Eccles Road  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Quidenham,Breckland England | ||||
| Grid reference | TM018900 | ||||
| Managed by | Greater Anglia | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | ECS | ||||
| Classification | DfT category F2 | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 30 July 1845 | Opened | ||||
| 18 April 1966 | Closed to freight | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  2,390 | ||||
| 2020/21 | 296 | ||||
| 2021/22 |  1,276 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 1,830 | ||||
| 2023/24 | 1,568 | ||||
| |||||
| |||||
Eccles Road railway station is on theBreckland line in theeast of England, serving the villages of Eccles,Quidenham andWilby in Norfolk. The line runs betweenCambridge in the west andNorwich in the east.
Eccles Road is situated betweenHarling Road andAttleborough, 104 miles 36 chains (168.1 km) fromLondon Liverpool Street viaEly. The station is managed byGreater Anglia, which also operates most of the services calling at the station. SomeEast Midlands Railway also stop at Eccles Road.
The station takes its name from being outside of the now abandoned original village of Eccles[1] although the church Eccles St. Mary still stands and is one of 124 originalround-tower churches in Norfolk. A new settlement, also called Eccles, has developed around the station. The station is situated in the civil parish of Quidenham, about 2 miles (3 km) north of that village, and 1 mile (1.5 km) north-east ofSnetterton Motor Racing Circuit.[2]
The station is unstaffed and has two platforms, adjacent to alevel crossing. Wooden level crossing gates used to be opened and closed manually by a signaller in the localsignal box, which is dated 1883.[citation needed] However, in 2012 the signal box was closed and the crossing was renewed with barriers controlled from Cambridge. The redundant signal box still stands across the road from the westbound (Cambridge) platform (as of 2024).
The Bill for theNorwich & Brandon Railway (N&BR) received Royal Assent on 10 May 1844. Work started on the line in 1844 and the line and its stations were opened on 30 July 1845. The line ran from Ely to Trowse, in Norwich. The link into Norwich was delayed due to the need to build a bridge over the River Wensum that kept the river navigable. 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 Eccles Road station became a Norfolk Railway asset.[3]
As of October 2024[update], Monday to Saturday there are two trains per day eastbound toNorwich, at 06:55 and 07:56 - both are timed to arrive in Norwich before 09:00 and operated byGreater Anglia.
Westbound, there are two trains per day on weekday afternoons, one operated byEast Midlands Railway which calls atHarling Road,Thetford, andEly, before reversing and continuing toLiverpool Lime Street; and the other toCambridge, operated by Greater Anglia. On Saturday afternoons there are two westbound services toStansted Airport via Cambridge, both operated by Greater Anglia.[4]
There is no Sunday service.
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Anglia | ||||
| East Midlands Railway Limited services |
52°28′14″N0°58′11″E / 52.47062°N 0.96961°E /52.47062; 0.96961
