Brandon railway station

Brandon Greater Anglia
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	BND
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Original company	Norfolk Railway
Pre-grouping	Eastern Counties Railway, Great Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
30 July 1845 (1845-07-30)	Opened as Brandon
1 July 1923	Renamed Brandon (Norfolk)
1 March 1925	Renamed Brandon
Passengers
2019/20	0.112 million
2020/21	26,804
2021/22	93,682
2022/23	0.115 million
2023/24	0.119 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Brandon railway station is on the

The line opened on 30 July 1845 at the same time as the ECR's Brandon to Newport (Essex) line which served Cambridge and Ely. However, the line only got to Trowse, in the suburbs of Norwich, as the contractors were having to build a swing bridge to cross the navigable River Wensum. This was finished in December and on 15 December services started running through to Norwich.^[5]

Generous provision was made for the maintenance of locomotives at Brandon with a six-road engine house being provided, although once the ECR took over the NR in 1848, the shed's role was diminished. Although it was reported in the Locomotive Magazine during 1901 that stabling was being undertaken there. A picture of 1911 shows goods stock stabled outside the shed buildings.^[6]

The ECR and its rival the Eastern Union Railway (EUR) were both sizing up the NR to acquire and expand their railway empire. The ECR trumped the EUR by taking over the NR, including Brandon station, on 8 May 1848.^[7]

In September 1853, a freight train came to a halt near Brandon, due to a defect on the locomotive. The driver of a second freight train ignored a red signal and consequently his train was in a rear-end collision with the first. Time interval working was in force at the time.^[8]

By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway, which wished to amalgamate formally but could not obtain government agreement for this until an

The system settled down for the next six decades, apart from the disruption of World War I. The difficult economic circumstances after the war led the Government to pass the Railways Act 1921 which led to the creation of the Big Four. The GER amalgamated with several other companies to create the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). Brandon became an LNER station on 1 January 1923.^{[citation needed]}

Six months into LNER ownership it was decided to rename the station as Brandon (Norfolk) (1 July 1923). It is uncertain as to why as, according to Butt, there were other stations called Brandon, but none had the suffix-less title Brandon. The renaming was seen as unnecessary and on 1 March 1925 the station reverted to its original name.^{[citation needed]}

On nationalisation in 1948 the station and its services came under the auspices of the Eastern Region of British Railways.^{[citation needed]}

In 1978 Brandon became an unstaffed station.^{[citation needed]}

On privatisation, Central Trains took over the management of the station and all of its services on 5 January 1997.^{[citation needed]}

On 1 April 2004 management of the station and the bulk of its services came under National Express East Anglia, then known as one.^[10][11]

On 11 November 2007 services between Liverpool and Norwich were transferred to East Midlands Trains upon the breakup of the Central Trains franchise.^{[citation needed]}

Until spring 2009, an original telegraph pole route remained in situ from here to Wymondham; this was one of the last remaining in the country.^{[citation needed]}

The station and most of its services were transferred to

On 18 August 2019, all services operated by East Midlands Trains transferred to East Midlands Railway upon the expiry of the former's franchise.^{[citation needed]}

In 2020, Greater Anglia planned^[13] to demolish the historic 1840s station building to enlarge the car park. On 6 May 2020 Greater Anglia confirmed that it had been granted permission to carry out the work. The project was expected to begin by the end of 2020.^[14]

In August 2020 the planned demolition was put on hold following campaign group SAVE Britain’s Heritage launching judicial proceedings.^[16] On 28 August 2020, the station was granted Grade II listed status.^[17][18]

A regular hourly service calling at Brandon was introduced in 2007. This resulted in a significant increase in the number of passengers using the station.^{[citation needed]}

As of February 2023^[update] there is typically one train per hour to

Services towards Norwich were suspended between March and April 2023 due to structural damage to the station building.[21]^{[22][23][24][excessive citations]}

The station was used as a location in an episode of the BBC television series Dad's Army.^[25]

External links

• Train times and station information for Brandon railway station from National Rail

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Breckland Line		Thetford
Ely		East Midlands Railway Liverpool-Norwich Limited services		Thetford