Syston and Peterborough Railway

The Syston and Peterborough Railway was an early railway in England opened between 1845 and 1848 to form a branch from the Midland Counties Railway at Syston just north of Leicester to Peterborough.

Most new railways, particularly those of the Midland, were built for transporting coal, and so could show a quick return on investment. A line from Leicester to Peterborough had been floated as an independent scheme which might not have progressed, even though there had been a famine of coal in the area. At Stamford for instance it had risen to forty shillings a ton. However, because of the railway politics of the time, it was supported by George Hudson who was involved with the Midland Counties Railway which, was in the process of merging into the new Midland Railway.

The Midland at that time was the main line from London to the North East of England, via Derby, Leeds and York. The Midland adopted the line ‑ along with the Nottingham to Lincoln Line ‑ as part of urgent moves to hinder the expansion of the Northern and Eastern Railway northwards from London to York.

The route was surveyed in 1844, and plans lodged with the various county offices on 30 November. The engineers for the line were George Stephenson and Charles Liddell. The surveyor was J.G. Binns. The cost estimate was £7000,000, or £15,000 a mile.

Even before the Act was passed there were problems where the line approached the estate of the Earl of Harborough. The original plan was to follow the course of the Wreake through Stapleford Park. Not only did the Earl refuse to sell the land, he put up notices forbidding the surveyors entry to the Park. A group of surveyors, walking along the towpath of the Oakham Canal, were confronted by Lord Harborough's men and ordered to return to where they had come from. Since it was a public right of way, the surveyors refused, whereupon they were arrested and put in a cart, presumably to be taken before a magistrate. They were stopped by a policeman who pointed out that the surveyors were in the right, so they were simply tipped out into the road.

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Wikipedia