Place Quidenham Station code ECS DfT category F2 Number of platforms 2 | Grid reference TM018900 Managed by Abellio Greater Anglia 2011/12 1,242 | |
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Address Norwich NR16 2JG, United Kingdom Similar Harling Road railway st, Attleborough railway station, Watlington railway station, Shippea Hill railway station, Thetford railway station | ||
Eccles road railway station top 8 facts
Eccles Road railway station is on the Breckland Line in the east of England, serving the villages of Eccles, Quidenham and Wilby in Norfolk. The line runs between Cambridge in the west and Norwich in the east.
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Eccles Road is situated between Harling Road and Attleborough, 104 miles 36 chains (168.1 km) down-line from London Liverpool Street via Ely. The station is managed by Abellio Greater Anglia, which also operates most of the services calling at the station. Some East Midlands Trains also stop at Eccles Road.
The station takes its name from the now abandoned original village of Eccles that was located one mile south of the station. The church Eccles St. Mary still stands and is one of 124 original round-tower churches in Norfolk. In the 1990s, a new village was built immediately adjacent to the station, and this now bears the names of Eccles. This makes the "Road" suffix in the station's name an anachronism. The station is situated in the civil parish of Quidenham, about 2 miles (3 km) north of the village of Quidenham, and 1 mile (1.5 km) north-east of Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit.
The station is unstaffed and has two platforms, adjacent to a level crossing. Wooden level crossing gates used to be opened and closed manually by a signaller in the local signal box, which is dated 1883. However, in 2012 the signal box was closed and the crossing was renewed with automatic barriers controlled from Cambridge. The redundant signal box stands across the road from the westbound (Cambridge) platform, but is expected to be demolished when the barriers are replaced in 2017.
History
The Bill for the Norwich & Brandon Railway (N&BR) received Royal Assent on 10 May 1844. Work started on the line in 1844 and the line and its stations were opened on 30 July 1845. Eccles Road station opened with the line and was situated then, as now, east of Harling station and west of Attleborough station. The line ran from Ely to Trowse, in Norwich. The link into Norwich was delayed due to the need to build a bridge over the River Wensum that kept the river navigable. One month before the N&BR opened a Bill authorising the amalgamation of the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway with the N&BR came into effect and so Eccles Road station became a Norfolk Railway asset.
Services
As of December 2015, on weekdays there are two westbound trains per day, one operated by East Midlands Trains which calls at Harling Road, Thetford and Ely before continuing on to Liverpool Lime Street, the other operated by Abellio Greater Anglia which runs to Cambridge, also calling at all intermediate stations on the line except Lakenheath and Shippea Hill. On Saturdays there are two westbound trains, both operated by Abellio Greater Anglia to Cambridge with the same calling pattern.
In the eastbound direction, from Monday to Saturday there are two trains per day to Norwich calling at all intermediate stations except Spooner Row, both operated by Abellio Greater Anglia.
There is no Sunday service.