Eastern Union Railway
| Locale | East Anglia |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1846–1856 |
| Successor | Eastern Counties Railway (1854) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
The Eastern Union Railway (EUR) was an early English railway, initially sanctioned by Act of Parliament on 19 July 1844, with authorised capital of £200,000 to build a railway from Ipswich to Colchester. Further Acts of 21 July 1845 and 26 June 1846 authorised further increases in capital of £50,000 and £20,000 respectively. The latter Act also specified the options for connection with the pre-existing Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) at Colchester, including effectively 'buying out' the ECR's unexercised rights immediately east of that station. One of the main protagonists was John Chevallier Cobbold and the engineer was Peter Bruff.
The first railway scheme for East Anglia was proposed in 1825 when a scheme known as the Norfolk and Suffolk railroad was being promoted by the swindler John Wilks. This venture failed to attract much interest as did a second scheme mooted that year aiming to join Ipswich, Eye (then a prominent market town) to Diss. However with no mineral deposits to carry and being a sparsely populated area the railway also died a natural death. Eight years later in 1833 businessmen in the Lavenham area consulted engineer James Walker about building a railway from Bury St Edmunds to Ipswich with branches to Hadleigh and Lavenham. Two prominent members of this committee were John Cobbold (17714-1860) and his son John Chevalier Cobbold (a solicitor).
The first prospectus for a railway through Ipswich came from the Eastern Counties Railway in 1834. East Anglian agriculture was in a depressed state at this time so finding supporters of this scheme was difficult; In November 1835 meetings were held with Henry Bosanquet the chairman of the ECR provisional committee putting the case for the railway. In Suffolk the Cobbolds both attended a number of meetings. The ECR acquired its parliamentary bill on 4 July 1836 with the line proposed to run from London to Great Yarmouth. The Cobbolds, whilst the ECR bill was undergoing its passage through parliament, had the 1833 scheme revisited by engineer John Braithwaite.
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