The
Syston and Peterborough Railway was an early railway in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
opened between 1845 and 1848 to form a branch from the
Midland Counties RailwayThe Midland Counties Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which existed between 1832 and 1844, connecting Nottingham, Leicester and Derby with Rugby and thence, via the London and Birmingham Railway, to London. The MCR system connected with the North Midland Railway and the...
at
SystonSyston railway station is a railway station serving the town of Syston in Leicestershire, England. The station is located on the Midland Main Line between Leicester to Loughborough, 103¾ miles from London St Pancras.-Early History:...
just north of
LeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England. It is the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
to
PeterboroughPeterborough railway station serves the city of Peterborough, England and lies on the East Coast Main Line 76.5 miles from London Kings Cross. It is a major interchange, as it benefits from having both the north-south ECML, as well as East-West local services. There is on site car parking, a...
.
Origins
Most new railways, particularly those of the Midland, were built for transporting coal, and so could show a quick return on investment. A line from Leicester to Peterborough had been floated as an independent scheme which might not have progressed, even though there had been a famine of coal in the area. At Stamford for instance it had risen to forty shillings a ton. However because of the railway politics of the time, it was supported by
George HudsonGeorge Hudson , English railway financier, known as "The Railway King", was born in Howsham, in the parish of Scrayingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, north of Stamford Bridge, east of York. He is buried in Scrayingham...
who was involved with the
Midland Counties RailwayThe Midland Counties Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which existed between 1832 and 1844, connecting Nottingham, Leicester and Derby with Rugby and thence, via the London and Birmingham Railway, to London. The MCR system connected with the North Midland Railway and the...
which, was in the process of merging into the new
Midland RailwayThe Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
.
The Midland at that time was the main line from London to the North East of England, via Derby, Leeds and
YorkYork railway station is a main-line railway station in the historic city of York, England. It lies on the East Coast Main Line north of London's King's Cross station towards Edinburgh's Waverley Station...
. The Midland adopted the line ‑ along with the Nottingham to Lincoln Line ‑ as part of urgent moves to hinder the expansion of the
Northern and Eastern RailwayThe Northern & Eastern Railway operated one of the two main lines which eventually became the Great Eastern Railway: the other being the Eastern Counties Railway....
northwards from London to York.
Preparation
The route was surveyed in 1844, and plans lodged with the various county offices in 30 November. The engineers for the line were
George StephensonGeorge Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, and he is renowned as being the "Father of Railways"...
and Charles Liddell. The surveyor was J.G. Binns. The cost estimate was £7000,000, or £15,000 a mile.
Even before the Act was passed there were problems where the line approached the estate of the Earl of Harborough. The original plan was to follow the course of the
WreakeThe River Wreake is a river in Leicestershire, England. It is a tributary of the River Soar. The river between Stapleford Park and Melton Mowbray is known as the R. Eye and becomes the R. Wreake below Melton Mowbray....
through
Stapleford ParkStapleford Park is a country hotel and Grade I listed building in Stapleford near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England.The Hall was the seat of the Sherard family, later the Earls of Harborough and from 1894, of Baron Gretton....
. Not only did the Earl refuse to sell the land, he put up notices forbidding the surveyors entry to the Park. A group of surveyors, walking along the towpath of the
Oakham CanalThe Oakham Canal ran from Oakham, Rutland to Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. On 16 December 1802 the first canal barge reached Oakham from Melton Mowbray with a cargo of coal.The canal's construction cost almost £70,000...
, were confronted by Lord Harborough's men and ordered to return to where they had come from. Since it was a public right of way, the surveyors refused, whereupon they were arrested and put in a cart, presumably to be taken before a magistrate. They were stopped by a policeman who pointed out that the surveyors were in the right, so they were simply tipped out into the road.
In what became known as the "Battle of Saxby", the Midland Railway men returned with reinforcements, to meet a similarly enlarged force of estate workers. The railwaymen were chased away but returned two days later, early in the morning, to find Harborough's men waiting for them once more. The mayhem came to the attention of the authorities, who imprisoned some of the Midland men and fined some estate workers for damage to surveying equipment.
In spite of his Lordship's opposition, however, the
Syston and Peterborough Railway Act was passed on 30th June 1845.
Construction
From the junction at Syston, the line went first north-eastwards towards
AsfordbyAsfordby railway station was a former station serving the villages of Asfordby and Kirby Bellars in Leicestershire. The station was situated at a level crossing on the road between the two villages. It opened in 1846 and was originally named Kirby, but had been renamed Asfordby by 1863...
then swung to the east to
Melton MowbrayMelton Mowbray railway station serves the town of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England.The station is on CrossCountry's Birmingham to Stansted Airport line between Leicester and Peterborough....
along the valley of the
WreakeThe River Wreake is a river in Leicestershire, England. It is a tributary of the River Soar. The river between Stapleford Park and Melton Mowbray is known as the R. Eye and becomes the R. Wreake below Melton Mowbray....
then along the
River EyeThere are two rivers of this name in Great Britain:*River Eye, Gloucestershire, England*River Eye, Leicestershire, England-See also:*Eye Water, a river in the Scottish Borders*Eye Brook, a river in Rutland, England...
. It was at this point, where the intention was to travel south towards
OakhamOakham railway station serves the town of Oakham in Rutland, England. The station is situated almost halfway between Leicester – 43 km to the west – and Peterborough – 41 km eastward on the Syston and Peterborough Railway.Oakham is Rutland's only surviving passenger railway...
, that the line encountered Stapleford Park.
The law was now firmly on the Midland side, but Lord Harborough continued his opposition. Even though the Act included an amendment which would take them further away, there was another brawl which resulted in him driving his carriage full tilt into the railwaymen,
This amendment included a tunnel under the Cuckoo plantation, his Lordship's favourite part of the park. Unfortunately it collapsed during construction, and most of the spinney fell into it. The Earl was furious and a further Act of Parliament in 1847 arranged for yet another deviation.
From Oakham, the line skirted the
Vale of CatmoseThe Vale of Catmose is an area of relatively low-lying land in western Rutland, England, much of which is flooded by Rutland Water.The Catmose College is a school located in Oakham. Catmose is the name of the offices of Rutland County Council. Catmose Vale was the name of a former hospital in...
(part of which was later flooded to form
Rutland WaterRutland Water is Anglian Water's drinking water reservoir in the county of Rutland, England, just east of the county town Oakham. It was known as Empingham Reservoir during its construction and until its official opening in 1976. The centre of its dam is at British national grid reference...
). It then turned eastwards along the
River ChaterThe River Chater is a river in the East Midlands of England, it is a tributary of the River Welland.It rises near Whatborough Hill in Leicestershire, and then flows east, past the sites of Sauvey Castle, and Launde Abbey, before crossing the county boundary with Rutland. It continues east, to the...
. At
LuffenhamLuffenham railway station is a former station of the Syston and Peterborough Railway serving the villages of North and South Luffenham, Rutland. The station was situated adjacent to a level crossing on the North Luffenham to Duddington road...
it was joined by the
Rugby and Stamford RailwayThe Rugby and Stamford Railway was an early railway in England built in 1850. The London and Birmingham Railway had already built a branch from Blisworth to serve Northampton and extend to Peterborough. The success of this, the Northampton and Peterborough Railway encouraged the directors to look...
which the
LNWRThe London and North Western Railway was a railway company of the United Kingdom which existed between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three railway companies - the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. During the late...
was building at the same time and had been granted running rights into
StamfordStamford railway station serves the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, England. The station is west of Peterborough on CrossCountry Birmingham to Stansted Airport service...
.
From Stamford it then curved southwards to meet the
Eastern Counties RailwayThe Eastern Counties Railway was an English railway company which began operating on 20 June 1839 with a train service running from a temporary terminus at Mile End to Romford, now part of the Great Eastern Main Line...
at
PeterboroughPeterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of as of June 2006. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. The Town Hall is north of London at Charing Cross...
. While most of the line opened in 1846, the problems at Stapleford Park delayed this section for another two years.
Later history
By 1879 the Midland's main line through
LeicesterLeicester railway station serves the City of Leicester in Leicestershire, England.-Background:The first station on the site opened in the Victorian era, in 1840, though this was replaced in 1894 by a new station...
was becoming overcrowded. From London as far as Kettering the line was quadrupled, but northwards the Midland took the opportunity of diverting through
MantonManton railway station or Manton Junction is a former railway station serving the villages of Manton and Wing in the county of Rutland.Opened in 1848 by the Syston and Peterborough Railway, it was situated off the road connecting the two villages and was just over a mile from each, or just over...
to give both Oakham and Melton Mowbray a direct London service, proceeding thence to Nottingham by what became known as the "Melton Line".
The curve around Stapleford Park was a nuisance for the express trains and, in 1880 when the
Midland and Great Northern Joint RailwayThe Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway, was a joint railway owned by the Midland Railway and the Great Northern Railway in eastern England, affectionately known as the 'Muddle and Get Nowhere' to generations of passengers, enthusiasts, and other users.The main line ran from Peterborough to...
built a branch from
BourneBourne was a railway station serving the town of Bourne in Lincolnshire which opened in 1860 and closed to passengers in 1959.-History:The station was on the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway main line between the Midlands and the Norfolk Coast. There were also branch lines to Sleaford and...
in
LincolnshireLincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire. It also borders Northamptonshire for just 19 metres, England's shortest county boundary...
to
SaxbySaxby railway station was a station serving the villages of Saxby and Freeby, Leicestershire. The line opened in 1848 on the Syston and Peterborough Railway and was at the north end of a tight curve around a corner of Stapleford Park....
, the opportunity was taken to reduce the curve with Saxby station being moved in the process. Lord Harborough had died in the meantime and the estate had been bought by
Lord GrettonJohn Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton PC CBE , was a British businessman and Conservative politician. Gretton won two gold medals in the 1900 Olympic Games.-Biography:...
of
Burton upon TrentBurton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a large town straddling the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. Its associated adjective is "Burtonian".Burton is best known for its brewing heritage...
, who was more sympathetic to the railway. The Midland had, after all, made his fortune by taking his beer all over the country and, indeed, his son was later to build the
Stapleford Miniature RailwayStapleford Miniature Railway is a historic steam locomotive-hauled gauge railway at Stapleford Park, Stapleford near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England....
within the park.
In 1882 the Midland built a branch line from
AshwellAshwell railway station was a station in Ashwell, Rutland on the line between Melton Mowbray and Oakham. Just north of Ashwell was Ashwell Junction where the Cottesmore Ironstone Branch joined...
to
CottesmoreCottesmore may refer to:*Cottesmore, Rutland, England*Cottesmore, West Sussex, England*HMS Cottesmore, the name of three Royal Navy ships*RAF Cottesmore, Royal Air Force station...
to service
iron oreIron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, deep purple, to rusty red. The iron itself is usually found in the form of magnetite , hematite , goethite, limonite or...
extraction with an exchange sidings. This is now the site of the
Rutland Railway MuseumRutland Railway Museum is a heritage railway on part of a former Midland Railway mineral branch line. It is situated NE of Oakham, in Rutland, England.-Overview:The branch line linked to the Melton Mowbray to Oakham main line at Ashwell Station...
. Of note also are the stations at
HelpstonHelpston railway station was a station in Helpston, Cambridgeshire on the Midland Railway's Syston and Peterborough Railway. It was closed in 1966. The Great Northern Railway main line runs adjacent to the Midland Railway at this point, but the Great Northern never had a station in Helpston...
and Walton. When the
GNRThe Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the London & York Railway Act of 1846.The main line ran from London via Hitchin, Peterborough, and Grantham, to York, with a loop line from Peterborough to Bawtry via Boston and Lincoln, and branch lines to Sheffield and...
built its line north from Peterborough to
GranthamGrantham railway station serves the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire, England and lies on the East Coast Main Line north of London Kings Cross.Junctions near the town also connect to branches to Nottingham, and to Sleaford and Skegness...
in 1853, it ran next to the Midland line but, in return for the latter's transport of materials, agreed not to build competing stations.
Although most of the branches are gone, or at least no longer support regular passenger services, the Syston and Peterborough Railway is still in daily use as part of the
Birmingham to Peterborough LineThe Birmingham to Peterborough Line is a cross-country railway line in the United Kingdom, linking the Midlands to East Anglia.-Services:Passenger services are provided by CrossCountry, with a very small number of East Midlands Trains London and Local services east of Leicester...
The advent of Google Earth has meant that what is still known as "Lord Harborough's Curve", as well as the trackbed of the M&GNR branch, at Saxby can clearly be seen.