page_title: Norfolk Railway
section_title: Norwich and Brandon Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Norfolk Railway / Norwich and Brandon Railway
caption_attribution_description: Trowse swing bridge (Railway Magazine, 100, October 1905).jpg
context_page_description: The Norfolk Railway was an early railway company that controlled a network of 94 miles around Norwich, England. It was formed in 1845 by the amalgamation of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway opened in 1844, and the Norwich and Brandon Railway, not yet opened. These lines were built out of frustration that the Eastern Counties Railway line that was expected to connect Norwich to London failed to be completed. The Norfolk Railway also leased the Lowestoft Railway and Harbour company, and built a branch to Dereham and Fakenham, opened in 1846 and 1849 respectively.
  It was successful in connecting Norwich to the emerging railway network, by connecting at Brandon with a line from London via Cambridge and also a line from the Midlands through Peterborough. However as a local line it was dependent on bigger partners, and it was threatened by new competing lines, so that its independence was always at risk. In 1848 it agreed with the larger Eastern Counties Railway that the ECR would operate its line, reducing the Norfolk Railway to a financial company only. In 1862 it amalgamated with other companies to form the Great Eastern Railway.
context_section_description: Authorisation of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway had gone through smoothly, and thoughts in Norwich turned to connecting the city to the emerging railway network. Much of the September 1843 shareholders' meeting of the Yarmouth and Norwich company was taken up with discussion of possible extensions. Samuel Morton Peto said that if they built a line to Brandon, 40 miles to the west, then the existing railways would compete to join it at Brandon, so completing a through connection to the other lines. The choice of Brandon must have been the result of private negotiations with some or all of the other railways that might join up there.
  In September 1843 a notice appeared in the press making this objective plain:
  Norwich and Brandon Railway: A prospectus has this week been issued for the formation of a railway, in extension of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway, commencing near the terminus in this city [Norwich], and running to Brandon, a distance of thirty miles... from Brandon, the country is... favourable for the construction of lines to communicate with the branch of the London and Birmingham Railway at Peterborough, with the Eastern Counties railway at Colchester, and with the Northern and Eastern railway at Newport, the distance in each case being the same, viz., about 40 miles. By the construction of this railway, it is anticipated, Norwich, Yarmouth, and the county of Norfolk, will be ultimately connected, not only with the metropolis but with the Midland and Northern counties, and the manufacturing districts, as, no doubt, extension lines, to connect it with the above-mentioned railways, would speedily be obtained by the respective companies, who have already expressed their desire to co-operate with the promoters of the undertaking; and, with tbat object, some of them are now actually employed in making surveys.
  An 8% return would, it was claimed, be achieved on the present volume of traffic, but a "great increase of income" would be secured "on the ultimate completion of a line to Peterborough, or to Colchester, or Newport" by attracting traffic from coastal shipping. The capital to be raised was £300,000.
  The London and Birmingham Railway was not induced to extend its Peterborough branch to Brandon, and the Eastern Counties Railway had stalled at Colchester. Nevertheless the Northern and Eastern Railway had got as far as Bishops Stortford and an extension of that to Brandon by way of Cambridge and Ely was feasible. Accordingly the Norwich and Brandon Railway went ahead and it secured its authorising Act of Parliament on 10 May 1844.
caption: Trowse swing bridge, 1905)
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