Sudbury Station

Sudbury Station. Sudbury's Railways: Past and Present. When the railway came to Sudbury in 1849 it was built on the edge of the floodplain and gradually superseded the Stour as a more efficient method of transporting goods. For centuries Sudbury's diverse industries thrived on river and then rail transport., The first Sudbury station was a single platformed terminus station built by The Colchester, Stour Valley, Sudbury and Halstead Railway Company. The original station was replaced in 1865 by the Great Eastern Railway (GER), when the line was extended to Cambridge to create the Stour Valley Railway. An 1886 plan of the station area shows a hive of railway sidings serving various goods yards - the sprawling new epicentre of industrial Sudbury., During the period prior to the First World War, the line saw some of its best traffic, but by the 1920s road competition was increasing. During the Second World War the lines assumed new importance as airfields were established throughout the area., In 1963 Dr Beeching proposed huge cuts to the nation's railway network, which included closure of the entire line to passengers from Marks Tey to Shelford (Cambridge). In September 1966 Barbara Castle, the Minister of Transport, refused permission to close the Sudbury to Marks Tey section because of the planned expansion of Sudbury. The line to Sudbury survived several further attempts to close it and in 2024 The Gainsborough Line (as it is now known) celebrated its 175th anniversary.