Brandon  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Brandon,Breckland England | ||||
| Coordinates | 52°27′14″N0°37′27″E / 52.4539°N 0.6243°E /52.4539; 0.6243 | ||||
| Grid reference | TL784872 | ||||
| Managed by | Greater Anglia | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | BND | ||||
| Classification | DfT category F2 | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | Norfolk Railway | ||||
| Pre-grouping | Eastern Counties Railway,Great Eastern Railway | ||||
| Post-grouping | London and North Eastern Railway | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 30 July 1845 (1845-07-30) | Opened asBrandon | ||||
| 1 July 1923 | RenamedBrandon (Norfolk) | ||||
| 1 March 1925 | RenamedBrandon | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  0.112 million | ||||
| 2020/21 | 26,804 | ||||
| 2021/22 |  93,682 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.115 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.119 million | ||||
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Brandon railway station is on theBreckland Line in theEast of England, serving the town ofBrandon, Suffolk, although the station is actually situated across the county boundary inNorfolk. The line runs betweenCambridge in the west andNorwich in the east.
Brandon is 86 miles 32 chains (139 km) fromLondon Liverpool Street viaEly. It is managed byGreater Anglia, which operates most of the services. The station building was designed by the sculptorJohn Thomas and completed in 1845. The station is Grade II listed.
The bill for theNorwich & Brandon Railway (N&BR) receivedRoyal Assent on 10 May 1844.[1] The line was to link with anEastern Counties Railway (ECR) project of a line fromNewport in Essex to Brandon in Norfolk. Once complete the line would enable trains to travel from Norwich to London. Work started on the line in 1844.[2]
One month before the N&BR opened a Bill authorising the amalgamation of theYarmouth & Norwich Railway with the N&BR came into effect and so, the soon to open, Brandon station became aNorfolk Railway asset.[3] The station building was designed by the sculptorJohn Thomas, some of whose other rail stations areGrade II listed. To blend it with the local vernacular, Thomas designed it to be built with Brandonflint.[4]
The line opened on 30 July 1845 at the same time as the ECR's Brandon to Newport (Essex) line which served Cambridge and Ely. However, the line only got to Trowse, in the suburbs of Norwich, as the contractors were having to build a swing bridge to cross the navigable River Wensum. This was finished in December and on 15 December services started running through toNorwich.[5]
Generous provision was made for the maintenance of locomotives at Brandon with a six-road engine house being provided, although once the ECR took over the NR in 1848, the shed's role was diminished. Although it was reported in theLocomotive Magazine during 1901 that stabling was being undertaken there. A picture of 1911 shows goods stock stabled outside the shed buildings.[6]
The ECR and its rival theEastern Union Railway (EUR) were both sizing up the NR to acquire and expand their railway empire. The ECR trumped the EUR by taking over the NR, including Brandon station, on 8 May 1848.[7]
In September 1853, a freight train came to a halt near Brandon, due to a defect on the locomotive. The driver of a second freight train ignored a red signal and consequently his train was in a rear-end collision with the first. Time interval working was in force at the time.[8]
By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway, which wished to amalgamate formally but could not obtain government agreement for this until anAct of Parliament on 7 August 1862, when theGreat Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by the amalgamation. Actually, Brandon became a GER station on 1 July 1862 when the GER took over the ECR and the EUR before the Bill received the Royal Assent.[9]
The system settled down for the next six decades, apart from the disruption ofWorld War I. The difficult economic circumstances after the war led the Government to pass theRailways Act 1921 which led to the creation of theBig Four. The GER amalgamated with several other companies to create theLondon and North Eastern Railway (LNER). Brandon became an LNER station on 1 January 1923.[citation needed]
Six months into LNER ownership it was decided to rename the station asBrandon (Norfolk) (1 July 1923). It is uncertain as to why as, according to Butt, there were other stations called Brandon, but none had the suffix-less titleBrandon. The renaming was seen as unnecessary and on 1 March 1925 the station reverted to its original name.[citation needed]
Onnationalisation in 1948 the station and its services came under the auspices of theEastern Region of British Railways.[citation needed]
In 1978 Brandon became an unstaffed station.[citation needed]
Onprivatisation,Central Trains took over the management of the station and all of its services on 5 January 1997.[citation needed]
On 1 April 2004 management of the station and the bulk of its services came underNational Express East Anglia, then known asone.[10][11]
On 11 November 2007 services betweenLiverpool and Norwich were transferred toEast Midlands Trains upon the breakup of the Central Trains franchise.[citation needed]
Until spring 2009, an original telegraph pole route remained in situ from here toWymondham; this was one of the last remaining in the country.[citation needed]
The station and most of its services were transferred toAbellio Greater Anglia on 5 February 2012.[12]
On 18 August 2019, all services operated by East Midlands Trains transferred toEast Midlands Railway upon the expiry of the former's franchise.[citation needed]
In 2020, Greater Anglia planned[13] to demolish the historic 1840s station building to enlarge the car park. On 6 May 2020 Greater Anglia confirmed that it had been granted permission to carry out the work. The project was expected to begin by the end of 2020.[14]
Greater Anglia's plan was to replace it with a car park and "anti-vandal waiting shelters". In spite of objections by the local parish council and others,Breckland District Council said, "The only issues of consideration ... are the method of demolition and site restoration. The purpose of this application is not to assess the historical merit of the building and potential restoration of the building."[citation needed]
However, according toHistoric England, railway stations of such an early date are considered to be "of international significance as being among the earliest railway structures in the world, and even partial survivals need to be assessed carefully".[4] Nevertheless, the Railway Heritage Trust (sponsored byNetwork Rail andHighways England)[15] did not support the objectors' cause. HoweverSAVE arranged for plans to be drawn up for an office conversion, in another attempt to preserve the building.[4]
In August 2020 the planned demolition was put on hold following campaign groupSAVE Britain’s Heritage launching judicial proceedings.[16] On 28 August 2020, the station was granted Grade II listed status.[17][18]
A regular hourly service calling at Brandon was introduced in 2007. This resulted in a significant increase in the number of passengers using the station.[citation needed]
As of February 2023[update] there is typically one train per hour toNorwich and one toStansted Airport viaCambridge, operated byGreater Anglia.[19]
East Midlands Railway operates a single morning service to Norwich from Monday to Saturday, on its route fromNottingham, typically departing at 07:20 on weekdays and 07:23 on Saturdays. Two East Midlands Railway services serve the station on Sundays, departing at 11:13 and 14:38 respectively towards Norwich.[20]
Services towards Norwich were suspended between March and April 2023 due to structural damage to the station building.[21][22][23][24][excessive citations]
The station was used as a location in an episode of theBBC television seriesDad's Army.[25]
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Anglia | ||||
| East Midlands Railway Liverpool-Norwich Limited services |
