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Saffron Walden Railway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Saffron Walden Railway was a branch of the Great Eastern Railway between Audley End and Bartlow on the Stour Valley Railway between Shelford to Haverhill, a distance of 7+14 miles (11.7 km).[1][2]

Branch information

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Opening

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The line was opened between Audley End and Saffron Walden on 21 November 1865 and to Bartlow in 1866.

Operation and services

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The line was the initiative of the local Gibson family whose bank helped to finance the railway. It remained independent until 1 January 1877 when the Great Eastern Railway purchased the line.[3] The Engineer's Line Reference for the line is AEB.[4]

Initially, there were six return trains a day and, between 1877 and 1894, trains operated between Saffron Walden and London. Coaches dating from the 1890s operated on the line until the 1950s.[5] From July 1958, the line was operated by railbuses until closure.

Closure

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The line closed to passengers on 7 September 1964 and to freight three months later. At Audley End, services used a separate platform, the building of which still remains, in the current car park (52°00′15″N 0°12′28″E / 52.0043°N 0.2077°E / 52.0043; 0.2077).

References

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  1. ^ Saffron Walden Railway notes
  2. ^ R.S. Joby (1977). Forgotten Railways East Anglia. David & Charles. ISBN 0715373129.
  3. ^ Leslie Oppitz (1999). Lost Railways of East Anglia. Countryside Books. ISBN 1-85306-595-1.
  4. ^ "Engineer's line reference".
  5. ^ Richard Spendlove (1992). Branch lines around Cambridge. HEGA publications.
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