The second Wolverton Station and the Refreshment Room
The journey between London and Birmingham took four hours. In the days of corridor-less trains, the passengers needed a place mid-journey where they could descend to 'refresh and relieve' themselves, and the engines needed to be changed or refuelled too.
It was not long therefore before the original Wolverton Station was replaced by what became the first Grand Central Station in the world and one of the most important on the line. The really impressive feature was its Refreshment Room. Francis Bond Head in his book Stokers and Pokers, first published in 1849, lists details of the establishment.
The employees
The refreshment establishment at Wolverton is composed of:
1. A matron or generalissima.
2. Seven very young ladies to wait upon the passengers.
3. Four men and three boys to do.
4. One man-cook, his kitchen-maid, and his two scullery-maids.
5. Two housemaids.
6. One still-room-maid, employed solely in the liquid duty of making tea and coffee.
7. Two laundry-maids
8. One baker and one baker's-boy.
9. One garden-boy.
10. An odd-man.
...There are also eighty-five pigs and piglings.
The consumption
It appears from the books that the annual consumption at the refreshment-rooms average -
182,500 Banbury Cakes, 5,110 lbs. of moist sugar, 56,940 Queens cakes, 16,425 quarts of milk, 29,200 patés, 1,095 quarts of cream, 36,500 lbs. of flour, 8,088 bottles of lemonade, 13,140 lbs. of butter, 10,416 bottles of soda-water, 2,920 lbs. of coffee, 45,012 bottles of stout, 43,800 lbs. of meat, 25,692 bottles of ale, 5,110 lbs. of currants, 5,208 bottles of ginger-beer,1,277 lbs. of tea, 547 bottles of port, 5,840 lbs. of loaf-sugar, 2,095 bottles of sherry.
And we regret to add, 666 bottles of gin, 464 bottles of rum, 2,392 bottles of brandy.
Wolverton Station was visited several times by Queen Victoria when making visits in the area. In 1845 she visited the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos at Stowe House. In the 1850’s she stopped at Wolverton Station on a return to London from a visit to the Midlands and lunched in the Refreshment Room. A newspaper of the time eagerly tells the story:
… The west platform and, in fact, a great portion of the line on that side, was one mass of eager and enthusiastic spectators who had been permitted to assemble there to watch the arrival and departure of their Queen. Immediately the Royal train steamed into the station a deafening cheer was sent up by the assembled multitude and was taken up by hundreds of others outside the station, who were obliged to content themselves with that disadvantageous position. Their reward, however, came a little later, for after the Queen had left, they, with those admitted to the station, were allowed to go through the Queen’s luncheon room and see and taste of many of the good things that Her Majesty had lunched from and this honour and privilege a few of the old, and many, perhaps of the young, remember with pride to this day….
It was not long therefore before the original Wolverton Station was replaced by what became the first Grand Central Station in the world and one of the most important on the line. The really impressive feature was its Refreshment Room. Francis Bond Head in his book Stokers and Pokers, first published in 1849, lists details of the establishment.
The employees
The refreshment establishment at Wolverton is composed of:
1. A matron or generalissima.
2. Seven very young ladies to wait upon the passengers.
3. Four men and three boys to do.
4. One man-cook, his kitchen-maid, and his two scullery-maids.
5. Two housemaids.
6. One still-room-maid, employed solely in the liquid duty of making tea and coffee.
7. Two laundry-maids
8. One baker and one baker's-boy.
9. One garden-boy.
10. An odd-man.
...There are also eighty-five pigs and piglings.
The consumption
It appears from the books that the annual consumption at the refreshment-rooms average -
182,500 Banbury Cakes, 5,110 lbs. of moist sugar, 56,940 Queens cakes, 16,425 quarts of milk, 29,200 patés, 1,095 quarts of cream, 36,500 lbs. of flour, 8,088 bottles of lemonade, 13,140 lbs. of butter, 10,416 bottles of soda-water, 2,920 lbs. of coffee, 45,012 bottles of stout, 43,800 lbs. of meat, 25,692 bottles of ale, 5,110 lbs. of currants, 5,208 bottles of ginger-beer,1,277 lbs. of tea, 547 bottles of port, 5,840 lbs. of loaf-sugar, 2,095 bottles of sherry.
And we regret to add, 666 bottles of gin, 464 bottles of rum, 2,392 bottles of brandy.
Wolverton Station was visited several times by Queen Victoria when making visits in the area. In 1845 she visited the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos at Stowe House. In the 1850’s she stopped at Wolverton Station on a return to London from a visit to the Midlands and lunched in the Refreshment Room. A newspaper of the time eagerly tells the story:
… The west platform and, in fact, a great portion of the line on that side, was one mass of eager and enthusiastic spectators who had been permitted to assemble there to watch the arrival and departure of their Queen. Immediately the Royal train steamed into the station a deafening cheer was sent up by the assembled multitude and was taken up by hundreds of others outside the station, who were obliged to content themselves with that disadvantageous position. Their reward, however, came a little later, for after the Queen had left, they, with those admitted to the station, were allowed to go through the Queen’s luncheon room and see and taste of many of the good things that Her Majesty had lunched from and this honour and privilege a few of the old, and many, perhaps of the young, remember with pride to this day….