Thetford Bridge railway station served the eastern part of
Thetford,
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 between 1875 and 1953.
History
The railway line between and was proposed by the
Bury St Edmunds and Thetford Railway
The Bury St Edmunds and Thetford Railway (B&TR) built the Thetford to Bury St Edmunds line from Thetford to Bury St Edmunds with assistance from the Thetford and Watton Railway. The railway was authorised on 5 July 1873 and opened on 1 March 1876. ...
(B&TR) and authorised on 5 July 1865; but the company had problems in raising the necessary money.
After assistance was given by the
Thetford and Watton Railway (T&WR), the plan was modified, and instead of running to the main station at , a curve was built so that T&WR trains from Swaffham could run directly to the Bury St Edmunds line without reversing at Thetford. This curve was opened first, on 15 November 1875, along with Thetford Bridge station.
The B&TR line between and Thetford Bridge was opened on 1 March 1876. The B&TR was purchased by 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) in 1878.
Trains on the B&TR were operated by the T&WR until 1879, when operation was taken over by the GER; after this, trains from Bury began to run to Thetford; the east to south curve at Thetford Bridge was not used after 1880. Thetford Bridge was then the last station before .
In September 1911 the station was used as a railhead by the British Army who were running a series of war games.
In January 1923 the station was taken over by the
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...
.
Following
nationalisation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
in 1948 Thetford Bridge was operated by 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 ( ...
.
The station closed on 8 June 1953.
References
External links
Thetford Bridge Station on navigable 1946 O.S. map
{{Closed stations Norfolk
Disused railway stations in Norfolk
Former Great Eastern Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1875
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1953
Thetford