Southwold Railway

Southwold Railway

A postcard sent in 1924 featuring Southwold railway station
Locale	England
Dates of operation	1879–1929
Successor	abandoned
Track gauge	3 ft (914 mm)
Length	8 miles 63 1⁄2 chains (14.15 km)
Headquarters	Southwold

The Southwold Railway was a narrow gauge railway line between Halesworth and Southwold in the English county of Suffolk. 8 miles 63 ¹⁄₂ chains (14.15 km) long, it was 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge. It opened in 1879 and closed in 1929.

Intermediate stations were at Wenhaston, Blythburgh and Walberswick.

The route closely followed the River Blyth, with Halesworth and Southwold both on the north side, but the longest section, including the intermediate stations, was on the south side. Although the line closed in 1929, its track was still marked and identified on a 1933 Ordnance Survey map, a navigable version of which is accessible in the external links section. The line was lifted and the equipment was scrapped in 1941 to help with war efforts. Some track can still be found on the harbour branch and a surviving van is at the East Anglia Transport Museum. There is also a surviving (but derelict) coal shed at Blythburgh.

Parts of the route from Southwold to Blythburgh are walkable, particularly through woodland known as the Heronry on the south shore of the Blyth estuary. The original footbridge at Southwold was blown up during the war but its pillars now support a footbridge.

Southwold has had a harbour since at least Saxon times, but its importance as a port began to decline during the 19th century. In an attempt to reverse the declining fortunes of the town, the Corporation promoted it as a holiday resort, where bathing in private was available on the wide beaches. They expected the East Suffolk Railway from Ipswich to Great Yarmouth to pass through the town, but it was built further inland, due in part to the underlying geology of the area. Although there was a horse bus service which ran to Darsham station once a day, this was not ideal, and a request was made to the railway company for a branch line to Southwold from Halesworth in 1855. The East Suffolk Railway were not prepared to build one, and several similar schemes were proposed over the next 20 years. The Southwold and Halesworth Tramway obtained an Act of Parliament in 1872, with the intention of building a steam tramway between the two towns, using the provisions of the Tramways Act 1870, but they failed to raise sufficient funds, and the project foundered. Still there were calls for a railway, and in October 1875 two public meetings were held. Mr Charles Easton of Easton Hall chaired one in Halesworth, and the Earl of Stradbroke, who lived at Henham Hall, chaired the other in Southwold. Both were local landowners, and they invited a civil engineer called Arthur C Pain to speak, together with Richard C Rapier, who was part of the engineering firm of Ransomes & Rapier. Both speakers suggested that a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge railway would be considerably cheaper to build than a standard gauge one, and the meetings resulted in the formation of the Southwold Railway Company. Colonel Heneage Bagot-Chester was appointed as chairman, the two speakers became engineers, and the secretary was a local solicitor called H R Allen.