The central area between these lines was chiefly agricultural in nature, and industrial development was insignificant. The lines were absorbed by the dominant Eastern Counties Railway, and in 1862 the ECR and other lines in East Anglia were amalgamated to form the Great Eastern Railway. The original line and the heritage line are informally referred to as the Middy Line.įurther east the East Suffolk Railway was opened in 1859, joining Ipswich to Yarmouth and Lowestoft. A heritage group started a railway museum site at Brockford, and as a charity it trades as the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway. The poor usage of the line led to its closure in 1952.
At the grouping of the railways in 1923, the MSLR was still in receivership, and there was a protracted dispute over the liquidation of the debt, but in 1924 the Company was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway. Passenger operation was started in 1908, but this too was disappointing. The Board continued to harbour ambitions to complete the planned network, but crippling interest on loans and capital repayments falling due forced the company into receivership in 1906. It opened 19 miles of route from Haughley to Laxfield in 1904 to goods traffic only, and income was poor, further worsening the company's financial situation. It was launched with considerable enthusiasm by local interests, and was to build a 50-mile network, but actual share subscription was weak, and the company over-reached its available financial resources. The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway (MSLR) was a standard gauge railway intended to open up an agricultural area of central Suffolk it took advantage of the reduced construction cost enabled by the Light Railways Act 1896.
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