Lord Willougby's private railway

The locomotive Havilah under steam at Edenham, taken from a rare
postcard published by The Locomotive Publishing Company

Opposite the Willoughby Arms at Little Bytham are the old station buildings, once the terminus of a private railway built, owned and operated during the 19th century by one man, Baron Willoughby de Eresby. It was one of Lincolnshire's most unusual and short-lived lines, designed to serve the Grimsthorpe Estate and known as Lord Willoughby's Private Railway, running from the station at Little Bytham for a distance of just over four miles to Edenham.

Peter Robert, the 21st Baron Willougbby de Eresby (1782-1865), graduated from St John's College, Cambridge in 1801 and served as Member of Parliament for Boston from 1812-1820 before taking his seat in the House of Lords. He was married in 1807 to Clementina Drummond, daughter of Lord Perth, a union that eventually brought Drummond Castle in Perthshire into the family estate.

Lord Willoughby became interested in the application of steam power coupled with mechanical equipment for the improvement of the Grimsthorpe Estate, its agriculture and various other workings, and this interest progressed from peat pressing machinery during the early 1830s to ploughing the land by means of steam traction engines, work in the quarries, wood yards, brickyards and tile works and ultimately to the steam railway from Little Bytham to Essendine from 1855 until it closed in 1873. For some years, the Edenham branch was included in the pages of Bradshaw's Railway Guide, showing connections for the Great Northern Railway station at Little Bytham.

In 1852, as a result of the impending arrival of the Great Northern Railway line through Little Bytham, Lord Willoughby decided to construct a new road, open to the public but controlled by a tollgate, as an extension of Scottlethorpe Lane to reach Little Bytham. The chief attraction of this road link with the GNR line was the fact that the main source of fuel for heat and power for Grimsthorpe Castle and the estate was coal and this was brought in by various waterways to Spalding and Bourne from where it was transferred to Grimsthorpe by horse drawn carts and wagons. With the aid of his own private road and the services of GNR, the coal could be transported more directly and much more quickly to Grimsthorpe and so the construction of the road proceeded and Edenham became linked with Little Bytham.

Grimsthorpe estate was able to supply bricks from its own brickworks and ample stone from its quarries, thus alleviating much of the cost. This bricks were required for building bridges and culverts while the stone formed the hard core at the base of the road foundations. It was also found necessary to create embankments, especially in the vicinity of Little Bytham. Estate labour was mostly used and the bailiff and steward at Grimsthorpe, George Gordon Scott, who lived at Copy Lawn Farm, supervised the proceedings.

The GNR planned to complete the line to Little Bytham by January 1852 but the project ran into trouble because rebuilding work was needed on three bridges south of Grantham. Arguments between Mr Scott and the contractors were also holding up the road building and by November 1851, a completion to coincide with the opening of Little Bytham station in January 1852 seemed out of the question. The delay in the works of GNR, however, gave them several months of grace and the road was eventually ready for the station opening in July 1852. Lord Willoughby attended and used his own new road to get there by coach even though he could have made a shorter journey through Grimsthorpe Park.

Traffic on the new road, mostly haulage, began immediately and as an incentive, toll charges were waived until 1853, the theory being that with more vehicles using the highway, the sooner the surface would become bedded down and consolidated. The existing outlets for road traffic from the GNR line were Essendine and Corby Glen so it was necessary to attract as much traffic as possible and make Little Bytham the main outlet. This appeared to be a successful policy because the GNR reported that Little Bytham paid far better than other stations between Grantham and Peterborough. Plans were drawn up to build a public house at Little Bytham station, a substantial stone-fronted building that was named The Steam Plough, obviously through the influence of Lord Willoughby.

The use of Scottlethorpe Lane as part of the new Edenham to Little Bythem road, however, was destined to have a short life. It was very narrow and there were some tight corners and steep rises along the route and it was also a public road yet running through a private estate. When Lord Willoughby began thinking of using a steam road engine, the idea became even less attractive and he therefore re-routed it to go over his own estate land to Edenham. He went ahead and ordered new road engines and wagons and proceeded with the building of the road from Edenham to the end of Scottlethorpe Lane where it would meet the continuation to Little Bytham. The road was to meet the Edenham to Grimsthorpe road at Copy Lawn Farm and as part of this project, over 100,000 bricks were supplied by the brickyard at Edenham. Plans also went ahead for the building of engine and wagon sheds at the farm which was to be the terminus for the road and, most importantly, the coal depot.

Lord Willoughby's interest in steam power made the railway project a natural step forward and early in 1855, he decided that the whole scheme should become a railway. The steam road engine was sent away to be converted for running on tracks, the necessary rails were ordered and by early November, trials took place from Edenham on the first three miles towards Little Bytham. Edenham station was completed with engine and wagon sheds, turntable, weighbridge and platform and the station was situated on the opposite side of the road from Copy Lawn Farm house.

It was mid-summer in 1856 when the first service from Edenham to Little Bytham commenced but only for goods traffic. Progress on the project was recorded by the Stamford Mercury on Friday 4th July 1856, soon after it opened for freight:

Lord Willoughby de Eresby has announced that his branch line of railway from Edenham to Little Bytham station (in connection with the Great Northern main line) is now open for the conveyance of cattle, coals, corn, merchandise, parcels &c., upon a very liberal scale of rateage. The Government inspectors having traversed the line last Friday, pronounced it in every respect complete and ready for the immediate traffic of luggage trains, which commenced running on Tuesday. Although the works are not sufficiently finished for passenger trains, we hear that every effort has been made to enable his Lordship, if possible, to pronounce them safe for public use by the 1st of August.

This small chemin du fer, commenced about 18 months since, extends to about 4¼ miles over a portion of the most productive and picturesque parts of the county of Lincoln, and will undoubtedly provide a great boon and most desirable desideratum to the agriculturalists in the neighbourhood, more especially the tenantry of the praiseworthy projector and proprietor. The estimated cost, as near as we can learn, is about £3,500 per mile; but of course the outlay has been considerably curtailed by the preparation of sleepers and all heavy material from his Lordship's own estate at Grimsthorpe by steam machinery at the extensive wood-yard at Grimsthorpe.

By this time, a second locomotive had been been ordered and delivered to Edenham but before passengers could use the line, government inspectors had to again examine it and all rolling stock as a safety precaution. The first inspection took place in 1856 followed by a succession of other inspections and adjustments and it was the summer of 1857 before the necessary licence to carry passengers was issued. The platform at Edenham had been built in anticipation of the licence being granted but dealings with the various government departments were slow and so the first passengers did not actually use the service until December by which time carriages had been rented from GNR and five trains began running each way daily. At this time, The Steam Plough was converted for use as refreshment and waiting rooms for railway passengers and it survives today as the Willoughby Arms.

About this time, an accident occurred on the railway and the Stamford Mercury  reported on Friday 24th April 1857:

We regret to learn that on Saturday last, some workmen in the employ of Lord Willoughby d'Eresby met with a serious accident, the result of their own heedless conduct and neglect of express orders. They had just completed the repair of a powerful locomotive engine in the station yard at Edenham when, under pretence of trying it, a party of six got upon the engine (some merely standing on the steps) and commenced running up and down to a considerable distanced on the line leading to Little Bytham. One of the men, a fitter, contrary to the wishes of the regular driver, insisted on taking the management and kept increasing the speed until the motion was so violent that most of the party were thrown off and the engine overturned. Providentially, no lives were lost and only one man received such injury as to excite any apprehension, but we trust he is now in a fair way of recovery. The line is perfectly level where the accident occurred and there is no curve within a mile of the spot.

By the summer of 1858, the Edenham to Little Bytham line had become unique as a private railway, carrying passengers, coal, grain, livestock and sundry goods, and a third engine was introduced to keep pace with the demand. Although three very primitive locomotives were working the railway with several steep gradients on the line and a speed limit of 15 mph, the four-mile journey took just 20 minutes and breathed new life into the local economy, especially that of Bourne. But it was not to last. Despite operating at full capacity from 1856 until 1866, the end was in sight.

In January 1865, Lady Willoughby died at their home in Piccadilly, London, and a month later, Lord Willoughby also died there. The following year, services were reduced to cut costs and by 1867 it was necessary to end the passenger service from Edenham to make further economies in the face of competition from the opening of new railway stations at Bourne and Spalding which were a major factor in the severe decline in traffic. The line finally closed down in July 1873.

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