Great Eastern Railway

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Great Eastern Railway Shield
Great Eastern Railway Shield

The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had various other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923.

[edit] Overview

The GER was formed in 1862 by amalgamation of the Eastern Counties Railway with several smaller railways: the Norfolk Railway, the Eastern Union Railway, the Newmarket Railway, the Harwich Railway, the East Anglian Light Railway and the East Suffolk Railway, amongst others. In 1902 the Northern and Eastern Railway joined the GER.

Memorial to the staff of the Great Eastern Railway who sacrificed their lives in the first world war at London Liverpool Street
Memorial to the staff of the Great Eastern Railway who sacrificed their lives in the first world war at London Liverpool Street

Among the principal towns served were Southend-on-Sea, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth, Norwich, Cambridge and King's Lynn, and many of the East Anglian seaside resorts such as Hunstanton and Cromer. It also served a busy suburban traffic area, including Enfield, Chingford, Loughton and Ilford. This highly efficient suburban network was, in the early 20th century, the most heavily used steam-hauled commuter system in the world.

The majority of its locomotives were manufactured in Stratford works, which was on the site of today's Stratford International station.

The GER owned over 1200 miles of line and had a near-monopoly of services in East Anglia until the opening of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway in 1893.

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[edit] External links


The "Big Four" pre-nationalisation British railway companies
v • d • e

█ Great Western • █ London Midland & Scottish • █ London & North Eastern • █ Southern

GWR constituents: Great Western Railway • Cambrian Railways • Taff Vale Railway
Barry Railway • Rhymney Railway • (Full list)
LNER constituents: Great Central • Great Eastern • Great Northern • Great North of Scotland
Hull & Barnsley • North British • North Eastern • (Full list)
LMS constituents: Caledonian • Furness • Glasgow & South Western • Highland
Lancashire & Yorkshire • London and North Western • Midland • North Staffordshire • (Full list)
SR constituents: London and South Western Railway • London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
South Eastern Railway • London, Chatham and Dover Railway • (Full list)

See also: History of rail transport in Great Britain 1923 - 1947 • List of companies involved in the grouping