History
The railway line connecting the East Suffolk Railway (ESR) at Halesworth to an extension of the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) at Woodbridge was built by the ESR, as was the branch from Wickham Market to Framlingham. The main line and the Framlingham branch both opened on 1 June 1859, and Wickham Market station opened at the same time. The ESR was absorbed by the ECR on opening day.
On 1 July 1862, the ECR and other small railway companies amalgamated to become the Great Eastern Railway (GER). At the 1923 Grouping, the GER was amalgamated with other companies to form the London and North Eastern Railway; this in turn was a constituent of British Railways at the start of 1948.
The Framlingham branch closed to passenger trains on 3 November 1952; it retained freight services until 19 April 1965. In the meantime, the goods yard at Wickham Market closed on 13 July 1964.
With the privatisation of British Rail, ownership of the line and station passed to Railtrack on 1 April 1994. The franchise to operate the passenger services on this route was won by Anglia Railways in 1997; in 2004 National Express won the franchise and operated services using the branding 'one', which was renamed National Express East Anglia in 2008. On 5th February 2012 the operation of the train service was taken over by Greater Anglia a company run by Abellio, the trading name of Dutch railways.
Read more about this topic: Wickham Market Railway Station
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