which leads to problems funding all sorts of transport. The transport history is long and varied, with much of the road network still based on the Roman model, and the once extensive rail network a shadow of its former self.
Andover railway station serves the town of Andover, Hampshire, England. The station is served and operated by South Western Railway. It is 66 miles 19 chains (106.6 km) down the line from London Waterloo on the West of England Main Line.
Castle Bytham is a village and civil parish of around 300 houses in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England. It is located 9 miles (14 km) north of Stamford and 9 miles (14 km) west of Bourne.The population was measured at 768 in 317 households at the 2011 census.
The Marlow branch line is a single track railway line in England, between Maidenhead station in Berkshire and Bourne End and Marlow stations in Buckinghamshire. It is 7 miles 10 chains (11.5 km) in length. Passenger services are operated by Great Western Railway using Class 165 and Class 166 diesel trains. The line connects to the Great Western Main Line at Maidenhead; it uses a section of the former Wycombe Railway line to High Wycombe together with the former Great Marlow Railway.
Edenham is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Bourne, and on the A151 road. While the civil parish is called 'Edenham', the parish council is called Edenham, Grimsthorpe, Elsthorpe & Scottlethorpe Parish Council. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 291.
Little Bytham is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 384. It lies on the B1176 road, 4 miles (6 km) south from Corby Glen and 6 miles (10 km) north from Stamford.
Witham on the Hill is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 260 at the 2011 census.
Saxby railway station was a station serving the villages of Saxby and Freeby, Leicestershire. It was located between the two villages.
Little Bytham railway station was a station in Little Bytham, Lincolnshire on the Great Northern Railway main line. It closed in 1959. The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway crossed just north of the station. The GNR were given powers to build a junction but never did so. The nearest station on the M&GNR was at Castle Bytham.
Willoughby was a railway station on the East Lincolnshire Railway which served the village of Willoughby in Lincolnshire between 1848 and 1970. In 1886, a second larger station replaced the first following the opening of a junction with the Sutton and Willoughby Railway to Sutton-on-Sea and later Mablethorpe. The withdrawal of goods facilities at Willoughby took place in 1966, followed by passenger services in 1970. All lines through the station are now closed.
Edenham railway station was a station in Edenham, Lincolnshire. It was the terminus of a four-mile branch line from the Great Northern Railway at Little Bytham. The line was built and operated by the Edenham & Little Bytham Railway (E&LBR). It was opened on 8 December 1857. The station closed to passengers on 17 October 1871. Freight traffic continued until about 1884, when the line closed.
Stamford East railway station was the Stamford and Essendine Railway station in Water Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire. The line was worked by the Great Northern Railway but retained its independence until 1886, when the GNR took the line on perpetual lease.
The Syston and Peterborough Railway was an early railway in England opened between 1846 and 1848 to form a connection from the Midland Counties Railway near Leicester to Peterborough, giving access to East Anglia over the Eastern Counties Railway. The project was part of the ambition of George Hudson to establish and maintain a monopoly of railway service over a large area of England. The surveying of the line achieved notoriety when Robert Sherard, 6th Earl of Harborough, who was hostile to railways, arranged a battle to obstruct surveys of the proposed line, and later of its construction.
The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' trains to reach the port of Southampton. The M&SWJR was formed in 1884 from the amalgamation of the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway and the Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway. The line was absorbed by the Great Western Railway at the 1923 grouping of the railways, and became part of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The railway closed to passengers in 1961, and to goods between 1964 and 1970. A small part of it has been reopened as the heritage Swindon and Cricklade Railway.
Cheltenham Spa St. James railway station was a station in the town of Cheltenham.
