Workbench

The depot site, between the road and field is obvious, but there is no trace of the railway or any of its features. From here it resumed its location on the right-hand edge of the road, heading past Inglethorpe Hall and a very conspicuous row of small bungalows. Here, it ran on the verge immediately in front of the bungalows, which were built in the 1930s. It seems remarkable that these small properties would be built with their front fences hard up against the tramway in an era when the line was still busy. Initially, no doubt, they were tied cottages. One can hardly imagine what a modern estate agent might say with regard to the saleability of properties with such an obvious disadvantage! At this point the character of the tramway changed and any pretence of urban surroundings gave way to a rural setting. The rail was again standard bullhead, as the tramway traversed either grass verges or, in one place, its own right-of-way. The next railway point was Boyce’s Bridge Depot, similar in location and layout to Elm Bridge. The Wisbech & Upwell Tramway, Chris Hawkins and George Reeve. Wild Swan Publications 9780906867099 The Wisbech & Upwell Tramway, Peter Paye, Oakwood Press 9780853616894 Branch Line to Upwell, Vic Mitchell, Keith Smith, Andrew Ingram, Middleton Press 9781873793640 Wisbech & Upwell Tramway Centenary Album Andrew C. Ingram, Becknell Books 9780907087205 The Wisbech & Upwell Tramway, E.J.S. Gadsden, C.F.D. Whetmath, J. Stafford-baker, 1966, Town & Country Press 9780900187346

Well worth watching for some excellent photographs of the line (mostly from books) is Valerie Haberland’s slide show, which also has an evocative piano rendering of ‘The Wind beneath my Wings’ at: https://youtu.be/sez9xe_4mng The site of Outwell Basin depot is behind the photographer as the tramway strikes out across the fields on its own reserved track for a few hundred yards towards Outwell village. From here, the tramway continued on the right-hand verge with the canal close on its right. The road here was shared with the tramway as far as Outwell Basin Depot, with its loop and two sidings. With the canal now infilled, much of its route from Boyce’s Bridge to Outwell is now identifiable only as a broad area of grass and trees between parallel roads which were once on either bank of the canal. At Outwell Basin, the canal executed a 90º turn to pass underneath the tramway, which continued almost straight and emerged onto its own reserved track for a short stretch until it again met the canal, which was now on the left of the tramway. Running on the left verge of the road, the tramway reached Outwell village, where there was a run-round loop before the line crossed the canal and entered Outwell Village Depot. The most obvious landmark is a surviving but disused red telephone kiosk which stood at the village end of the loop, at the point where the tramway crossed the canal and entered Outwell Village Depot. Though a confined site between the canal and the diverging Well Creek, Outwell Above: This painting by Rev. Ivan Lilley depicts the tram approaching Outwell Village depot, with the loop, which latterly served as a coal siding, on its right. It is based on a photograph and the only artistic licence is the inclusion of the Morris Minor. IVAN LILLEY

Below: It took me a while to find the location of the painting because I thought it was Outwell Basin. In fact it is the entrance to the loop at Outwell Village, but the cottage has been modernised and rendered. Above: The bridge, the lock and the canal have all gone. The only point of reference is the telephone kiosk.

Below: D2201 on the bridge into Outwell Village depot. Behind it is the lock which joins the Wisbech canal to Well Creek.