Surrey Iron Railway 200th - 26th July 2003

On Saturday 26th July, exactly 200 years from its opening date, a small party of mainly Stephenson Locomotive Society members were led over parts of the route by Geoff Lipscome. After assembling at Waterloo the party took lunch in Wandsworth, visited the Borough's Museum to see the small SIR exhibit and then rode over part of the route's alignment, now a road, by service bus as far as Earlsfield. We traveled by service train to Wimbledon, followed by Croydon tramlink as far as Mitcham. tramlink picks up and follows part of the route of the SIR before Mitcham then follows it onwards into Croydon. The journey was broken at Mitcham to look at one of two buildings named after Jessop (the line's engineer) and to walk along tramway Path which was built by the SIR. Leaving the former SIR, a further service train took us from Mitcham Junction to Carshalton. At the Heritage Centre the group were able to see some surviving rails and block chairs recovered from the later Godstone extension. The Centre Manager, John Phillips, gave a very informative talk about the railway and its historical context in the River Wandle area. The group returned by train to Mitcham, then rode the remaining section of the SIR to Reeves Corner in Croydon. In Croydon the tour concluded by viewing plaques erected in 2001 by the Croydon Society to celebrate the founding of the first public railway company.

Photograph Copyright John New - tram 2537 approaches the Mitcham stop heading for Wimbledon. It is on the alignment of the former SIR and was photographed during the visit on 26th July

John New (SLS Webmaster) commented in his notes after the event that  "The tour was very informative for all and also showed what can be done with just a London travel Card too. However it was disappointing to see such low-key celebrations for what is such a significant event in UK railway history. With the Wollaton (Strelley) tramway 400th due around now too, I hope these highly significant early railway milestones can be given wider publicity. "