The Railway Reaches Melton
The first trains from Syston ran into a temporary terminus station at Melton on September 1st 1846. The painting shows Melton station and goods yard apparently complete, so it must have been made a bit later, perhaps in the summer of 1848 when passenger services began over the whole line, from Leicester to Melton, Oakham, Stamford and Peterborough.
In front of the town, on either side of the river, is the open area known generally as Play Close, which has been used as a public open space for many years. Near the road bridge is a marquee, and some figures possibly involved in cricket practice.
To the right of the view is the newly-built railway station, apparently complete, with a goods yard with stacks of coal. There appears to be a curved iron roof spanning the tracks. The white buildings beyond are by the canal basin and wharf.
The railway builders made a deep cutting through the Mount Pleasant ridge, and in the foreground of the view is one of the parapets of the bridge which carries the road to Great Dalby across the cutting.
Two features have been included, probably as a reminder of things which were lost when the railway came. The first is the Melton Mowbray Canal, which ran through the fields between the town and the railway.
On the bridge parapet in the foreground sits a man who appears to be a pedlar. Such people would have travelled from town to town, selling small items to the householders. The railway would soon bring a huge variety of household goods direct from Birmingham or Manchester and elsewhere, to be sold in purpose-built shops. This would gradually take away the pedlar’s business, and within a few years these familiar figures would no longer be seen on the country lanes.
The artist chose to draw the view from a spot then called Mount Pleasant, where the low ridge descending from Ankle Hill gives a view across the fields and the River Wreake. Great care has been taken to make an accurate depiction of the town, and it is easy to recognise Eye Kettleby Bridge (on the road to Leicester), Egerton Lodge, the houses on Back Street, and the Parish Church.
The view is an accurate depiction of the scene, and most of the features still exist, but it is not possible to take the same view today because of tree growth along the far side of the railway.