St Ives to Huntingdon via Godmanchester steam train simulation

St Ives to Huntingdon via Godmanchester

This video simulates a steam train from the 1950s leaving St Ives station and travelling to Huntingdon via Godmanchester. Peter Swinson created the simulation. Below the video is a history of the St Ives to Huntingdon railway line.

The St Ives to Huntingdon line opened on 17 August 1847 and was troubled from the start. Built by the Lyn & Ely Railway Company, intended as an extension to the St Ives to Ely line. That line wasn't built until 1878, so for 30 years the St Ives to Huntingdon railway was an extension to a line that didn't exist.

This created problems, since two different companies operated the track and trains. The line became the property of East Anglian Railways when it took over the old Lyn & Ely Company. The Eastern Counties Railway operated the trains. When customer numbers between St Ives and Huntingdon proved disappointing, Eastern Counties pulled out. On 1 October 1849 they stopped running trains.

East Anglian Railways found themselves the owner of a line with no trains. And they had no means of getting carriages and locomotives on to the track until the line from Ely was built. So for the last three months of 1849, services between St Ives and Huntingdon comprised a single carriage pulled by a horse.

The law required passenger trains to travel at least 12 mph. The Railway Commissioners insisted a proper service was reinstated. East Anglian Railways had no choice but to offer the line for lease to Eastern Counties for a paltry 25 shillings a day (today £125).

Built through Huntingdon in 1850, the East Coast main line came to the rescue. East Anglian Railways built a short stretch of line to join their route to the new main line at Huntingdon. They were so short of money they paid the builder in carriages, 10 first class, 5 second class and 5 third class. At last peace settled on the little branch line between St Ives and Huntingdon for a century to the 1950s .

An unusual feature of the St Ives to Huntingdon line was several weak wooden bridges allowing the line to cross and recross the River Great Ouse. Only light locomotives were used. Fire was a constant hazard from sparks in dry weather. There was a 40mph speed limit, reduced to 10mph over some wooden bridges.

The line closed to passenger traffic on 15 June 1959. The local fruit orchards allowed the line to stay open for freight. Willow baskets full of apples, pears, cherries and plums were taken by rail to Covent Garden market in London. The line closed in 1964. You can still find traces of the line. Banking snakes across fields to the south of Hemingford Meadow and some wooden trestles exist to the east of Houghton.

To read about how the railway came to St Ives, the heroic role George Game Day played in the affair, and the amazing way St Ives recognised George's contribution, go to Bringing the Railway to St Ives.

Some content from Bob Burn-Murdoch's Hunts Post article, 3 June 2009.