Eastern Union Railway

Eastern Union Railway

Opening Ceremony of Ipswich Croft Street Railway Station, 11 June 1846 by Frederick Brett Russell
Overview
Locale	East Anglia
Dates of operation	1846–1856
Successor	Eastern Counties Railway (1854)
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The Eastern Union Railway (EUR) was an English railway company, at first built from Colchester to Ipswich; it opened in 1846. It was proposed when the earlier Eastern Counties Railway failed to make its promised line from Colchester to Norwich. The businessman John Chevallier Cobbold and the engineer Peter Bruff were prominent in launching the company. The allied but nominally independent Ipswich and Bury Railway built a line onwards to Bury St Edmunds, also opening in 1846, and soon amalgamated with the EUR.

Norwich was connected to the EUR in 1849 by the EUR building a line on from Haughley (on the former I&BR) to a terminus at Norwich, named Victoria. By this time the Eastern Counties Railway had reached Norwich via Ely by leasing the Norfolk Railway; the ECR was established at Thorpe station. The EUR also had a branch to Hadleigh, and leased a branch to Sudbury.

The EUR suffered by being dependent on the ECR for through traffic from Colchester to London, and the ECR used many predatory methods to the disadvantage of the EUR, and the latter became subject to serious financial difficulties. It leased its line to the ECR in 1854, and the ECR thereby increased its dominance in East Anglia. The EUR remained an independent company, but not operating any railway, until 1862 when it and the ECR were amalgamated with other networks to form the new Great Eastern Railway.

The main line from Colchester to Norwich remains in use today, except that the Victoria station has closed; the route forms the Great Eastern Main Line. The Sudbury branch is also still in use.