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.
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Overview
The GER formed in 1862 by amalgamation of the Eastern Counties Railway with smaller railways: the Norfolk Railway, the Eastern Union Railway, the Newmarket and Chesterford Railway, the East Norfolk Railway, the Harwich Railway, the East Anglian Railway and the East Suffolk Railway among others. In 1902 the Northern and Eastern Railway was absorbed by the GER, although it had been worked by the Eastern Counties Railway under a 999-year lease taken on January 1 1844 whereby the Eastern Counties would work the Northern and Eastern in return for an annual rent and division of the profits.
Among towns served[1] were Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, Great Yarmouth, Ipswich, King's Lynn, Lowestoft, Norwich, Southend-on-Sea, and East Anglian seaside resorts such as Hunstanton (whose prosperity was a result of the GER's line being built) and Cromer. It also served a suburban area, including Enfield, Chingford, Loughton and Ilford. This suburban network was, in the early 20th century, the most heavily used steam-hauled commuter system in the world.
The original London terminus was opened at Shoreditch in east London by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) on 1 July 1840 when the railway was extended westwards from an earlier temporary terminus in Devonshire Street, near Mile End.[2] The station was renamed Bishopsgate on 27 July 1847.
The Great Eastern attempted to obtain a West End terminus, alongside the one in east London, via the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway, formed by an Act of Parliament of 28 July 1862[3]. Plans to extend the western end of this line via a proposed 'London Main Trunk Railway', underneath Hampstead Road, the Metropolitan Railway (modern Circle line) and Tottenham Court Road, to Charing Cross, were rejected by Parliament in 1864[4].
A new London terminus, Liverpool Street Station was opened to traffic on 2 February 1874, and was completely operational from 1 November 1875. From this date the original terminus at Bishopsgate closed to passengers, although it reopened as a goods station in 1881.
The majority of the Great Eastern's locomotives were manufactured in Stratford works, on the site of today's Stratford International station. The GER owned 1,200 miles of line and had a near-monopoly in East Anglia until the opening of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway in 1893.
The Great Eastern name has survived, being used both for the Great Eastern Main Line route between London and Norwich, and also for the First Great Eastern train operating company which served much of the old GER route between 1997 and 2004.
References
- ^ Map of GER system (Great Eastern Railway Society)
- ^ F.H.W. Sheppard, ed (1957). Bishopsgate Railway Terminus. Survey of London. 27: Spitalfields and Mile End New Town. pp. 252-255. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50177. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
- ^ Hansard: LOCAL AND PERSONAL ACTS 7 August 1862
- ^ Hansard: RAILWAY SCHEMES (METROPOLIS). REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE
See also
External links
- Great Eastern Railway Society
- Archived copy of a page containing comprehensive details of those railways
- Shipping interests of the company
- Manningtree Rail Users Association
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