Fulbourn Railway

Traffic on the Fulbourn railway

The "route allocation" number for a line indicated which locomotives could travel on which lines, the higher the number then the heavier the locomotive.

In 1948 the British Rail route allocation map (1) showed that the Coldhams Lane to Chippenham Junction line (which goes through Fulbourn) was RA 8, which was quite high - even the mainline from London to Cambridge was only a 7+. Further along the line at Haughley (and onto Ipswich) it was also a 7+. The only way to get a locomotive that was RA 8 onto the line would be coming down from Ely to Cambridge, which was rated RA 9.

According to the 1952 timetable compendium (2) RA 8 would allow all locomotives to pass with the exclusion of group RA9 locomotives which include; A1, A2, A3, A4, V2 and W1 locomotives.

In addition, the notes(2) for this line also exclude O3, O4 and ex-LMS 8F locomotives from running.

Future

In this proposal document the line is called the Mid-Anglia line.

1) GERS MP045 BR(E) Route Allocation Map 2) GERS TW041 BR(E) Timetable Compendium 1952