Station Name: NEWMARKET (2nd station)
Still open but included for completeness

[Source: Nick Catford]

Date opened:

7 April 1902

Location:

South side of West Road

Company on opening:

Great Eastern Railway

Date closed to passengers: Still open
Date closed completely: Still open
Company on closing: Still open
Present state: Still open
County: Cambridgeshire
OS Grid Ref:

TL645627

Date of visit: 5 October 2014

Notes: By the end of the nineteenth century it was clear that the existing station at All Saints could not cope with increasing demand, and plans were drawn up for a new station 800yd south-west of the terminus. The contract for the new station was let on 18 September 1900 to Parnell & Co; the cost was £23,464

The imposing new station, together with The Avenue connection to High Street, opened on 7 April 1902 and was funded by local millionaire racehorse owner Sir Harry McCalmont, who saw the great benefit to the Newmarket racing industry. Some of the Jockey Club hierarchy had at first opposed the new station as they thought it would bring in the wrong class of visitor. High Street shopkeepers were apprehensive too as they thought that the more direct route to the racecourses afforded by The Avenue would lose them trade. Attitudes changed, however, when it became obvious that the railway had brought considerable new wealth to the town. The Avenue split, allowing arriving carriages to make a circular route along the west arm of The Avenue, through the station forecourt and out along the east arm of The Avenue. The west arm was later renamed Station Approach. During 1903 improvements to the station were carried out at a cost £64,721; almost three times what the station cost to build!

The station was entered through a wide forecourt with ample parking for the many horse carriages plying for hire. Biddle (1973) describes the building as 'a lengthy single-storey frontage - stone-mullioned windows in banded brickwork broken by a glass verandah at transom level, the semi-circular heads peering out above being set in radial voussiors between five pairs of chubby three-quarter round columns under a shallow cornice'. The two platforms, covered by decorative canopies and linked by a glazed passenger subway, were some of the longest in East Anglia and were designed to accommodate race day specials. The platform on the town side was entered through an imposing oak panelled booking hall leading in to the down line to Bury. Facilities included the stationmaster's office, parcels office and cloakrooms.

The platform, for the Cambridge up line, had a smaller panelled booking hall (with an external verandah to protect arriving passengers from the weather) reached from Crockfords Road, where there was another wide forecourt enclosed by iron railings. Passengers had the use of comfortable 1st and 2nd class waiting rooms and restaurants on both platforms and a W H Smith bookstall was also provided on both platforms. One bookstall was destroyed by fire sometime after 1953. The station was lit by electricity from the opening.

The station signal box, which predated the station, was at the north end of the down platform. A bay platform with a run-round loop was provided on the up side for passengers using the Ely line; this remained in use until this service was withdrawn. The bay platform was at times also used for parcels traffic. The loop line in the bay also served a goods dock. By 1926 a second bay line had been added at the north end of the down platform but this was probably never used by passenger trains and, in reality, was just a siding. By the 1920s both canopies had been extended to run almost the full length of the platforms. The 1926 OS map (reproduced below) shows a second signal box on the down side between the station and Woodditton Road bridge; its purpose and history are unknown.

The new station had limited goods and parcels facilities so the old terminus was retained as the town's goods station. After closure to passengers the old station continued to deal with increasing horse and general parcel traffic, but the passenger platform was retained for race specials and was also occasionally used by grooms accompanying horses until at least 26 July 1954. A large square cattle dock with pens on the dock was provided just to the north of the down platform of the new station.

During the first half of the twentieth century the station remained busy, but after WW2 road transport was becoming increasingly popular and passenger numbers declined through the 1950s. In 1960 records show that 64,679 passenger tickets were issued.

Although the Cambridge - Newmarket line was not proposed for closure in the ‘Beeching Report’ it was listed as a route proposed for’ modification', which usually meant closure of intermediate stations. Fulbourne and Six Mile Bottom closed on 2 January 1967 and from the same date Dullingham and Newmarket became unstaffed. At this time the subway, which, although lined with white glazed bricks was often wet and smelly, was closed and filled in. Passengers wanting to reach platform 2 then had to use the barrow crossing by the signal box.

The Newmarket to Ely line closed to all traffic on 13 September 1965 and with it the Snailwell chord of the three-way junction. In the final timetable there were three Newmarket to Ely and two Ely to Newmarket trains. Only one each way was indicated in the 14 June 1965 to 17 April 1966 ER timetable as continuing after 11 September. No indication was given in the timetable that this service would be withdrawn, although it did indicate that Soham, Fordham, Haughley and Needham 'may be closed during the currency of the timetable'.

By the mid 1960s the cattle dock was no longer used and it was replaced with a coal depot which was still in use through the 1980s.

From the coming of the diesels – and possibly earlier - Newmarket had a pilot loco supplied by Cambridge depot. In diesel days it was normally a Class 03, and this could occasionally be seen stabled in the bay platform and adjacent to the signal box. The presence of a pilot at Newmarket appeared to be seasonal.

Until the present frequency of trains was introduced, stations between Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds had a rather erratic service with long gaps between trains. Complaints about the Sunday service in particular were common, and BR partly stifled these by running a Sunday afternoon Cambridge - Newmarket (and return) DMU. This service survived into the 1970s and was to become the last timetabled service to terminate at/start from Newmarket.

In the early 1970s the up platform buildings were demolished and replaced with ‘bus shelters’ at the north end of the platform; thereafter all up trains called at that end of the platform close to the barrow crossing and the new station entrance in Green Road at the north end of the down platform. Down passengers continued to use the station canopy for weather protection and trains stopped alongside, in the middle of the platform. The building itself was taken out of use and sold with all windows and doors facing onto the platform being bricked up.

Newmarket signal box closed on 3 January 1978 following bad storm damage and was immediately demolished. In its last years it was the point of single-line token exchange for the section to/from Chippenham Junction, having taken over this function from Newmarket Yard Junction box when that closed on 3 April 1967. Token exchange aside, Newmarket box latterly controlled only the signals in the station area, a crossover and the points to the Dower Wood grain mill sidings. These points were located immediately north-east of New Cheveley Road bridge.

There was a further reduction in facilities when the line was singled and re-signalled in 1983. At this time the up platform was demolished (its site is now occupied by housing) and the down platform canopy was removed and that section of the platform fenced off. Trains in both directions now only used the north end of the platform..

In 2003 the station was provided with new passenger shelters, improved signage and security cameras in a £20,000 improvement project carried out by Anglia Railways. Today Newmarket can hardly boast the possession of a railway station, certainly not in terms of the grandeur of stations of the past. The unmanned rail stop can perhaps more aptly be described as a halt. Its facilities are confined to the north end of the long broad platform, some decent enclosed shelters and cycle racks. Two-carriage diesel-powered ‘Sprinter’ trains provide an hourly service during weekdays. Ticket sales have, however been rising with 88,271 in 2004/5 rising steadily to 268,696 in 2012/13. A proportion of these will be London commuters: a journey made more convenient by the hourly trains and the frequent Cambridge - London electric services.

Experiments to provide battery traction on Class 379 EMUs are ongoing and this will allow these units to operate independent of overhead line equipment. It is thus within the realms of possibility that Newmarket will one day see the return of a peak through service to/from Liverpool Street.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NEWMARKET RAILWAY
The first proposal for a railway to serve Newmarket came in 1845 when a prospectus for the ‘Newmarket and Chesterford Railway with a branch to Cambridge ‘ was issued in October for a 17½-mile line from half a mile north of Chesterford on the Eastern Counties Railway's London - Cambridge line which opened on 30 July 1845. The proposed line would provide a fast commuter route between Newmarket and the Capital.

The promoters were lucky to obtain the services of engineers Robert Stephenson, who already had an extensive portfolio of new lines, and John Braithwaite, who had been Engineer-in-Chief to the Eastern Counties Railway until May 1843.

The proposed new line quickly received much social and political support including that of John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland, who owned the Cheveley Park Estate. Cheveley Park is the oldest stud in Newmarket, with evidence that the site has been used for breeding horses since the reign of Athelstan (924–939). While many new railways were constructed primarily to serve industry, the influential Jockey Club was of the opinion that “a railway to Newmarket would not only be a great convenience to parties anxious to participate in the truly British sport of racing but would enable Members of Parliament to superintend a race and run back to London in time for the same night’s debate“. As a result, the Company’s Bill was unopposed and had an easy passage through Parliament, receiving Royal assent on 16 July 1846.

Share capital of £350,000 was authorised with borrowing powers of £116,666. The Act contained a number of unusual clauses including one that forbade the company from taking on board or setting down passengers at Cambridge station or within three miles of the station between 10am and 3pm on Sundays. Any contravention would incur a £5 per person fine payable to Addenbrooke’s Hospital or another charity nominated by the University.

The contract for construction was awarded to the well known railway contractor Thomas Jackson, and the ceremony for the ‘turning of the first sod’ took place at Dullingham on 30 September 1846.

On 11 November 1846 the N & C convened a shareholders’ meeting to approve an agreement with the Eastern Counties Railway to lease the main line between Newmarket and Chesterford and the Cambridge branch upon completion. Following objections from the Eastern Counties this was not approved and, as a reprisal, the N & C proposed a line from Chesterford to make a connection with the Great Northern Railway (under construction at that time) at Royston. This would have provided and independent route into East Anglia using connections with the Norfolk Railway at Thetford, and the Eastern Union Railway at Bury St Edmunds.

In June 1847 the Company obtained Acts to extend its line to Bury with a branch to Ely and to Thetford, which would have provided a new through route to Norwich with a connection to the Norfolk Railway which ran from Brandon to Norwich and Yarmouth. None of the lines were built at this time due in part to friction between the Eastern Counties and the Norfolk Railway, with the Newmarket & Chesterford Railway becoming a pawn in the acrimonious negotiations between the two larger companies.

While these complex ‘games’ were being played out, construction of the twin-track line proceeded rapidly, and in 1847 the Newmarket & Chesterford Railway changed its name to the Newmarket Railway.

Further unsuccessful negotiations with the Eastern Counties Railway to lease or amalgamate with Newmarket Railway took place in February 1848. Following this failure to reach an agreement, the Newmarket Company approached the Norfolk Railway who agreed to transfer the proposed Thetford – Newmarket route to them. This proposal would have diverted around £40,000 worth of traffic away from the ECR onto the Newmarket Railway but, before an agreement was reached, the ECR changed its mind and approached the Newmarket Company with a new proposal. An agreement was reached on 27 March allowing the ECR to take over the management of the line. As a result, the Newmarket Company deferred its agreement with the Norfolk Railway and abandoned its own scheme to extend its main line south-west to Royston. As part of their agreement, the ECR would provide funds to liquidate the liabilities of the Newmarket Railway and to complete the Cambridge branch. Newmarket shareholders would receive a guaranteed dividend of 3 per cent for two years and, thereafter, 3 per cent.

On 3 January 1848 the Newmarket Railway opened its main line to goods traffic, opening fully on 4 April 1848, with intermediate stations (from south to north) at Bourn(e) Bridge, Balsham Road, Westley (later renamed Six Mile Bottom) and Dullingham. The rolling stock included six tender locomotives (Twelve were ordered but only six were delivered, the remainder going to the Stockton & Darlington Railway). built by Gilkes, Wilson and Company of Middlesbrough, first class, second class and third class carriages, luggage vans and horse boxes. The Company timetable for August 1848 shows four passenger trains on weekdays in each direction with two on Sundays. At that time passengers wishing to continue to Bury St Edmunds had to travel by horse and carriage from Newmarket. The result of the three months up to 30 June 1848, showed that the total traffic receipts were £3,085 7s 7d and the running expenses £2,059 5s 7d, showing a balance of £1,026 2s Od. The Newmarket Company ran its own line for only ten months with the ECR taking control of the management on 2 October 1848. This agreement still, however, had to be approved by ECR shareholders.

By this time the fortunes of ‘Railway King’ George Hudson had begun to decline. Hudson had been appointed Chairman of the ailing Eastern Counties Railway in 1845. He was interested in the ECR as he felt it offered an opportunity for an alternative route from York to London, although the truth was the ECR had an appalling reputation for time-keeping and safety at this time. Hudson immediately ordered the payment of a generous dividend for the shareholders.

In 1848 a pamphlet called ‘The bubble of the age’ or ‘The fallacy of railway investment, Railway Accounts and Railway dividends’ alleged that the dividend of Hudson’s companies was paid out of capital rather than revenue. Hudson had been borrowing money at a high interest rate to keep some of his companies afloat, and many of these companies were left in a difficult position with falling revenues in an economic depression and little scope for future shareholder dividends. By October 1848 it seemed doubtful whether the disgruntled ECR shareholders would approve the agreement with the Newmarket Railway. At the ECR’s Annual General Meeting on 28 February 1849 Hudson and his Directors decided not to put the confirmation of the agreement before the shareholders. Hudson decided not to attend to face the wrath of the shareholders, and within a short time he was forced to resign and the agreement with the Newmarket Railway was scuppered.

Having taken over control of the line without the agreement of its shareholders the ECR did its best to force the Newmarket Railway out of business by forcing exorbitant running costs on the company. The ECR introduced a charge of 1s 5d a mile for locomotives, much in excess of the normal rate elsewhere, and it also charged the Newmarket Railway £600 a year for the management or rather, as the Chairman of the Newmarket Railway had no hesitation in calling it, the ‘mismanagement’ of the line.

During the three months to 4 January 1849 the Newmarket Company made a profit of only £704, out of which they had to pay bond interest of £2,000, a problem rendered all the more difficult because the Eastern Counties Railway held on to even this small balance on the grounds of alleged other claims; in addition the Newmarket Company had to defray out of capital the cost of maintaining the permanent way and stations.

On 22 March 1849 a committee was set up to look into the affairs of the company. The committee was chaired by Cecil Fane, a Commissioner in Bankruptcy. In his report presented on 14 May 1849 Fane was of the opinion that the only way of saving the company was to construct the Cambridge branch.

The Newmarket Railway considered regaining control of the line and approaching contractor Thomas Jackson to take over the operation; nothing came of this or a further appeal to the Eastern Counties Railway for more lenient terms. Without funds to pay Jackson to build the Cambridge branch it was soon clear that the only option was to close the line which was quickly effected without consulting the shareholders. The line closed to all traffic on 30 June 1850 just 2½ years after it opened, and Newmarket lost its rail connection. The ECR took all the company’s rolling stock in lieu of existing debts.

With no income, and mounting debts, the company had no option other than to go into administration under the control of Commissioner Fane who soon made it clear that he was unimpressed by the manner in which the directors had closed the line without calling a shareholders’ meeting. He criticised the decision to build the line from Chesterford (a small village) rather than Cambridge (a large town) and reprimanded the Board for mishandling negotiations with the Norfolk and Eastern Counties Railways. A meeting of shareholders was eventually called on 27 July 1850 at which the existing Newmarket board was replaced by Cecil Fane and a new board of Directors.

The line was reopened between Newmarket and Chesterford on 9 September 1850 using rolling stock borrowed from the Eastern Counties Railway. G W Brown was appointed Manager, and he was quickly able to increase revenue and reduce running costs. All outstanding debts were renegotiated and settled amicably, and Fane was even able to convince the ECR to permit trains to run into its station at Cambridge, avoiding the unnecessary expense of a separate station. Under the Eastern Counties and Newmarket Railways Arrangements Act 1852 the ECR agreed that in any year after the opening of the Cambridge branch in which the revenue was insufficient to pay a dividend of 3 per cent on the Newmarket Company’s capital of £350,000, the Eastern Counties Railway would make it good up to not exceeding £5000 in any one year. In the first year of operations this agreement cost the ECR £3,705 9s 7d.



At this point it’s worth mentioning that some strange discrepancies appeared in the track mileages which ‘moved’ Dullingham and Six Mile Bottom stations much closer to Newmarket. Although technically this would mean a loss of revenue at the Newmarket end of the line, it had the knock-on effect of increasing mileages from Newmarket, Dullingham and Six Mile Bottom to the Chesterford section stations. This may account for the high fares applied to the latter section during the course of its existence, thus hastening its demise. However, although skulduggery is suspected it is not known if this was indeed the case. The suspect mileages appear in a number of surviving Bradshaw’s Guides but, significantly, not until the ECR had taken over operation of the line.

In 1851 the ECR published a guide aimed at promoting their routes and the places they served. The entry for the Newmarket & Chesterford would do little to attract custom. 'The line is sixteen miles long; and, as a pecuniary speculation, has been a most unfortunate one. It was constructed by an independent Company, but is now worked by the Eastern Counties. Chesterford we have already noticed; and between that place and Newmarket, there is little worth attention.'

Having settled the debts owed to Thomas Jackson the contractor agreed to finish the line at a cost not exceeding £9,000. Cecil Fane had an ingenious plan for financing the construction costs. As built, the Chesterford – Cambridge line was double track, but it was clear that the volume of traffic that would be handled by the line once the Cambridge branch was opened could easily be accommodated on a single line with passing places. On the southern section of the line one set of rails and sleepers were lifted, and these provided 11 miles of track and sleepers which could be used for the Cambridge branch, far in excess of what was needed.

Construction of the single-track branch was far from plain sailing as the connection with the Eastern Counties Railway at Cambridge proved problematic. The plans approved by Parliament showed a curve at the junction with a radius of 20 chains but, owing to circumstances beyond the control of the company, it was necessary to realign the curve to one with a radius of only 8 chains. This deviation required the consent of the Commissioners of Railways but was turned down as the company’s powers of compulsory purchase had expired and the approval of the landowners involved had not been received. The impasse was eventually resolved and the line was completed. An inspection place on 7 October 1851 and, with approval now received, the Cambridge branch opened to all traffic on 9 October 1851.

By this time it was clear that the Chesterford line would never be profitable so it closed permanently on 9 October 1851, coinciding with the opening of the Cambridge branch; the service from Newmarket was diverted onto the new branch from that date despite the distance between London and Newmarket increasing by 7½ miles. The last timetable issued in August 1851 showed three trains in each direction and no Sunday service. Trains stopped at the intermediate stations only by request. Two intermediate stations on the Cambridge branch were provided at Cherry Hinton and Fulbourne. Neither of these was ready for the opening of the line and they did not appear in Bradshaw until August 1852. Cherry Hinton station was very short-lived closing permanently in March 1854.

The new line was an immediate success and quickly revived the fortunes of the company. Four months later the Company declared a dividend of 1s 6d with a further dividend of 5s 0d being paid the following August: a paltry return on a £25 share, but considering that the company had just come out of bankruptcy it was a promising rebirth.

An Act of 1852 authorised the Eastern Counties Railway to purchase the Newmarket Company at any time. It exercised this right and took over the Newmarket Company’s bond debt of £116,666, and by 30 June 1854 had paid off the debentures of £210,000 in cash which they had issued in purchase of the Newmarket Company’s lines. They thus paid £326,923 for 13 miles of line between Cambridge and Newmarket and included the redundant track between Six Mile Bottom and Great Chesterford which was not officially abandoned until 1858. The ECR timetable for 1853 shows three trains in each direction on weekdays, with trains stopping at the four intermediate stations only by request. The ECR minutes for 10 August 1854 record that the line of the route from Six Mile Bottom is to be abandoned and the land offered to the original owners. An ECR working timetable from September 1856, five years after the southern section of the Newmarket Railway closed but two years before the Act of Abandonment, confirms there was no goods traffic over the old line, and it is likely there was no traffic of any kind after 1851. The minutes of the ECR make reference to ‘Chesterford Junction’ at least as late as 1856 but not of the junction at Six Mile Bottom after the 1851 closure. This suggests the junction at Six Mile Bottom was removed but the remaining single track remained connected at Chesterford, probably until after the Abandonment Act which was passed on 8 July 1858.

N & C Fares
Newmarket - London
1st class
2nd class
3rd Class
Parly
August 1848
14/2
10/6
6/6
5/5½
March 1850
15/-
11/-
7/-
5/5½
May 1851
15/6
11/6
7/6
5/5½

Between 1852 and 1854 the Newmarket line was extended north to Bury St Edmunds, thereby completing the route to Ipswich. This extension involved tunnelling 1099yd under the Warren Hill training grounds to the north of the 1848 station. When the Bury St Edmunds extension opened on 1 April 1854, trains running into the old terminus then had to reverse out of the station to continue their journey to Bury.

Under an Act of 1862 the Eastern Counties, East Anglian, Newmarket, Eastern Union and Norfolk Railways and about thirty smaller companies amalgamated to form the Great Eastern Railway.

Doubling of the line between Cambridge and Six Mile Bottom was completed in the second half of 1875. When the line from Newmarket to Ely opened on 1 September 1879, bringing additional through traffic, the awkward reversal was avoided by opening a new island platform at a slightly lower level east of the original terminus. The new platform was usually referred to as the ‘Lower’ station. For some years Newmarket was, in effect, two separate stations although they did share a restaurant. The original single upper platform was used by trains from Cambridge terminating at Newmarket while the lower island was used by through trains to Bury and Ely.

On 14 September 1880 GER minutes record a proposed revival of the abandoned line between Chesterford to Six Mile Bottom and an estimate of the cost of land and works was requested. Although a revival of the line was again discussed in 1892 and 1893 it was always deferred and no action was ever taken.

On 21 April 1885 a non-timetabled station called Warren Hill was opened at the north end of Warren Hill Tunnel. This was built to cater for the increasing number of passengers arriving from the east and the north on race days.

At Cambridge major platform lengthening and remodelling of the main building took place in 1863, and the station layout was altered in 1896 by deviating the Newmarket line approaches with a new alignment curving round to the north of the Romsey Town area of Cambridge to a new junction with the Ely – Cambridge line at Coldham Lane Junction. This avoided the delays caused by the previous difficult crossing of main lines to enter Cambridge station. The old alignment was retained as a siding for carriage storage until at least 1910 but disconnected at Brookfields - the point of commencement of the deviation half a mile west of the former Cherry Hinton station.

Newmarket was home to all the major British racing and training stables which resulted in constant inward/outward traffic in horses going to and coming from race meetings all over the country. Additional horse traffic came from the annual sales at Tattersalls in December and the bloodstock sales which took place at the spring, summer and autumn race meetings. Around the turn of the twentieth century around 12,500 horses were being dealt with annually.

Newmarket station was replaced with a much larger facility half-a-mile south on 7 April 1902. The town’s grand 'New' station opened together with the construction of the access road ‘The Avenue' giving better connections to the town and racecourse. Both were made possible by substantial financial backing from millionaire racehorse owner Colonel Harry McCalmont of Cheveley Park. The new station lacked goods facilities, and the old terminus was retained as the town's goods station and for all horse traffic. It was also used by excursion trains on race days until at least 1954.

During WW1 the railway and goods yard were busy moving troops and armaments. The old terminus building was used as a temporary respite/hospital for wounded soldiers. At the 1923 Grouping the London & North Eastern Railway took control of all the lines around Newmarket, but already there had been a slow decline in rail travel owing to emerging road transport. WW2 was an exceptionally busy period for strategically positioned Newmarket station when traffic increased by 600%. The goods yard proved invaluable for the handling of armaments, including tanks and armoured vehicles as well as thousands of tons of road-making and building material for the many airfields under construction in East Anglia. Race meetings continued throughout the war years and many race specials had to be dealt with in addition to the military traffic.

Warren Hill station closed in 1945. After the arduous work and neglected maintenance during the war the rail network and rolling stock were in a poor condition; the LNER suffered near-bankruptcy and could not afford the repairs and improvements necessary. 1948 brought Nationalisation with the lines around Newmarket coming under the control of the Eastern Region of British Railways.

Newmarket station remained busy through the 1950s and into the 1960s and the line was never under threat from the Beeching axe. Two of the three remaining intermediate stations, Fulbourne and Six Mile Bottom were, however, closed on 2 January 1967.

Newmarket goods yard closed on 3 April 1967. The line between Cambridge (Coldham Lane Junction) and Chippenham Junction, excepting the section through Warren Hill tunnel which always was single track, was singled between 1980 and 1985 with the exception of a long passing loop at Dullingham, and the station buildings at Newmarket were sold leaving just the north end of the station in use; it had been unstaffed since 2 January 1967. The station is, at the time of writing,served by one train an hour in each direction between Cambridge and Ipswich, with the service operated by Abellio Greater Anglia.

Click here to see a 1904 1:10,560 (6") map showing the original approach to Cambridge station and the 1896 deviation.

Click here to see 14 photos around Cambridge in 1970 by Alan Brown.

Route map drawn by Alan Young. Tickets from Michael Stewart (except 3662 & 0060 Darren Kitson). Bradshaw from Nick Catford. BR handbill from Darren Kitson.

Special thanks to Darren Kitson for his research notes. Great Eastern Railway Society for various documents, English Heritage for a free licence to reproduce two photographs and The Newmarket Local History Society for permission to reproduce some text from their web site.

Sources:

See also: Cherry Hinton, Fulbourne, Six Mile Bottom, Dullingham,
Newmarket (1st), Balsham Road, Bourne Bridge
See also Newmarket Warren Hill

See also special feature: The mystery of Abington Road bridge


Newmarket Station Gallery 1: 1902 - July 1969

The spacious forecourt of the new Newmarket station is seen in this postcard published shortly after the station opened in 1902.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection


1886 1:2,500 OS map shows the site of the future station. The Newmarket terminus is out of view to the north. Newmarket signal box is seen on the up side near the top of the map.

1902 1:2,500 OS map shows the second station at Newmarket shortly after opening but before any development around the station has been established. There is a substantial forecourt on the down side of the line approached by a new road called The Avenue. Buildings are shown on both platforms, each with glazed canopies, the canopy on the down platform being considerably shorter than that on the up. A bay platform with a passing loop is seen at the north end of the up platform. To the north of the station, on the down side, is a new cattle dock with pens on the dock, and more pens to the north. Click here to see a larger version of this map.

1926 1:2,500 OS map shows some development around the station site. The ‘Coronation Hotel’ has opened at the end of The Avenue and, behind the hotel, an auction mart. The west arm of The Avenue later became 'Station Approach'. Another bay platform, or more likely a siding along the back of the platform, has been provided at the north end of the down platform . A second signal box is shown between the station and Woodditton Road bridge on the down side; its purpose is unknown. Both canopies have been extended, both running the full length of the platforms. Click here to see a larger version of this map.

Another postcard produced in 1906. This view is looking north-west along The Avenue, the access road to the new station. Both The Avenue and the station were funded by local millionaire racehorse owner Sir Harry McCalmont. Houses for the wealthy are being built and trees have been
planted bordering the road.

Carriages are seen arriving in front of the impressive entrance to Newmarket station in the first decade of the twentieth century. The station forecourt was unusually large to cater for the number of horse carriages expected to use the station. Carriages would arrive at the east end of the forecourt and depart from the west end.
Photo from Roger Newman collection

Looking south-west along the up platform at Newmarket station c1905.Both platforms were provided with generous glazed canopies stretching the full width of the platforms and, after being extended, the full length of the platforms.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection

Looking north-east from the up platform at Newmarket station in 1910.  The Ely bay platform is to the right. A number of trains are seen in the sidings in the distance, possibly race excursions. To the right of the signal the large cattle dock is seen with white painted livestock pens upon it. A siding terminates at buffers at the end of the down platform and another runs behind the platform; it is unlikely this was ever used as a passenger bay.
Photo from John Mann collection


A passenger train bound for Bury St Edmunds or Ipswich is seen waiting at the down platform at Newmarket station in the first decade of the twentieth century. Ely trains, which terminated at Newmarket, would have used the bay at the north end of the up platform. W H Smith bookstalls are seen on both platforms.
Photo from John Mann collection


Looking north-east from the north end of the up platform in 1948. Two lines are seen running into the bay used by Ely trains on the far right, and another siding runs behind the north end of the down platform. A train is seen in the sidings beyond the cattle dock, possibly a race excursion waiting to return to London. New Cheveley Road bridge is crossed by seven tracks; today there is just one.
Photo from John Mann collection

Newmarket station looking south-west along platform 1 (down platform) in May 1955. Railings around the top of the subway steps are seen part way along the platform. A Derby lightweight DMU from Ely stands in the bay platform (3) on the left. In 1961 there were three up trains and four down trains between Newmarket and Ely on weekdays only. Also seen on the far left is a BR Eastern Region blue totem sign which has probably been only recently installed. By the early 1960s all the totems has been replaced with illuminated signs at Newmarket and none have yet turned up in private collections. The same happened at Cambridge, where all the redundant totems were buried in the ash pits when
steam was phased out.
Photo from John Mann collection

Newmarket station in July 1958, looking east along platform 2. The occasion was the return journey of the outing to Mildenhall by The Railway Club of The Friends' School, Saffron Walden. The diesel railbus which had brought the boys from Mildenhall can just be seen in platform 3, the bay, in the right background. It had arrived at 6.8pm. The arriving train is a Bury St Edmunds - Cambridge local which reached Cambridge at 6.51pm. The locomotive is Class B12 4-6-0 61567, one of those once fitted with ACFI feed water heating apparatus, and was destined to be withdrawn from Cambridge shed four months after this photograph was taken. Secondary work such as this was typical for the class following their ousting from mainline work. Unfortunately the platform canopies have caused some dark areas but some details of Newmarket station can be discerned. In the background the suspended platform 2 and platform 3 signs can just be made out while on platform 1, left, in particular, some BR totems can be seen. Newmarket was well supplied with totems and indeed received a comprehensive range of Eastern Region blue signage. Like Cambridge, which had lost its totems by October 1955, Newmarket was to lose its quite early. Posters abound and copious lighting is provided. Newmarket station was electrically lit from the outset and as such would have been among the first British railway stations so-fitted. Power was supplied by the Newmarket Electric Light Co. Ltd. Few details are known about this company but a surviving record held by The Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds, suggests it was in existence by 1895. A private concern, it was to be nationalised in 1948 when it became part of the Eastern Electricity Board. Like many early private generating plants, that at Newmarket found it struggled to satisfy the demand as during, or by, 1930 The Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire Electricity Company provided a line to Newmarket, from their line linking Ely with Cambridge, to bolster the supply. Such link-ups were the beginnings of what we now know as the National Grid. The lampshades seen above were not original. A photograph from 1910 has been seen which shows two types of electric lamp at Newmarket station. One type was standard-mounted and looked not too unlike contemporary gas lamps while the other type, suspended beneath the canopies, had angular opaque shades similar to those at Mildenhall and Cambridge but with incandescent bulbs visibly protruding underneath. The standard-mounted type appears to have had switch boxes mounted towards the top of the standard.
Photo by Petyer Jamieson


Looking south-west towards Newmarket station in the 1960s; a lot has changed. The bay lines on both side of the station have been taken out of use and the track lifted. The up platform buildings have been demolished and replaced with three bus shelters. The down platform canopy which, as seen in the 1948 picture above almost reached the north end of the platform, has been cut back to the station buildings. New illuminated signs on concrete posts have been fitted.
Photo from John Mann collection



Newmarket station looking south-west along the down platform in the 1960s; the subway steps are seen on the right. The sign above reads 'Subway to Ely & Cambridge trains' although the direct Ely service was withdrawn on 13 September 1965. The other signs read 'Waiting Room', 'Ladies Waiting Room’, 'Gentlemen' and 'Way Out'.
Photo from John Mann collection

Inside the refurbished booking office at Newmarket station in the 1960s. The original wood panelling has long gone
Photo from John Mann collection

Looking north-east towards Newmarket station from Woodditton Road bridge circa late 1960s. The rail-served Dower Wood grain mill is seen in the distance. The mill closed in the summer of 1991 although the points to the siding, adjacent to the New Cheveley Road bridge, remained in situ until the mid 2000s.
Photo by John Mann


Newmarket station looking north-east from platform 2 in July 1969. Close examination of this photograph reveals no evidence of the subway which had been closed and filled in by this date. Passengers wanting to reach platform 2 had to use the barrow crossing by the signal box. The signs indicating waiting rooms, toilets etc seen in the picture above have all been removed. The building has been out of use since the station became unstaffed on 2 January 1967. Access to the station was now through a new entrance in Wood Road at the north end of the platform.
Photo by John Mann

Click here for Newmarket Station Gallery 2:
1970s - October 2014


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