The Newmarket and Chesterford Railway Company was an early railway company that built the first rail connection to
Newmarket. Although only around long the line ran through three counties, the termini being in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
(Great Chesterford) and
Suffolk (Newmarket) and all intermediate stations being in
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a 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 Northamptonshire to the ...
.
Opening
The Newmarket & Chesterford Railway was incorporated on 16 July 1846 with engineers
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS HFRSE FRSA DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of his father ...
and
John Braithwaite. The act authorised capital of £350,000 on £25 shares. Backed by local owners and the
Jockey Club at Newmarket the bill had a smooth passage through parliament. As well as the Newmarket to Chesterford line a branch line from Six Mile Bottom to Cambridge was also proposed. One of the stranger provisions in the act was that the railway would not be allowed to pick up or set down passengers at Cambridge station between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sundays.
Construction began on 30 September 1846 and at the ensuing celebrations a representative of the Jockey Club stated, "The Jockey Club feels that a railway from Newmarket will not only be a great convenience to the parties anxious to participate in the truly British sport of racing, but will enable Members of Parliament to superintend a race and run back to London in time for the same night's debate".
During 1847 the company drew up plans for (separate) extensions to Bury St Edmunds, Thetford and Ely which were approved by a parliamentary act of June 1847.
The line was opened on 3 January 1848 (for goods) and 4 April (to passengers) and was commonly known as the "Newmarket Railway". It branched off the
Eastern Counties Railway's London–Cambridge line at
Great Chesterford
Great Chesterford is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is north from Bishop's Stortford, south from Cambridge and about northwest from the city and Essex county town of Chelmsford.
The Ickn ...
and ran about north east to a
terminus in Newmarket, with intermediate stations at
Bourne Bridge
The Bourne Bridge in Bourne, Massachusetts carries Route 28 across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod with the rest of Massachusetts. It won the American Institute of Steel Construction's Class "A" Award of Merit as the "Most Beautiful ...
[There were two stations at Bourne Bridge; the first (1848 - 1850) located at Pampisford Road and the second (1850 - 1851), a relocation a little way south at the site of the later Railway Inn following which the first station closed. The first station still stands today, complete with original but boarded-up ticket window. Contrary to what certain sources claim, the Newmarket Railway never had a station named 'Abington'.] (about west of Little Abington),
Balsham Road (about south east of
Fulbourn), and Dullingham.
Bankruptcy
With the agreement that a line from Newmarket to Thetford could conceivably be built meant that the N&CR became an item of interest to both 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 ...
and
Norfolk Railway
The Norfolk Railway was an early railway company that controlled a network of 94 miles around Norwich, England. It was formed in 1845 by the amalgamation of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway opened in 1844, and the Norwich and Brandon Railway, n ...
companies. If built it would offer a shorter route from London to Norwich so both companies were interested until 1848 when the ECR took over the working of the Norfolk Railway. The N&CR was in financial trouble with its Cambridge branch started and no capital to complete it so on 2 October 1848, the board of directors made an operational agreement with
George Hudson
George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a title conferr ...
then chairman of 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 ...
. Unfortunately for the N&CR, Hudson was forced to resign from the ECR in early 1849 and the agreement with the N&CR was torn up. The ECR raised operational charges and the directors were unable to make a profit so, having briefly reconsidered taking back operations, they closed the railway on 30 June 1850.
Resurrection
After a shareholder meeting on 27 July the board resigned and a new board under the leadership of Cecil Fane saw the line re-opened on 30 September the same year with stock borrowed from the ECR.
It was Fane who suggested that one track of the double track line from Six Mile Bottom to Chesterford should be lifted and used to create the intended link to Cambridge which finally opened on 9 October 1851. At the same time the section of the N&CR between Six Mile Bottom and Chesterford closed. This was one of the first railway closures in British history.
The ECR finally bought out the directors of the Newmarket Railway in 1854.
[
]
Locomotives and rolling stock
The company owned six 2-4-0 locomotives all built by Gilkes & Wilson of Middlesbrough in 1848. The locomotives were named:
# Beeswing
# Queen of Trumps
# Van Tromp
# Flying Dutchman
# Eleanor
# Alice Hawthorn
These locomotives became Eastern Counties Railway numbers 31-36 and survived into Great Eastern Railway ownership being withdrawn between 1866 and 1870.
"On opening the railway had 8 carriages and 40 horse boxes and carriage trucks."
Stations
The former Bourne Bridge station is believed to have been partly incorporated into a public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
close to Pampisford station.
The Newmarket terminus was replaced several times as new lines developed, its latest site being built in 1902. The "Old Station" was used for goods until 1967 and demolished in 1980.[
] One platform of the "New station", the North side station buildings, and the associated forecourt, still exist but the buildings and forecourt are now commercial premises.
Photographs of Balsham Road and Bourne Bridge stations exist in the Rokeby collection at the English Heritage Archive
The Historic England Archive is the public archive of Historic England, located in The Engine House on Fire Fly Avenue in Swindon, formerly part of the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway.
It is a public archive of architectural and arch ...
, Swindon.
Unique among stations of the line Dullingham station still exists on its original site and serves its original purpose.
References
{{Reflist
Closed railway lines in the East of England
Pre-grouping British railway companies
Railway lines opened in 1848
Railway lines closed in 1851
Newmarket, Suffolk
Standard gauge railways in England
Rail transport in Essex
Rail transport in Suffolk