User:Redrose64/Sandbox2


 * (this is a draft of a proposed section to be added to Railways in Ely)

Route construction
Six railway lines radiated from Ely, only two of which were planned and built together. Of the six, five are still open for passenger trains. Prior to the Grouping of the railways, all these lines were part of the Great Eastern Railway (GER), and so passed to the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) on 1 January 1923.

London to Norwich via Ely
The first railway to reach Ely was the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). This company was formed to build a line from London to Norwich via Colchester and Ipswich, the powers been granted by Act of Parliament on 4 July 1836. On the same day, another railway, the Northern & Eastern (N&E), obtained powers to build a line from London to Cambridge. The latter company's line was opened in stages, but they had difficulty in building beyond Bishop's Stortford, which was reached on 16 May 1842. In 1843, the N&E began to extend their line to Newport, which was as far as their finances would allow. On 1 January 1844 the N&E was leased to the ECR. The ECR then obtained powers for their own line from Newport to Brandon via Cambridge and Ely.

On 30 July 1845 the line was extended from Bishop's Stortford to Trowse, but three different railway companies owned the lines: the N&E (which had been leased to the ECR as from 1 January 1844) built the section as far as Newport; the Norfolk Railway built the section between Brandon and Trowse, whilst the middle section, from Newport to Brandon via Ely, was built by the ECR; the station at Ely was opened on the same day. The Norfolk Railway's line was completed to Norwich on 1 December 1845.

On 2 March 1846, the working of the ECR route between Ely and Brandon was taken over by the Norfolk Railway.

ECR takes over wkg of Norfolk R 8 May 1848.

Ely to King's Lynn
On 27 October 1846, the first section of the Lynn & Ely Railway, between King's Lynn and Downham was opened. The line was completed to Ely on 25 October 1847; it joined the ECR at Ely North Junction.

The Lynn & Ely amalgamated with the Lynn & Dereham as the East Anglian Railway (EAR) on 27 July 1847.

ECR absorbs EAR 1 January 1852.

Ely to Peterborough
On 14 January 1847 the ECR opened a route between Ely and Peterborough via March, the junction with the existing Brandon line being named Ely North Junction.

The ECR was amalgamated with the EAR and several other railways on 1 July 1862, and an Act of Parliament authorising these companies to become the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was passed on 7 August 1862.

Ely to St. Ives
The Ely, Haddenham and Sutton Railway was authorised on 23 June 1864, and opened between Ely and Sutton on 16 April 1866. An extension to St Ives was authorised on 7 April 1876; the company was renamed the Ely and St Ives Railway on 10 May 1878, when it opened to St Ives. On the same date, the line was leased to the GER. The railway was purchased by the GER on 1 July 1898. The line closed to passengers on 2 February 1931.

Ely to Newmarket
A line from Ely to Newmarket via Fordham was built by the Ely and Newmarket Railway, opening on 1 September 1879. At Newmarket, it joined an existing line between Cambridge and Ipswich, which had been completed in 1854.