 By October 1884 the tramway was carrying 3,000 passengers per week, while for fetes and other special events as many as 2,000 passengers a day were carried.The tram competed with the Wisbech Canal that also ran between Wisbech and Upwell.The canal was struggling financially when the tramway opened, and although there was some transfer of coal between the railway and canal at Outwell, the tramway gradually took its trade, and it closed in 1922.