Framlingham is a small market town in the northern part of Suffolk, some seven miles from the nearest railway, the present East Suffolk Line, at Wickham Market. As early as 1846 a railway was proposed from Ipswich to run northwards with a branch to Framlingham but, as with so many schemes during the ‘Railway Mania’, it did not happen. A decade or so later it had been intended that the East Suffolk Railway (ESR) would run via Framlingham but the Duke of Hamilton objected to it passing through his estate at Easton so the town lost out, the promoters not feeling sufficiently strong to challenge this view during the Parliamentary approval process. Therefore the ESR went to the east with a branch line to Framlingham.
A shareholders’ meeting heard, on 27th May 1856, that although land was needed for the Framlingham branch it had not yet been purchased although it would be using a separate fund which had been set aside specifically for this purpose. The previous half yearly meeting had been informed that contracts had been let to Morton Peto at a rate of £10,000 per mile. So far £14,000 had been raised towards the cost of building to Framlingham. In February 1858 another shareholders’ meeting heard that the earthworks and bridges on the Framlingham line were “…in a forward state”, the directors claiming that trains to Framlingham would start in September that year. This proved to be far too bold a prediction for work was delayed, partially by heavy snow the following month. By August construction was nearly complete except at Parham but opening to traffic was being delayed pending completion of the Eastern Union Railway's line from Ipswich to Woodbridge.
Opening
An ‘Indignant Shareholder’ wrote on 9th February 1859 to the Ipswich Journal to express his annoyance on reading a report which suggested that the railway would only open for goods and that passenger traffic “would be put off sine die”.
He wanted this publicised and said that “Morton Peto… should expect a storm of indignation” at the next shareholders’ meeting. The indignant gentleman obviously was unaware that a railway could only carry passenger traffic once the Board of Trade (BoT) was satisfied that it could safely be opened for public use. Until then only goods could be conveyed as this required no formal approval.
A special train of twelve first class vehicles ran on 25th February from Woodbridge to the Framlingham branch terminus and back to Wickham Market before going on to Halesworth. Sir Morton Peto and the ESR Company Solicitor Mr. Wagstaff were amongst the passengers. The company then notified the BoT that it was ready to open its railway to passenger traffic and as a result Captain Tyler came and conducted an inspection on 7th March 1859. However it was not until 1st June that the first passengers were carried.
The report of the opening referred to “many persons availing themselves of the novelty of rail travel” even though the opening had come about at such notice that there had not been enough time to organise the demonstration which
