Goods Office Of Former Wisbech And Upwell Tramway

TF 50 SW 9/81

Goods Office of former Wisbech and Upwell Tramway

II

Tramway goods office. Circa 1883. Red brick in Flemish bond slate hipped roof with deep eaves. Small rectangular plan, probably single cell, building with entrance in the south end from the road. Single storey. No windows on north end but central doorway with segmental arch and C19 4-panel door. Two segmental arch window openings on west side with stone cill and 16-pane metal frame windows. The north end and east side are blind. Interior not inspected. Note: The Wisbech and Upwell Tramway, authorised in 1882 and built by the Great Eastern Railway was the last section to survive of a larger system. It provided a rail link between Wisbech and the Outwell-Upwell area. This section of 7 3/4 miles runs along the Wisbech to Outwell Canal. The Tramway has been described as a "cross between the railway proper and ordinary Tram" with wagons and small screened-in locomotives, running across and alongside roads and canals. The coaches were provided with gangways and end steps because the stations did not have platforms; but the main purpose of the line was agricultural. The line was closed to passengers in 1929 and closed altogether in 1966. Reverend W Awdry, the author of 'Toby the Tram Engine' was for a time the vicar of Emneth, a parish through which the tramway ran. This goods office at the Outwell Village Depot is the last survivor of a series of offices on the tramway. Sources: C Hawkins and G Reeve, The Wisbech and Upwell Tramway (Wild Swan Publications). D I Gordon, A Regional History of The Railways of Great Britain, The Eastern Counties, Vol V, page 224.

Listing NGR: TF5131303662