Orwell railway station was on the Felixstowe Branch Line near the small village of

Nacton Nacton is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. The parish is bounded by the neighbouring parishes of Levington to the east and Bucklesham in the north. It is located between the towns of Ipswich and Felixs ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, England. It was situated between and stations and was opened in 1877 but was closed in 1959 to allow an acceleration of the service to the remaining stations. The former station building is now a private residence near to the modern Seven Hills crematorium.

History

The line from to was opened on 1 May 1877 by the Felixstowe Railway & Pier Company. This had been promoted by Colonel George Tomline who was criticised in the ''Suffolk Chronicle'' for building the stations where he "thinks people ought to be, rather than where people actually live". This was especially true of Orwell, which was situated close to Tomline's home at Orwell Park. On 1 September 1879 the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

(GER) took over operation of the line, although the Felixstowe company retained ownership until 5 July 1887 when it sold the railway to the GER. This in turn formed part of the

London & North Eastern Railway London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

from 1923 and then the

Eastern Region of British Railways The Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948, whose operating area could be identified from the dark blue signs and colour schemes that adorned its station and other railway buildings. Together with the North Eastern Region ( ...

in 1948. An

armoured train An armoured train is a railway train protected with armour. Armoured trains usually include railway wagons armed with artillery, machine guns and autocannons. Some also had slits used to fire small arms from the inside of the train, a facilit ...

with a

Howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

was stationed on the line with a modified Class F4 locomotive to power it. It was initially based at Derby Road but soon moved to Orwell. It patrolled lines in the area and sidings were provided for it at Levington and Trimley. An accelerated diesel-powered service was introduced on the line on 15 June 1959. The little-used Orwell station was closed from that date to help reduce the time taken for a journey between and Felixstowe Town, from 35 to 24 minutes. This allowed a

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

to work from one terminus to the other within one hour. At the end of the year it was reported that the quicker service had increased the number of passengers carried by 70%. The former station building became a private residence.

Description

Orwell was located at milepost 78 from

London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

, just to the east of Orwell

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

and approximately halfway between Derby Road and Trimley. The station was the only passing place for trains when the line opened in 1877, with a platform on each track. The station building was on the westbound (Ipswich) platform. A goods siding was situated behind this and was accessed from the east (Felixstowe) end.

References

External links

Orwell Station on 1946 O. S. map
{{Closed stations Suffolk Disused railway stations in Suffolk Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1877 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1959 Nacton