Quite a guy

In following the track of the Eden Valley Railway, it may have been noted that I have not once mentioned the actual trains, although I have information and pictures of ones using the line. I suppose I am just not that interested in the trains themselves, I leave that aspect to others who know more about them. My interest lies in the social side of railways and the difference they made to peoples’ lives. It is hard for us now to imagine the impact the coming of the railway made to a town or village. And impact it certainly had when it came to Appleby.
 
Appleby had been for a long time the county town of Westmorland and the centre for most of its activities. The county courts were there, as was the county gaol. They sent several MPs to Parliament. An important place, but there was a man – Admiral Russell Eliott – who saw signs that the town was rapidly losing its prestige. By the middle of the 1850s it had lost a vital connection with the outside world, because the Mail Coach no longer visited the town, a result of the coming of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway – the West Coast. Local trade was flagging and there was talk that the assizes would be moved to Kendal. The Admiral it was who saw that the answer to Appleby’s plight was to bring the railway to the town; he had seen how towns prospered with a railway connection.
 
He was to become a leading figure in the formative years of the Eden Valley Railway. He spoke to people, canvassed people and held public meetings. He is reported as saying – ‘If we do not get this railway, we might as well advertise Appleby to let.” He fought rival groups who were promoting a railway going through Tebay and bypassing Appleby. He succeeded in getting some of the main landowners onto the list of Directors and then was made Chairman of the group that was to see through the construction and opening of the railway. And the Eden Valley Railway did indeed make a huge difference to the prosperity of Appleby.
 
   
Admiral Russell Eliot was quite a man then. It is likely that without his insight and determination there would have been no railway. He died in 1881 and was buried here at St Lawrence’s Church in the town.  


I was in Appleby to make a visit to the doctor at last. And I now have an appointment for an MRI scan on my knee.