The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was pro-active in helping agriculture recover after a poor first half of the 19th century and enabled Fenland farmers to get their products to market.

However the area of Benwick was poorly served by road and rail, and during the 1880s, local farmers lobbied the GER board for a new railway.

Lobbying continued and finally the GER built a single track goods only line opening to Burnt House on 1 September 1897 and Benwick on 2 August 1898.

[1] It left the Ely to Peterborough line at Three Horseshoes Junction in Turves, Cambridgeshire, just east of the level crossing on Burnthouse Road.

The line terminated at Benwick and the GER provided a small wharf on the River Nene Old Course for interchange of traffic.