The Eastern and Midlands Railway was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of several small railways in the

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures that ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England, including the Yarmouth and North Norfolk Railway, the Lynn and Fakenham Railway and the Yarmouth Union Railway. Many of these lines were built by contractors Wilkinson and Jarvis. In 1893 the Eastern and Midlands Railway became part of the

Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated i ...

Constituents

The constituents of the Eastern and Midlands Railway were: * Peterborough, Wisbech and Sutton Bridge Railway, opened 1866 * Midland & Eastern Railway (incorporating Lynn and Sutton Bridge Railway, Norwich & Spalding Railway and Spalding & Bourne Railway) * Lynn & Fakenham Railway * Yarmouth & North Norfolk (Light) Railway (incorporating Great Yarmouth & Stalham Light Railway) * Yarmouth Union Railway ;Spelling variations The spellings of some place names have changed since the 19th century (e.g. Wisbeach/Wisbech and Bourn/Bourne).

Routes

;Westbound from Kings Lynn *

Sutton Bridge Sutton Bridge is a village and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A17 road, north from Wisbech and west from King's Lynn. The village includes a commercial dock on the west bank of t ...

- Wisbech North -

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

- Spalding -

Bourne Bourne may refer to: Places UK * Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town ** Bourne Abbey ** Bourne railway station * Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex * Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset * Bourne ...

;Eastbound from Kings Lynn * Fakenham West -

Melton Constable Melton Constable is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 518 in 225 households at the 2001 census. The population had increased to 618 at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

* Fakenham West -

- Yarmouth Beach

Locomotives

In 1884,

William Marriott William Marriott may refer to: *William Marriott (engineer) (1857–1943), engineer and locomotive superintendent *William Marriott (baseball) (1893–1969), baseball player, 1917–1927 *William Marriott (magician) (ca. 1910), British magician and ...

became the

locomotive superintendent Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotive ...

at the company's Melton Constable Railway Works. The railway's stock included: * Two Fox, Walker

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

s (works numbers 338 and 339) which had been built for the Great Yarmouth and Stalham Light Railway in 1877. * Seven

4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four po ...

T locomotives built by

Hudswell Clarke Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. History The company was founded as Hudswell and Clarke in 1860. In 1870 the name was changed to Hu ...

for the Lynn and Fakenham Railway between 1878 and 1881. * Fifteen

Beyer Peacock Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives, a ...

4-4-0 locomotives built 1882-1888 ** Four built for the Lynn & Fakenham Railway ** Eleven built for the Eastern and Midlands Railway * Eight

Sharp Stewart Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially located in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. It moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, eventually amalgamating wit ...

0-6-0T locomotives (ex-

Cornwall Minerals Railway The Cornwall Minerals Railway owned and operated a network of of standard gauge railway lines in central Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It started by taking over an obsolescent horse-operated tramway in 1862, and it improved and extended i ...

)

To the M&GN

The Eastern and Midlands Railway became a part of the

in 1893.

References

External links

A 2-4-0 locomotive of the Eastern and Midlands Railway

A 4-4-0T locomotive of the Eastern and Midlands Railway
{{Authority control Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Standard gauge railways in England Rail transport in Norfolk