The potato railways were mainly the bastion of Lincolnshire, others did exist, but most were on the fens. I did a lot of work in the fens and the men who were full time doing this job,in years gone by deserved a medal, no trees to shelter at lunch time, holy moly. Deeping St Nicholas had a loading dock where the narrow gauge trucks were off loaded onto the main line rolling stock
Lovely image of the potato railways, Deeping St Nicholas loading Dock. Narrow gauge engine is a parrafin fired steamer, incredible inovation. There was quite a system at Deeping St Nicholas stretching nearly to Tounge End, Dennis Estates.
More about the potato railways, here is a gang of Irish lads picking potatos into a horse drawn cart. every other row was ploughed out first, then they would go and plough out those that were left. The cart was then tipped in the corner of the field to be pied, or riddled. Hard work by any standard, To tip the cart there was an old saying, put your shoulder to it. The pickers had to work in front of the horse and cart so the potato;s did not get spoilt, stints would be swopped throughout the day so all the pickers traveled the same distance. The potato crop would be bagged and loaded on the railway trucks and taken to the main line.
