This month’s photo shows the “Railway Tavern” which, as the name suggests, was right next to the station. This building (now a private house) is still there just by the guided busway. We would estimate that the picture is around 1900-1910 and everybody wants to be in it, from the uniformed guard on the right, through the men with the cart (one of who seems to have his beer tankard still in hand) to the woman and children at the window.
Longstanton station was opened in August 1847 on the Wisbech, St. Ives & Cambridge Junction Railway. The line was high specification and capable of handling heavy trains. It had the advantage of bypassing Ely which was very congested with railway traffic. The 1950 timetable shows about two – three trains an hour and the journey from Cambridge took 20 mins. For older readers, it is one of the stations mentioned in the Flanders & Swann classic song “Slow Train”