Aldeburgh railway station (formerly Aldborough) was a station in

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...

, Suffolk, England. It was opened in 1860 by the East Suffolk Railway, and later came under the control of the Great Eastern Railway. The terminus of an 8.5-mile branch line to

Saxmundham Saxmundham ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England, set in the valley of the River Fromus about north-east of Ipswich and west of the coast at Sizewell. The town is bypassed by the main A12 road between London and Lowestoft. The town is ser ...

, the station closed in 1966 as part of the Beeching Axe as much of the British rural rail network was cut back.

History

The East Suffolk Railway had opened a branch line between Saxmundham and Leiston predominantly to serve Garretts engineering works on 1 June 1859. The town of Aldeburgh lobbied hard and permission to extend the branch was granted on 19 April 1859. The line was built by the

Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on the first nine miles at the Lond ...

, who had taken over the operation of the East Suffolk Railway. The new station (incorrectly named Aldborough) opened on 12 April 1860, situated half a mile inland from the coast. By the 1860s, the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway was formed by amalgamation. The station was renamed as Aldeburgh on 1 June 1875. The initial platform was quite short and was extended to 420 ft in 1884. There was a large goods shed and small engine shed on site, and the station had an overall roof. The

Grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

of 1923 saw the station pass to the London and North Eastern Railway. Between 1924 and 1939 and between 1946 and closure the station was noted for its well-kept gardens, tended by porter Billy Botterill, who won numerous prizes in railway gardening competitions. In 1929 the LNER introduced luxurious Pullman day excursion trips from Liverpool Street to various seaside resorts. The service, known as the ''Eastern Belle'', served Felixstowe on Mondays, Frinton and Walton on Tuesdays, Clacton on Wednesdays and Thorpeness and Aldeburgh on Thursdays and Fridays. The service ended in September 1939 when the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

broke out. The station then became part of the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. Eight years later, in June 1956, operation of the passenger services were taken over by Diesel Multiple Unit trains with conductor guard operation. Goods services were withdrawn on 30 November 1959. The overall roof was demolished in August 1965 and train services were withdrawn by the

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

on 10 September 1966, with the line formally closing two days later. There is a video of the line on YouTube taken in 1957 called "1957 Saxmundham to Aldeburgh Railway line", which shows Thorpeness Halt and Aldeburgh stations and views of the track. The station site was cleared in 1975.

The site today

Today a roundabout sits on its former site,Subterranea Britannica: SB-Sites: Aldeburgh Station
/ref> close to a pub called The Railway Inn. The branch track is still used as far as Sizewell (approx 3.5 miles north), for the removal of nuclear material from the

Sizewell nuclear power stations The Sizewell nuclear site consists of two nuclear power stations, one of which is still operational, located near the small fishing village of Sizewell in Suffolk, England. Sizewell A, with two Magnox reactors, is now in the process of being dec ...

References

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External links

Aldeburgh station on 1946 O. S. map
{{coord, 52.1575, 1.5937, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Disused railway stations in Suffolk Former Great Eastern Railway stations Beeching closures in England Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1860 1860 establishments in England Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1966 Aldeburgh