Halesworth
National Rail
General information
LocationHalesworth, East Suffolk
England
Grid referenceTM388778
Managed byGreater Anglia
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeHAS
ClassificationDfT category F1
History
Original companyEast Suffolk Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Eastern Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
4 December 1854first station opened
15 May 1858closed
1 June 1859present station opened
Passengers
2018/19Increase 102,016
2019/20Decrease 99,838
2020/21Decrease 15,854
2021/22Increase 84,792
2022/23Increase 99,576
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

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.

It is managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains that call.

History

The "moveable platforms", still in use, seen in 2011

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, although the platforms are still in use.

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 2019 the typical Monday-Sunday 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

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]

Disused terminal platforms of the former Southwold Railway at Halesworth, 1940

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

  1. ↑ Railway Passenger Stations by M.Quick page 220
  2. ↑ "Dudley Mall - Lowestoft to Ipswich Railway Directory". Archived from the original on 29 September 2008.
  3. ↑ "Roll of Honour - Suffolk - Halesworth". www.roll-of-honour.com. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "Halesworth Museum, Suffolk. Index Page". halesworthmuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "Halesworth Area Community Transport and bus hire, the 511 Community Bus serving Haleworth, Holton and district". www.hactbus.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  6. ↑ "East Suffolk Line - Community Rail Partnership". www.eastsuffolkline.com. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  7. ↑ Table 13 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  8. 1 2 Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1984). Branch Line to Southwold. Middleton Press. ISBN 978-0-906520-15-4.
  9. ↑ Hallet, Graham (July 2020). "Bringing home the milk". Great Eastern Journal. 183: 11.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Halesworth railway station.
Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Greater Anglia
Disused railways
Interchange for the Southwold Railway

52°20′49″N 1°30′22″E / 52.347°N 1.506°E / 52.347; 1.506


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