Mid-Suffolk Light Railway

Mid-Suffolk Light Railway
Falmouth Docks in full steam.
Locale	England
Terminus	Brockford
Commercial operations
Name	Mid-Suffolk Light Railway
Built by	Mid-Suffolk Light Railway
Original gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Preserved operations
Operated by	Mid-Suffolk Light Railway
Stations	2
Length	1⁄2 mile (0.8 km)
Preserved gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Commercial history
Opened	1908
Closed to passengers	1952
Closed	1952
Preservation history
1992	Formation of preservation company

The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway (MSLR) was a standard gauge railway intended to open up an agricultural area of central Suffolk; it took advantage of the reduced construction cost enabled by the Light Railways Act 1896. It was launched with considerable enthusiasm by local interests, and was to build a 50-mile (80 km) network, but actual share subscription was weak, and the company over-reached its available financial resources. It opened 19 miles (31 km) of route from Haughley to Laxfield in 1904 to goods traffic only, and income was poor, further worsening the company's financial situation.

The Board continued to harbour ambitions to complete the planned network, but crippling interest on loans and capital repayments falling due forced the company into receivership in 1906. Passenger operation was started in 1908, but this too was disappointing. At the grouping of the railways in 1923, the MSLR was still in receivership, and there was a protracted dispute over the liquidation of the debt, but in 1924 the Company was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway.

The poor usage of the line led to its closure in 1952. A heritage group started a railway museum site at Brockford, and as a charity it trades as the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway. The original line and the heritage line are informally referred to as the Middy Line.