Peacock Railway To Help Commemorate Crewe 180th Anniversary

To mark the historic 180th anniversary of the Grand Junction Railway Engineering Works moving from Edge Hill to Crewe, the South Cheshire Model Engineering Society are hosting a special event at The Peacock Railway, located at The Peacock Inn on Crewe Road, Willaston.

The event will take place on Saturday 9th September 2023 from 10am and will feature the running of miniature-gauge locomotives whose full-scale equivalents were Crewe-built or designed.

There will also be an exhibition relating to Crewe-built locomotives.

Train rides will be open to visitors on their 5-inch railway track, which is almost a quarter of a mile in length.

There will also be a series of exhibitions on display on their gauge one layout.

On Sunday 10th September there will be a public running day at The Peacock Railway, again running Crewe-built locomotives.

When the Grand Junction Railway company opened its works there in 1843, Crewe was a village with a few hundred residents.

Over the course of 30 years the number grew to about 40,000 as the industry transformed the entire landscape.

The first locomotive rolled off the new production line in October 1843 and, over the following decades, the town became synonymous with the railways, with more than 8,000 locomotives built.

A spokesperson at Crewe Town Council said: “The decision to move the Grand Junction Railway Engineering Works to Crewe shaped the town, building it from a community of a few hundred people to a town of 40,000 in just thirty years.

“As a result, Crewe became a hub of innovation in engineering, design and the organisation of large-scale industry.”

Written by Jonathan White