The Ely & St Ives Railway

The Ely, Haddenham & Sutton Railway, was opened in 1866 and extended to St Ives in 1878. Built essentially as a farmer's line to get crops and cattle to and from local markets, passenger traffic was always of a secondary nature. In the years up to WWI both passenger and freight traffic prospered but with the encroaching development of motor transport, and in particular local bus services from the early 1920s, a service of only a few trains a day could not compete and was withdrawn in 1931.WWII brought additional military traffic as the line was used on occasions as a diversionary route for freight trains from the Midlands. Peacetime and the end of fuel rationing sounded the death knell and the central section of the route from Bluntisham to Sutton was closed in 1958 and subsequently the Ely to Sutton and the St Ives to Bluntisham sections closed in 1964. This new enlarged edition tells the fascinating story of the Ely to St Ives Railway from its opening to its closure.