Great Waterton

**Great Waterton** is a suburb on the eastern side of the Ilse of Sodor. It was served by the Sodor & Mainland Railway (S&M) until it was inherited by the Wellsworth & Suddery Railway (W&S) in 1901 until its closure in January 1906.

## History

### Suburb

Great Waterton, named after the local springs, was founded in the early years of the Industrial Revolution.

The suburb was never heard from again but it appears its closure effected the town, resulting total abandonment, resulting in the town disappearing from maps in 1909. Great Waterton was rediscovered in 1987 when a group of local mountain hikers looking for a quick way towards Culdee Fell stumbled across the town.

### Station

Great Waterton station was opened in 1851 by the Sodor & Mainland Railway (S&M) as a terminus of their mainline from Vicarstown. In 1861, the line to Kirk Ronan via Kellsthorpe (replaced by Kellsthorpe Road) was opened and the station was soon seeing little usage, mostly by goods traffic. In 1901, Great Waterton station was repainted to signify the handover of the former S&M network to the rival, the Wellsworth & Suddery Railway (W&S) and classified the line as a branch line due to it seeing little traffic and its single station.

Due to low numbers of patronage on the line, the station was placed under financial investigation to see if the station (and the line) could be closed. The final decision of the board came in April 1905 with a proposal to close Great Waterton's rail connection by January next year. On January 8th, 1906, Great Waterton station was closed with great fanfare by its locals and those who supported the line in its final days.

## Trivia

No exact reason can be explained why Great Waterton was abandoned but two theories exist:

1. Shortly after the closure of the Great Waterton branch, the springs which the town took its name from died up.
2. A mysterious plague hit the town and due to a lack of rail connection after January 1906, the town's folk died from illness.

Great Waterton was inspired by Dunwich, England. This was once a large city but declined as it was being reduced in size by the sea. The suburb survives but only a few of its ancient buildings survive but the city has since been reduced to the size of a village.

Great Waterton station's design is based off Cowes railway station on the Isle of Wight, England. It was opened in 1862 by the Cowes & Newport Railway and was later inherited by the Isle of Wight Central Railway (IWC) in 1887, Southern Railway (SR) in 1923 and British Railways (BR) in 1948. The station was closed to all traffic in 1966 by BR as part of the Beeching Axes during the 1960s and the station demolished in the early 1970s. The site of the station is now a shopping centre.

Unlike its television series counterpart, the Great Waterton in Rails Through Suddery has a different appearance/ layout with the station represented as a terminus instead of an intermediate as seen in the TV series.

Great Waterton is the only S&M station in the series not created by the Rev. W. Awdry.

The line to Great Waterton is haunted by "The Waterton Walker", the figure of a young girl who was said to have been run down by a train around the early years of the Sodor & Mainland Railway. It's unknown who this girl was or why she was killed with theories ranging from a simple child's dare to an attempt on suicide.