page_title: Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway
section_title: The coastal section
hierarchical_section_title: Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway / The coastal section
caption_attribution_description: English: On the great Eastern Linear Park. The Former path of the Lowestoft to Great Yarmouth Railway intersects this grid square. A cycle path along an old railway line, all the original bridges are still intact.
context_page_description: The Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway was a British joint railway company.
  The NSJR was owned by the Great Eastern Railway and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway and consisted of two distinct sections: a line between North Walsham and Cromer via Mundesley, and a coastal section running from Gorleston to Lowestoft. Neither has survived apart from a 1.5 miles stretch just south of Cromer which forms part of today’s Bittern Line.
  Whilst the GER was a constituent company of the London and North Eastern Railway, the MGNJ interest became jointly held by the LNER and London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and the railway retained its identity at the 1923 Grouping; in the Third Schedule of the Transport Act 1947, the LNER, LMS, MGNJ and NSJR are all listed among the bodies whose undertakings are to be transferred to the British Transport Commission on 1 January 1948, it thus became part of British Railways.
context_section_description: The route of most of the coastal section can still be identified by geographical line features readily seen on aerial photographs. Lowestoft Central remains in use, and, although partially redeveloped, the majority of the section of former railway between Lowestoft Central and Lowestoft North station is now a metalled non-vehicular right of way known as "The Great Eastern Linear Park".
  On this section, all of the overbridges are intact, some of which still contain relics from their railway heritage.
  To the north of the town, a large amount of the formation has been redeveloped as a housing estate and, although a section beside the golf course remains clear, the section through the Pleasurewood Hills theme park has been totally removed.
  The site of the former station at Lowestoft North is known as "Beeching Drive" with a small pedestrianised area known as "Stephenson's Walk".
  Corton station is now a private house, however its canopy and other features are in decay.  For several years Corton had a static Camping coach in a siding. It was used as accommodation for holiday makers. The line near Corton can be traced fairly easily, including the original embankments.
  The line through Hopton has been redeveloped for housing erasing any trace of the railway route.  The route of the railway line from Station Road in Hopton, which was the location of Hopton railway station northwards to Gorleston Links ran almost parallel with the A12 (Lowestoft Road. While the line was open, this station was also used as a location for a camping coach. 
  The next station, Gorleston Links was opened in July 1914 to serve the adjacent golf course. The station was closed four years later as a post-war economy measure, but was reopened in 1919, this time as a result of the increasing number of holiday makers visiting the area. Initially named "Gorleston Links Halt", the station was renamed just "Gorleston Links" in 1968, two years before its eventual closure.
  The area where the station was situated has changed greatly in the years since 1970; residential redevelopment has led to the removal of the bridge and embankment, leaving no trace of the former halt.
  
  A small section from the line of Gorleston railway station is in use as a walkway, running about half a mile before ending by a road overbridge. The rest of the line is mostly now housing and roads.
  The route of the coastal section from Gorleston-on-Sea northwards to the junction for the line to London is now used by the A12. The original terminus, Yarmouth South Town was also the terminus of the Great Eastern Railway line to Beccles and beyond. After closure. the station was used as the headquarters of an oil company before being demolished in the 1980s to make way for the A12 link road. On the site of the old yards are Homebase, Matalan and Lidl stores.
  Details of the coastal section of the N&SJR as part of the a larger network can be found on the page for the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway.
caption: Great Eastern Linear Park
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