The East Suffolk Line: Lowestoft to Ipswich Part 2 – Melton, Wickham Market & Woodbridge

I explore some more of the stations between Lowestoft & Ipswich. This time I visit Melton, Wickham Market & Woodbridge.

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Filmed on 20th January 2024

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Hi I’m Sarah with the trains and today I’m exploring some more stations on the east suffk line we’re now going to head off to Melton and here comes our train to take us to Melton and it is number 755 337 we have made it to Melton did just have quite a funny

Moment on the train I was standing by the doors waiting for the train to come into the station and um completely forgot that this this was a single track a bit of the line and that uh the platform wasn’t on the other side where I was standing looking out of the window

Thinking why the hell are we stopped not at a platform and then behind me I heard oh it’s the other side unfortunately people had been following what I was doing um for some reason I think because of the camera they just assumed that I came to this

Station a lot to watch trains I’m not sure but uh yeah I nearly got people to get off try and get off the wrong side of the train so if you’re out and about and you see me standing by a train door don’t automatically go by where I’m standing

Because my instinct could be completely wrong and was anyway now that’s out of the way brief station history here at Melton this station was opened in 1859 by the east suffk Railway as part of the line going from ipswitch all the way up to Yarmouth Southtown the station was in

Fact closed to passengers in 1955 it kept handling Goods until 1972 after that there was a private siding kept in use until 1976 for handling domestic coal and Road Stone as you can probably tell the station didn’t remain closed to passengers and after what must have been quite a vigorous

Campaign from from local people the station was reopened in 1984 at the start of the first world war some of the royal Engineers were actually dispatched to Melton to work on um defenses for potential Invasion here at the station and on a nearby Bridge although of course we were never actually invaded

I’m actually sort of intrigued as to why Melton was considered such a vital place to be reinforced something I’ll have to look into I think now we’ve had that brief station history let’s have a run round and rundown of the station facilities as you can see only one platform something

I would do well to remember over there you have got a lovely disused platform very very overgrown at this point we’ve got a delightful keep back from the platform Edge sign some lovely benches an accessibility ramp also got smart card reader Flappy plastic bin East suff lines Community rail partnership board

With plenty of good information including a suton who circular walk if that is the sort of thing that tickles your fancy and if I had longer I would probably do it on the old station building we’ve got this canopy to wait under more benches again oh interesting info about melter another

Flappy plastic bin some very bright Planters I’m surprised at how bright these Planters are for the time you and some cycle parking down at the bottom end of the platform we have got more information signs another smart card reader onward travel information as I found out in the past always useful and

The sign telling you which way the trains are going now heading out down the level access ramp we have got the blue badge parking at the station and cycle parking and over here we even have motorcycle parking as well as the Amazon Locker this one’s name is Christian down

Here we have more parking and there we have the original station building it’s not used by the railway anymore but it is home to a cafe called fodder correction fod is a butcher shop in Delhi don’t really know why I said Cafe I think I’m getting confused used with some other station or

Other out here we also have the ticket machine a help point and the departure screen which tells me I’ve got 13 minutes until my train back up the line heading towards Loft now I have seen what looks like a nice foot bth down to some water on the other side of the

Level crossing so I’m going to head off there for a quick walk and uh then come back to get the train and just hope I don’t get stuck on the other side of the barriers when they go down so it’ll be a very quick walk maybe even a run I don’t Know yes it’s going to be run and would you look at that the tid’s out here is some other water for your enjoyment it’s very still I’m afraid it’s not flowing well I hope you enjoyed that very brief trip to a little bit of water because much like that time I was at

M I sort of didn’t realize how little time I’d got left so now I’m back at the station ready and raring to go to get the train to Wick and Market my next station of this trip I do declare I just heard a train horn and here we go the

Train taking us to Wickam market and it is 755 330 already been on this one today no surprises there so I’ve made it to Wickam market and what might surprise you about Wickam Market is is that it doesn’t really serve the community of Wickham Market Wickham Market is about 2 miles away

This station actually serves campy Ash the station was opened in 1859 at the same time a branch to framlingham was opened which made wicker Market a Junction Station sadly the framlingham branch closed to passengers in 1952 and then to Freight in 1965 Goods facilities here at Wick Market also closed in

1964 and with that let’s give you a quick tour of the station facilities here at Wier Market we have got just the one platform as you can see this is single track although we do have a disused structure on the other side of the line on the platform we’ve got a lovely

Blue bench a warning sign a lovely station sign with the logo of the east suffk line Community rail partnership we’ve got more benches some good old tactile paving some less than happy Planters these ones sadly don’t look as uh cheery as the ones I’ve seen at other

Stations but it is January to be fair here we’ve got cycle parking information signs and a accessibility ramp that seems to have fallen over we also have a help Point attached not to a post but to this electricity box we also have these beautiful old benches that is quite

Something we have a lovely information sign about the station saying that the building was restored in 2017 when the platform canopy with ger Japanese detailing was reinstated we also have a ticket machine smart card reader thingy a flappy plastic bin and over there we have got a disused platform I assume

From the days when there was a branch to framlingham and we have the canopy over the platform out this way we have got information signs and the station car park the station building here at Wier Market is now in fact a cafe it’s really nice to see the old station buildings being used

For something rather than just being left derel just taking a quick walk out of the station cuz I’ve got a few minutes and unlike other stations I’m not having to worry about getting stuck on the wrong side of a level [Applause] Crossing From up here you do get a lovely view of that disused area over there and there is a quite lovely view of the line and the station itself and looking down there you can see quite clearly where the track used to be that sign says in case of emergency contact rail track I

Hate to point this out but that’s quite out of date rail track one of the darkest periods in the history of British Railways now back at the station I’ve just got a few minutes until the train to take me to my next destination of the day which is Woodbridge

I am now at Woodbridge Woodbridge station opened in 1859 as did all the others that I’ve covered today so you’re probably getting a bit sick of me saying that but I’m going to now hand over to narration Sarah to do the history of the station just because there’s ins and outs and

There’s accidents and all sorts and I don’t want to forget anything take it away narration Sarah on the day the station was opened by the East suffk Railway the East suffk Railway was absorbed into the Eastern C’s Railway This was later become part of the Great Eastern Railway and

Ultimately part of the London and Northeastern Railway the station buildings here at Woodbridge were designed by Frederick Barnes who also designed thirston elmswell and beeings which is a disused station nearby on the 1st of January 1927 there was an accident at Woodbridge a wagon coupling had broken at beeings and when the

Engine stopped at Woodbridge the rear portion of the Train Running downhill smashed into the back of a stationary train fortunately there was only one minor injury the good jard at Woodbridge closed on the 18th of April 1966 and the ticket office closed on the 7th of March 1967 when pay trains were

Introduced this is a type of train where you would buy the ticket from the conductor on the train rather than at the station on the 28th of January 2003 a train collided with a car at an ungated level crossing leading to the marina there was another accident on the

13th of December 2010 when a train hit a car on a level crossing close to the station in Spring 2021 full barriers were installed at haywoods Lane and Ferry Lane due to the incre ining number of people using those Crossings now we’ve had that station history let’s

Have a run around and rund down of the station facilities here at Woodbridge we have got two platforms we’ve got station buildings on both sides with the canopies we also have the freezing cold benches as well as the slightly nicer wooden benches Under The Canopy and an accessibility ramp as well as

Planters and station information signs some more information posters and another bench Flappy plastic bin and these beautiful windows that give you a really nice Lookout into the Boatyard cuz there are a lot of boats here at Woodbridge we also have departure screens we’ve got more posters here including one I haven’t seen before

Which instructs people to allow everyone off the train first before boarding uh that is quite nice if people could do that especially when it’s very busy we also have the help point over there we have got the foot Bridge connecting the two platforms so I am going to go and investigate

That it’s a double-sided foot Bridge so you can cross between the platforms or you can cross over the line without coming into the Station over here on platform one we have got more Planters more benches another canopy to wait under a sign with information about the history of Woodbridge and places of note that people might want to visit and next to this Flappy plastic bin a pay phone but does it

Work don’t know if you can hear that but there is in fact a dial tone and it’s come up on the screen so yes this pay phone does work we’ve also got a smart card reader a help point and a ticket machine now taking a walk out of the

Station and here we have the old station building now in use as a cafe and apparently a guest house and there is a shop in there as well into terms of level access it is across the level crossing so let’s go and find that and take a walk over There As you can see from that like at fford the level access between the platforms is a little bit of a trk now having explored the station and its history I’m going to go and have a little walk down by the River All I am now back at Woodbridge station ready to get my train off to IP switch so it’s just time for me to say thank you all so much for watching I hope you’ve enjoyed this video if you have please leave a like and consider subscribing for more special thanks to

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