Railways:LNER
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) period on the Cambridge to Newmarket line began on 1 January 1923, when the Great Eastern Railway became part of the LNER.[1]
This page is intentionally limited to the Cambridge-Newmarket corridor (Coldham Lane Junction to Newmarket), including Fulbourne/Fulbourn, Six Mile Bottom and Dullingham.
Route context in LNER years (1923-1947)
The route into Cambridge used the 1896 Coldham Lane deviation, introduced to avoid conflicting crossings on the original Newmarket approach to Cambridge station. That alignment remained the operating route throughout the LNER years.[2][3]
At Fulbourne, period sources record the long-standing railway spelling with a trailing "e" (despite the village spelling Fulbourn), as used in station signage and timetables into the 20th century.[4][5]
LNER operations with direct local impact
A significant local LNER-era change was wartime freight adaptation at Fulbourne. Concrete grain silos were built in 1940, and after discussions with the LNER a trailing siding connection from the down main line was laid in 1942 to serve the site.[6]
Local photographic evidence from the period also shows day-to-day LNER-era mixed traffic work close to Cambridge/Fulbourne (for example J15 shunting near Brookfields and the cement works).[7]
Liveries
The LNER Encyclopaedia has a detailed description of the liveries of the LNER [8] but here is a summary:
| Type | 1923-1941 | 1941-1948 ~! |
|---|---|---|
| Freight Locomotives | Black | |
| Tank Locomotives | Black | |
| Passenger Locomotives | Apple Green |
Passenger and race traffic on the Cambridge-Newmarket section
For ordinary service, Adderson records ten Cambridge-Newmarket trains in the Summer 1937 timetable, with most calling at intermediate stations and most continuing east beyond Newmarket.[9]
Race traffic remained central to how the section operated in LNER days. Contemporary reporting records that after Grouping, London race specials were concentrated on King's Cross rather than St Pancras, and that from 1930 A3 Pacifics were authorised from Hitchin to Newmarket, including named A3 workings on Cesarewitch traffic in 1931.[10]
Although race traffic was Newmarket-focused, those trains depended on the same Cambridge-Fulbourne-Six Mile Bottom-Dullingham approach section.
Links
- Railways:Cambridge to Newmarket Railway
- Railways:Coldham's Lane Junction
- Railways:Fulbourn railway station
- Railways:Six Mile Bottom
- Railways:Newmarket Railway
- LNER Encyclopaedia
References
- ↑ Richard Adderson, local transcript notes (Cambridge-Newmarket section), p. 4.
- ↑ Disused Stations, "Cambridge Station - Part 2", http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/cambridge/index2.shtml (accessed 22 March 2026).
- ↑ Disused Stations, "Cambridge Station - Part 1", http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/cambridge/index1.shtml (accessed 22 March 2026).
- ↑ Disused Stations, "Fulbourne Station", http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/f/fulbourne/index.shtml (accessed 22 March 2026).
- ↑ Great Eastern Railway Society, "Cambridge to Newmarket: Fulbourne 2", https://www.gersociety.org.uk/stations/cambridge-to-newmarketp/fulbourne-2/28 (accessed 22 March 2026).
- ↑ Disused Stations, "Fulbourne Station", http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/f/fulbourne/index.shtml (accessed 22 March 2026).
- ↑ Richard Adderson, local transcript notes (Cambridge-Newmarket section), p. 16.
- ↑ LNER Encyclopaedia, https://www.lner.info/article/liveries/livery.php
- ↑ Richard Adderson, local transcript notes (Cambridge-Newmarket section), p. 5.
- ↑ B. Perren, "Newmarket and its race and racehorse traffic," Trains Illustrated Summer Annual (1960), pp. 55-56 (local scan transcript).