Newmarket and Chesterford Railway

Ipswich to Ely Line

Newmarket Warren Hill (1885–c. 1945)

A142

Warren Hill Tunnel

Newmarket Old (Low & High Level)

1879–c. 1945 / 1848–1967

Newmarket New (opened 1902)

B1061 level crossing

Dullingham (opened 1848)

Brinkley Road level crossing

Six Mile Bottom (1848–1967)

A1304 level crossing

A11

Ipswich to Ely Line to Cambridge

Balsham Road (1848–51)

Abington (1848–51)

Bourne Bridge (1848–51)

West Anglia Main Line to Cambridge

Great Chesterford

West Anglia Main Line to London Liverpool Street

The Newmarket and Chesterford Railway Company was an early railway company that built the first rail connection to Newmarket. Although only around 15 miles (24 km) long the line ran through three counties, the termini being in Essex (Great Chesterford) and Suffolk (Newmarket) and all intermediate stations being in Cambridgeshire.

The Newmarket & Chesterford Railway was incorporated on 16 July 1846 with engineers Robert Stephenson and John Braithwaite. The act authorised capital of £350,000 on £25 shares. Backed by local owners and the Jockey Club at Newmarket the bill had a smooth passage through parliament. As well as the Newmarket to Chesterford line a branch line from Six Mile Bottom to Cambridge was also proposed. One of the stranger provisions in the act was that the railway would not be allowed to pick up or set down passengers at Cambridge station between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sundays.

Construction began on 30 September 1846 and at the ensuing celebrations a representative of the Jockey Club stated, "The Jockey Club feels that a railway from Newmarket will not only be a great convenience to the parties anxious to participate in the truly British sport of racing, but will enable Members of Parliament to superintend a race and run back to London in time for the same nights debate".

During 1847 the company drew up plans for (separate) extensions to Bury St Edmunds, Thetford and Ely which were approved by a parliamentary act of June 1847.

The line was opened on 3 January 1848 (for goods) and 4 April (to passengers) and was commonly known as the "Newmarket Railway". It branched off the Eastern Counties Railway's London–Cambridge line at Great Chesterford and ran about 15 miles (24 km) north east to a terminus in Newmarket, with intermediate stations at Bourne Bridge* (about 800 yards (730 m) west of Little Abington), Balsham Road (about 2 miles (3 km) south east of Fulbourn), Six Mile Bottom and Dullingham. *There were two stations at Bourne Bridge; the first (1848 - 1850) located at Pampisford Road and the second (1850 - 1851), a relocation a little way south at the site of the later Railway Inn following which the first station closed. The first station still stands today, complete with original but boarded-up ticket window. Contrary to what certain sources claim, the Newmarket Railway never had a station named 'Abington'.

...
Wikipedia