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When was the Great Eastern Railway incorporated?
Who formed the Great Eastern Railway Company (GER)?
What did the Eastern Counties Railway do before the GER?
When did East Anglia become a major railway company?
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 Railway in 1923.
- The Great Eastern Railway
- The East Anglian Railway System Circa 1923
- A Mainline Operator
- Suburban Services
- Cross-Country and Rural Branches
- Coastal and Continental
- Seaside Destinations
- The LNER Period
The formal opening of the Eastern Counties Railway on June 18th 1839, from a temporary terminus at Mile End to Romford, heralded the beginning of the development of the railway system in East Anglia. Originally the ECR had obtained Parliamentary approval to raise the capital to build a railway from London to Norwich and Great Yarmouth via Ipswich. ...
The birth of the Great Eastern Railway was not without problems. 1867 saw the company overstretching its financial resources and finding itself in chancery. During this unhappy period some of the Company's assets were claimed by creditors manifested in some instances with locomotives bearing plates proclaiming their new ownership! Fortunately the G...
Although not having the glamour of the some of the other longer British main line routes, the GER ran express services on the London – Ipswich – Norwich route, as well as London – Cambridge – Ely. From Ely services reached March, King’s Lynn and cross country via Thetford to Norwich. As trains became longer and heavier, many with dining cars, this ...
In the 1870s, the GER built a new London terminus at Liverpool Street and extended their suburban lines and services to destinations such as Enfield, Chingford, Loughton, Hertford and towns along the Lea Valley and the main line out to Shenfield. These proved to be highly profitable as many who worked in London realised they could now live further ...
There were plenty of smaller cross country and branch lines constructed in the mid-19thCentury. Usually local interests would raise capital, get approval and after construction get a larger company to operate the services. In many cases the lines were leased or sold outright to the larger companies. During the period 1845-1849, the ECR’s Chairman w...
Its location in East Anglia meant that the GER served many towns along the coast. The GER supported the docks and quays at London Docks, Maldon, Colchester (Hythe), Mistley, Harwich, Felixstowe, Ipswich, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth, Wells, King’s Lynn and Wisbech. Lowestoft and Yarmouth in particular supported a huge fishing industry. To overcome the...
Additionally, the coming of the railways to coastal towns led to the development of seaside holiday destinations, such as Clacton, Frinton, Walton, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth, Cromer and Hunstanton. It also popularised the rather more genteel destinations such as Wells, Aldeburgh and Southwold. Although the GER was one of the smaller pre-grouping co...
The incorporation of the Great Eastern Railway into the London & North Eastern Railway in 1923 did not result in any immediate profound changes to railway operations in East Anglia. Business was much as usual with freight traffic in East Anglia continuing as a significant contribution to the LNER's turnover. This was augmented by the inauguration o...
The GER was formed by a gradual amalgamation of smaller lines, the most important and earliest of which was the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). The ECR prospectus was issued in 1834, two year later it received Royal Assent and construction commenced shortly after.
Other lines were authorised and other railways were taken over until the GER had 1,217 miles of railway in its ownership and 150 miles of joint railways by 1922. On 1 Jan 1923, the GER became...
Two light railways were opened in the early 1900s, the Kelvedon and Tollesbury and the Elsenham and Thaxted, neither were very successful. In the early years of the 20th century, various schemes were mooted for the construction of electric railways which would be in direct competition with the GER.
The Great Eastern Railway The GER was created in 1862 from the amalgamation of most of the then existing smaller railways in East Anglia. From then until absorption into the LNER at the 1923 Grouping, it was the dominant railway company in East Anglia, only facing competition from the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway to the north and ...
These arrangements were formally recognised by Parliament when the Eastern Counties, Eastern Union, East Anglian, East Suffolk & Norfolk Railway companies, along with their subsidiary undertakings, were incorporated into the Great Eastern Railway on the 7th August 1862.
