IN PICTURES: Railway author's memories of Newmarket, Soham and Mildenhall
IN a time before the highways and byways, the A14 and the A11, Britain's railways were once the envy of the world.
Tracks once connected communities, cities, towns and villages across the country, from Soham to Scotland or from Burwell to Bristol.
Now, a record of people's experiences of railways in Newmarket, Mildenhall and Soham have been recorded in a new book by a Burwell author.
David Occomore's Along The Line: Railway Connections between Newmarket, Cambridge, Ely and Bury St Edmunds, charts the beginning and dissolution of railway lines in our area.
"It started off as an 18-month project, which lasted three years," said Mr Occomore.
"It is all original research but focuses more on the social side of the railways, looking at people who used the railways and worked on them, rather than the techincal information."
Mr Occomore, of Hatley Drive Burwell, recalls detailed accounts that have not been compiled in previously published works and also features a host of fantastic photos.
"These stories provide an insight into the railway's struggle into existence, the trials and tribulations of the promoters and the calamities that faced the contractors during their construction," Mr Occomore said.
Modern rail transport systems first appeared in England in the 1820s, when British engineers developed steam locomotives to transport passengers and goods from A to B, following the advent of the industrial revolution, in the north of England.
Perhaps the most famous of these steam locomotives was built by George Stephenson and was known as The Rocket. Built in Newcastle Upon Tyne at the Forth Street Works in 1829, it set the standard for 150 years of steam locomotive power.
It won the Rainhill Trials, a competition between three locomotives for the right to pull carriages on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
Twenty years later, in the East of England, plans had been drawn up
for the Eastern Counties Railway, which began operation on June 20, 1840.
"The railway became a conduit for local commerce," said Mr Occomore.
"Prior to the railway coming, the fastest people could travel was on a galloping horse."
For Newmarket, Soham and Mildenhall, when the railway arrived, it changed the philosophy of everyday life.
Mr Occomore's writing sources everything from personal accounts in newspapers to council meetings.
The book also includes articles featured in the Newmarket Journal.
One particular account in Soham, from the mid-1850s, recalls a town council meeting where members discussed how a railway in the town would help "open up" Soham to the surrounding communities.
Today, in 2010, a similar project is underway to assess the validity of re-opening the station, which closed in the mid-1960s.
And from reading the tales in Mr Occomore's book, it is also surprising that the average age of railway employees was only mid 20s to late 30s.
"I think the first station master at Newmarket was only about 22 when he first started," Mr Occomore said.
Newmarket station, currently only a single platform, was once split into three separate sections for passengers on Station Approach, horses and cargo at Old Station Road, the entrance to a tunnel on the Newmarket side of Warren Hill and Warren Hill Station, on the Bury side of the Warren Hill heath.
Priced at 8.50 Along The Line is available from Anglesey Abbey Gift Shop and Tindalls, the stationery shop in Newmarket High Street.
Pictures courtesy of the Cambridge Collection and Dave Occomore.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Newmarket
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
