This video is property of "Richard Chalklin"
2160p 4K HD!
A busy winter day at Westerfield on the East Suffolk Line and Felixstowe Branch Line on a Wednesday morning. We managed to get loads of tones including a 22 tone off a absolute legend Freightliner driver, we also saw him again later on 4L97!
Westerfield info:
Westerfield railway station is on a branch line off the Great Eastern Main Line, in the East of England, serving the village of Westerfield, Suffolk. It is 3 miles 41 chains (5.7 km) down the line from Ipswich and 72 miles 25 chains (116.4 km) measured from London Liverpool Street. It is situated at a junction of the Felixstowe Branch Line to Felixstowe and the East Suffolk Line to Lowestoft. Its three-letter station code is WFI.
The station was opened in 1859 and is located on the south side of the small village of Westerfield. Patronage has never been high and it may be the fact that its location as a junction of two branches has been partly responsible for keeping it open. Notwithstanding its low usage, a report commissioned by Suffolk County Council reported that 25,384 people lived in the catchment area for the station.
Westerfield station is currently managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains serving the station. Services are typically formed of Class 153, Class 156 and Class 170 trains. The Felixstowe line sees an hourly shuttle service to Ipswich and there is an hourly service to and from Lowestoft which was introduced in 2012 following the completion of a passing loop at Beccles. Behind the Ipswich-bound platform the original platform and station building of the Felixstowe Dock & Railway Company can still be seen.
History:
In about 1847, the Ipswich & Bury Railway had secured the rights to build a line from Ipswich to Woodbridge but construction was delayed for financial reasons. The Ipswich & Bury Railway was absorbed by the Eastern Union Railway in 1847, which gathered a number of the smaller railway concerns together.
The Halesworth, Beccles & Haddiscoe Railway was incorporated in 1851 and the first section of the East Suffolk Line from Beccles to Halesworth was constructed by Peto Brassey & Betts. The East Suffolk Railway, which had been incorporated on 3 July 1854, took over the powers of the Halesworth, Beccles & Haddiscoe Railway and the route opened on 4 December 1854.
Description:
The station is situated to the east of the Ipswich to Westerfield Road which crosses the East Suffolk Line on the level. The station building is situated on the southern side of the East Suffolk Line. There were two through-platforms when the station opened and these were supplemented by two further bay platforms when the Felixstowe Branch Line opened in 1877. The Felixstowe Railway Company had offices on the southernmost platform which are still extant today as a private residence after they had stood derelict for many years.
The goods yard was situated on the northern side of the line and consisted of a couple of sidings accessed by setting back from the main line.
To the west of the station and level crossing there was a short branch (1.5 miles long) which ran to a brick and tile works in what is now known as the Dales area of Ipswich. There was a second brick works just north of Grove Farm. In World War I the line was requisitioned by the government to serve a munitions depot in the Upper Dales. In 1921 the line was worked by a Garrett steam road tractor as the track was in poor condition and it was removed in about 1927.
The original signal box was situated at the east end of the Lowestoft platform but this was replaced by a standard Great Eastern structure located at the junction for the Felixstowe branch. Absolute Block signalling was withdrawn between Westerfield and Oulton Broad when the East Suffolk Line was upgraded to the Radio Electronic Token Block system. The box survived as the Felixstowe branch still had conventional block signalling with the next box being at Derby Road albeit with a large modern radio mast inelegantly attached to a Victorian structure.
Services:
Passenger trains serving Westerfield are currently operated by Greater Anglia. Outside of the weekday peaks and on Saturdays, trains calling at Westerfield are usually those travelling on the Felixstowe Branch Line between Ipswich and Felixstowe. These services typically call once every hour. East Suffolk Line trains between Ipswich and Lowestoft generally only call during the weekday peak hours and at limited times on Sundays.
6 сен 2024
