Yarmouth South Town railway station
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Yarmouth South Town, sometimes known as Yarmouth Southtown, was a railway station in
Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, that is now closed. It was one of three major stations in the town, the others being Yarmouth Vauxhall and Yarmouth Beach, of which only Yarmouth Vauxhall now remains.


Description

The station had four platforms linked together at the east end by a generously sized circulation area. The main station building was built in the Italianate Style and other buildings were located along platform 1. There was a generously sized goods yard and a map of 1928 indicates a nearby coal yard, a nearby cattle market and timber yard. The railway was extended eastwards along the back of platform 1 to the quayside area with this area being shunted by horses or tractors as locomotives were forbidden to cross the road (now the A12) by the original 1856 act. This area contained a tightly spaced network of sidings linked by wagon turntables. As well as a traffic from the quayside there was (according to the 1928 map) a saw mill, corn mill and an icehouse all served by rail. The station had small 2-road engine shed located south of the station area with a turntable, coaling and watering facilities. Some repair work was carried out here, despite the facilities being rudimentary. The shed closed in November 1959 when the line to Beccles was closed.


History


Opening and early years

Yarmouth South Town station was the northern end of the East Suffolk Line which opened on 1 June 1859 linking Ipswich with Yarmouth South Town station. From opening the line was operated by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) although the East Suffolk Railway continued to exist until 1862. By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway. Although they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when 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) was formed by amalgamation. During this period of operation there were express services to Liverpool Street (generally calling at Beccles where carriages from Lowestoft were added) and then other main stations and an all stations service to Beccles and Halesworth. In 1872 the addition of a curve at Haddiscoe High Level allowed a direct all stations service to run to Lowestoft. At the beginning of the 20th century a line was built from Yarmouth South Town to Lowestoft via Gorleston and opened in 1903. The
Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway The Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway (NSJR) was a British joint railway company. The NSJR was owned by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (MGNJ) and consisted of two distinct sections: a line between ...
was jointly owned by the Great Eastern Railway and Midland and Great Northern Railway and served intermediate stations. Its primary function was to aid the development of the area as a resort although it also offered a more direct route from Lowestoft. There was also a link line which linked this line to
Yarmouth Beach railway station Yarmouth Beach railway station was a railway station serving Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. It was opened in 1877 by the Great Yarmouth & Stalham Light Railway. In 1893 it was taken over by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway which had bui ...
to facilitate traffic between the two systems and this crossed the East Suffolk route just south of Yarmouth South Town. Despite the opening of the new railway and more services to Lowestoft the service via Haddiscoe still operated. In November 1914 the original 45 foot turntable was replaced by a 65-foot turntable allowing more powerful steam locomotives ( GER Class S69 4-6-0) to operate the express services to and from London Liverpool Street. During the First World War reduced passenger services operated to and from South Town


London and North Eastern Railway 1923 - 1947

On 1 January 1923 the railways in the UK were amalgamated into four companies and the GER became part of the London and North Eastern Railway. A 500 kg bomb fell on the station on 7 May 1942 but failed to explode. A naval bomb disposal officer who had been at the station waiting for his train promptly defused the bomb. The station signal box was also damaged in 1942 and was replaced the following year by a new structure.


British Railways 1959-1970

Following nationalisation of the railways the station was operated by British Railways Eastern Region. The nationalisation era started brightly for the station with a dedicated named service - the Easterling - commencing operation on 4 July 1950. The station was by this time looking quite woebegone so a modernisation programme to improve it was started in 1952. Work included replacing the entrance canopy, cutting back and re-roofing the train shed, installation of new platform canopies, a new refreshment room, and a new booking office. The station was closed for three weeks following the east coast floods of 31 January 1953 when the platforms and engine sheds were flooded to a depth of four feet . A signalman was marooned for 21 hours until rescued by boat. When the shed was cleared, the carcasses of 49 pigs, two calves and countless chickens along with timber from the nearby timber yard and other flood related detritus were discovered. On 21 September 1953 the line that linked Gorleston with Yarmouth Beach station was closed and from that point all Lowestoft trains terminated at South Town rather than some previously terminating at Beach. As early as 1955 the
British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...
had identified the line north of Beccles to Great Yarmouth as a candidate for closure with all trains being diverted via Lowestoft. One of the reasons for this was that there were a number of swing bridges on the route that were expensive to maintain and there was a parallel route via Gorleston. For some years in the late 1950s Bird's Eye sent out food in containerised wagons from the station goods yard. The line to Beccles closed on 2 November 1959 and all services between Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth operated over the later 1903 line. Expresses still served the station but from 18 June 1962 these were diverted to Yarmouth Vauxhall station. The station was proposed for closure under the
Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
. In the mid-1960s it was destaffed and its four platforms reduced to one operational platform (the former platform 4). Freight facilities were withdrawn from the quayside area on 6 January 1967 and completely on 6 November 1967. The station was eventually closed on 4 May 1970 with the last departure being an all stations service to Lowestoft.Subterranea Britannica: SB-Sites:Yarmouth South Town Station
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Subsequent use of the site (1970-present day)

The old station was used as the headquarters of an oil company before being demolished in the 1980s to make way for the A1243 Pasteur Road . The A1243/A47 follows the route of the railway until just past Gorleston railway station. On the site of the old yards are
Homebase Homebase is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre with stores across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Founded by Sainsbury's and GB-Inno-BM in 1979, the company was owned by Home Retail Group from October 2006, unti ...
,
Matalan Matalan is a British fashion and homeware retailer based in Knowsley, Merseyside. It was established by John Hargreaves in 1985, and is still owned by the Hargreaves family. , the company employed over 13,000, and had 230 stores in the United K ...
and
Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...
stores. A bench from the station, bearing the station name, is on display at the National Railway Museum, York.


References


External links


Webpage including pictures and information about Yarmouth Southtown.
{{coord, 52.6050, 1.7197, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Disused railway stations in Norfolk Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1859 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1970 Great Yarmouth Beeching closures in England 1859 establishments in England 1970 disestablishments in England