Felixstowe Branch Line - History

History

The first railway proposed for the small coastal town of Felixstowe was the Ipswich and Felixstowe Railway in 1865, to run from the GER station at Westerfield to Hog Lane in Felixstowe. In 1873 a tramway was proposed from Ipswich station to Landguard Common (near the mouth of the River Orwell) and Fagborough Cliff where it would connect with the ferry to Harwich. One of the tramway's promoters, Colonel George Tomline, suggested instead that a proper railway should be built instead, running from Westerfield to a pier to be constructed at Landguard Common. An Act of Parliament was granted for this scheme on 19 July 1875 under the name of the Felixstowe Railway and Pier Company. Two years later the name was changed to the Felixstowe Railway and Dock Company when a new Act authorised the construction of a dock at Languard Common close to the pier with an access channel and railway lines.

The railway was opened on 1 May 1877. Starting from Westerfield railway station, it served stations at Derby Road (Ipswich), Orwell (built primarily to serve the home of Colonel Tomline near Nacton), Felixstowe (not today's station, but one near the pier at Landguard Common). Tomline was criticised in the Suffolk Chronicle for building the stations where he "thinks people ought to be, rather than where people actually live". When a station was opened nearer to Felixstowe it was at Felixstowe Beach, close to land Tomline was looking to develop but not well placed to serve the more established part of town. It is claimed that it was also sited here to be away from the Ordnance Hotel, owned by his rival John Chevalier Cobbold.