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Wisbech and Upwell Composite Tramcar No. 7 was
one of only two bogie tramcars built by the Great Eastern
Railway for the line, all others being 4-wheelers. It entered
traffic in September 1884.
Until 31st December 1927, when the line was closed to
passengers, the coach carried the local inhabitants of the
isolated fenland communities along this famous rural tramway.
Following the closure the vehicle (by then LNER 60461) was
converted to a full third and together with some of the other
W&U tramcars, it moved to the Kelvedon and Tollesbury branch in
Essex. Here it worked until the closure of the line in May 1951.
At this time sister car no. 8 (E60462E) went on to become famous
as the buffet car in the Titfield Thunderbolt, whilst no.7 (now
E60461E) was sold out of railway use and became an onion store
on a farm near Ramsey in Cambridgeshire.
In 1973 no.7 was rescued and moved to the Cambridge Museum of
Technology.
It moved again in 1983 to the Rutland Railway Museum at Cottesmore.
It was transferred to the M&GNJRS in 2002.
(Steve Allen) |
