Peterborough East railway station

It therefore appears that by this time the station had acquired an island platform, which in fact was split in two by a wagon line. This wagon line and two others at either end of the platform continued south into a large four-road covered way which was an unusual feature of the station. The covered way did not have platforms and was probably used for the transfer of goods.

Great Northern Railway

In 1850, the Great Northern Railway (GNR) opened its loop line from Peterborough to Bawtry which generated yet more traffic for Peterborough. The GNR was in the midst of constructing its main line from London to York via Peterborough which opened in stages between October 1848 and August 1852; from 1848 to 1850, it ran services to Peterborough East. However, the GNR was desperately short of capital and approached the ECR in autumn 1849 with an offer to purchase the station to which it would run services using a six-mile stretch of the Midland Railway's Syston Branch to the north of Peterborough. Although the ECR declined the offer, it was willing to afford the GNR accommodation at the station. This was not taken up by the GNR's directors who, by December 1849, had decided to construct their own station in the city.

In August 1850, the GNR opened its Peterborough North station. The railway company had nevertheless obtained parliamentary powers to build two short curves to connect its line at Fletton with the ECR line. However, these connecting lines were never constructed. With the opening of the GNR station in August 1850, GNR trains ceased to use the ECR station.

Further enlargements

The decision to place the island platform between the Up and Down lines – so that the Up line was served by two platform sides – resulted in congestion due to platform occupation. Over the years various improvements were carried out in an attempt to remedy this.

In 1880, to cope with growing demand, the former third class ladies' waiting room and the gents' waiting room were converted into an enlarged booking office and dispatch office. The booking office contained three small windows marked

In August 1887 part of the station was demolished in a shunting accident. Apparently, a LNWR goods engine shunted some wagons into the station at a higher speed than was normal practice. As they entered the covered way, the wagons jumped the points and collided with the iron columns supporting the south side of the roof, demolishing four bays on that side, as well as the corresponding gable over the two platforms on the other side. In all, a quarter of the entire roof was wrecked. Fortunately, as the incident occurred at 4:20am few people were about and there were no injuries. Although it was suggested that this was an appropriate time to rebuild the whole station – in 1896 plans were made for an extensive new station – these plans were never realised and the damage caused by the shunting accident was never fully repaired. In fact, it appears that all of the covered way was demolished about this time.

Level crossing

To the west of the station was Fletton level crossing on the main road from the south into and out of Peterborough. From the moment the railway arrived, this level crossing proved to be a notorious bottleneck. In 1848, 70 trains per day were involved in shunting operations over the crossing and by 1855 complaints were made that this resulted in the regular closure of the gates for 25 minutes at a time. With the development of the brick industry in the area and the southward spread of the city into Woodston and Fletton the inconvenience increased. It was particularly bad during the fair when crowds of people and herds of nervous animals were crushed together. For many years the GER chose to ignore numerous petitions and protests.

In 1872 the GER finally built a pedestrian footbridge over the level crossing and in 1874 agreed to transfer many of its shunting operations to other yards. Animals and vehicles, however, still had to face long delays. It was this level crossing and the restricted width of the narrow street which limited the development of Peterborough's tramway network to areas north of the River Nene.

Negotiations between the GER and the local authorities for a new bridge were well-advanced by 1913 but the

Final years

Nationalisation of the railways in 1948 resulted in

On 12 May 1963, the old timber bridge over the river at

Although passenger services on the Northampton line ceased on 2 May 1964, the following year around 40 trains per day were still calling at Peterborough East. However, on 6 June 1966, with the closure of the Rugby line from Yarwell Junction to Seaton, Peterborough East finally closed to passenger traffic. This, however, did not mark the end of the station as it was converted into a parcels centre. The station became the base for the East Anglia British Rail Universal Trolley Equipment (BRUTE) service and handled some 15,000 parcels a day. On 29 June 1970, the station finally became redundant when operations were transferred to the new British Rail Express Parcel Terminal built on the site of the New England locomotive sheds. In July 1981, the Post Office took over the terminal when BR withdrew its unprofitable Collected/Delivered parcels business.

In 1971 a possible alternative use for the East station was put forward by the Peterborough Locomotive Society (PLS), the predecessor of the Peterborough Railway Society. With the support of Peterborough City Council, the

The large Victorian rail engine shed has been renovated into Peterborough City Council's new office, Sand Martin House.^[4][5] Nevertheless, the Ely to Peterborough Line continues to run through the site and to provide a well-used link between East Anglia and the Midlands. The car park outside the government offices is approximately sited within the old station footprint.

Former services

See also

• Peterborough railway station
• Peterborough Nene Valley railway station
• Nene Valley Railway

References

External links

• Peterborough East at Subterranea Britannica
• Peterborough Railway History, Peterborough City Council
• Then and now photograph of the station
• Peterborough East railway station on the Disused Stations web site

52°33′59″N 0°14′23″W / 52.566418°N 0.239776°W / 52.566418; -0.239776