Gainsborough Line

Gainsborough Line

The Chappel viaduct carries the line
Overview
Type Community rail
System National Rail
Locale Essex and Suffolk
Operation
Owner Network Rail
Operator(s) Abellio Greater Anglia
Technical
Line length 11 miles 71 chains (19.1 km)
No. of tracks 1
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) standard gauge

Gainsborough Line

Legend
Stour Valley Railway
58-34 Sudbury
Mill Tye
53-45 Bures
Old Barn Road
Colne Valley & Halstead Rly
50-18 Chappel & Wakes Colne
Chappel viaduct

46-49 Marks Tey

Marks Tey junction
Great Eastern Main Line
← to London • to Norwich

The Gainsborough Line is the current marketing name of the Sudbury Branch Line, a branch line off the Great Eastern Main Line in the east of England, that links Marks Tey in Essex with Sudbury in Suffolk. It is 11 miles 71 chains (19.1 km) in length and single-track throughout.

Prior to the Beeching cuts initiated in the 1960s, the line, then known as the Stour Valley Railway, continued beyond Sudbury to Shelford in Cambridgeshire. Today the line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 7, SRS 07.10, and is classified as a rural line.[1] It is operated by Abellio Greater Anglia.

History

The Stour Valley Railway opened on 9 August 1865, linking Shelford near Cambridge with Marks Tey in Essex, with 13 intermediate stations along the line.

The section between Shelford and Sudbury was closed on 6 March 1967 following the Beeching cuts, leaving Bures and Chappel & Wakes Colne as the only stops between the termini.

In 2005 the line received around £3 million of investment, which saw around 5 miles (8 km) of old jointed track replaced with new continuous welded rail. Further investment was made in 2006 to replace around 6 miles (10 km) of track, leaving just the Chappel viaduct and Lamarsh to Sudbury sections in need of modernisation. This work was completed in 2007.

In 2006 the line was designated as a community railway[2] by the transport minister and is part of the Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership.[3]

The current name of the line commemorates the painter Thomas Gainsborough, who was born in Sudbury; the previous name was the Lovejoy Line, after the television series Lovejoy, which was filmed in the Sudbury area.

All passenger services on the line are currently operated by Abellio Greater Anglia, which runs an hourly service seven days a week, with frequency increasing slightly during peak hours. One train each day is extended to or from Colchester.

Notable sights

The line runs across the Chappel viaduct, which has 30 arches each with a 35 ft span with a maximum height of 75 ft and was the longest viaduct on the Great Eastern Railway.[4]

The East Anglian Railway Museum is located alongside the station at Chappel & Wakes Colne.

Infrastructure

The line is single track throughout, has a loading gauge of W6, and a maximum speed of 50 mph.[1] Unlike other branches in the area, such as the Braintree Branch Line and Mayflower Line to Harwich Town, the Gainsborough Line is not electrified and so trains are formed of Class 153 and Class 156 diesel units.

Accidents and incidents

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.