Halesworth railway station
Halesworth railway station is on the East Suffolk Line in the east of England, serving the town of Halesworth, Suffolk. It is also the nearest station to the seaside town of Southwold. It is 31 miles 74 chains (51.4 km) down the line from Ipswich and 100 miles 53 chains (162.0 km) measured from London Liverpool Street; it is situated between Darsham and Brampton. Its three-letter station code is HAS.
| General information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Halesworth, East Suffolk England |
| Grid reference | TM388778 |
| Managed by | Greater Anglia |
| Platforms | 2 |
| Other information | |
| Station code | HAS |
| Classification | DfT category F1 |
| History | |
| Original company | East Suffolk Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Great Eastern Railway |
| Post-grouping | London and North Eastern Railway |
| Key dates | |
| 4 December 1854 | first station opened |
| 15 May 1858 | closed |
| 1 June 1859 | present station opened |
| Passengers | |
| 2017/18 | 97,870 |
| 2018/19 | 102,016 |
| 2019/20 | 99,838 |
| 2020/21 | 15,854 |
| 2021/22 | 84,792 |
| Notes | |
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road | |
It is managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains that call.
History
The first station at Halesworth was opened in 1854 but closed four years later and a new station opened in 1859 on an adjacent site.[1] The station was formerly situated on a level crossing. However, it was unusual in that the platforms swung across the road rather than having typical crossing gates.[2] The crossing is now permanently closed.
The cabin from the mechanical signal box at Halesworth has been preserved at the Mangapps Railway Museum.
On the afternoon of 18 December 1941 a German Dornier bombed the station-house,[3] killing the stationmaster, his wife and their young maid. The station-house was rebuilt but with a reduced size.
The Halesworth and District Museum[4] and the offices of Halesworth Area Community Transport[5] now occupy the station building.
The station has been "adopted" by volunteers from the East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership[6] who maintain the planting and remove litter. (The station is unstaffed by Greater Anglia.)
Services
As of December 2016[update] the typical Monday-Saturday off-peak service at Halesworth is as follows:
| Operator | Route | Rolling stock | Typical frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abellio Greater Anglia | Lowestoft - Oulton Broad South - Beccles - Brampton (on request) - Halesworth - Darsham - Saxmundham - Wickham Market - Melton - Woodbridge - Ipswich | Class 755 | 1x per hour in each direction |
On Sundays frequency reduces to one train every two hours in each direction. Trains direct to and from London Liverpool Street were withdrawn in 2010.
One weekday early-morning train is extended through to Harwich International and there is a return from there in the evening.[7]
Southwold Railway
From 1879 to 1929 Halesworth was also the western terminus of the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge Southwold Railway which ran to Southwold.[8]
The terminus was located alongside the main railway station, allowing cross-platform interchange of passengers and having transfer sheds for the exchange of goods between the narrow gauge wagons of the Southwold Railway and the standard gauge wagons used on the main line.[8]
In 1933 a siding was laid to serve the dairy (the big building in the picture) and milk tanks ran from Halesworth to Ilford (London) on a daily basis. The dairy closed on 30 April 1968 although rail traffic may have ceased before that date.[9]
References
- ^ Railway Passenger Stations by M.Quick page 220
- ^ . Archived from the original on 29 September 2008.
- ^ "Roll of Honour - Suffolk - Halesworth". www.roll-of-honour.com. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ "Halesworth Museum, Suffolk. Index Page". halesworthmuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ "Halesworth Area Community Transport and bus hire, the 511 Community Bus serving Haleworth, Holton and district". www.hactbus.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ "East Suffolk Line - Community Rail Partnership". www.eastsuffolkline.com. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ Table 13 National Rail timetable, May 2016
- ^ a b Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1984). Branch Line to Southwold. Middleton Press. ISBN 978-0-906520-15-4.
- ^ Hallet, Graham (July 2020). "Bringing home the milk". Great Eastern Journal. 183: 11.
External links
- Train times and station information for Halesworth railway station from National Rail
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Anglia | ||||
| Disused railways | ||||
| Interchange for the Southwold Railway | ||||
Coordinates: 52°20′49″N 1°30′22″E / 52.347°N 1.506°E