Yarmouth South Town railway station

Yarmouth South Town
Station frontage in 1975.
Location
Place	Great Yarmouth
Area	Great Yarmouth
Grid reference	TG520073
Operations
Original company	East Suffolk Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway Eastern Region of British Railways
Platforms	4
History
1 June 1859 (1859-06-01)	Opened
6 November 1967	Closed to freight
4 May 1970 (1970-05-04)	Closed to passengers
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

Yarmouth South Town, sometimes known as Yarmouth Southtown, was a railway station in Great Yarmouth, England, that is now closed. It was one of three major stations in the town, the others being Yarmouth Vauxhall and Yarmouth Beach, of which only Yarmouth Vauxhall now remains.

The station had four platforms linked together at the east end by a generously sized circulation area. The main station building was built in the Italianate Style and other buildings were located along platform 1. There was a generously sized goods yard and a map of 1928 indicates a nearby coal yard, a nearby cattle market and timber yard. The railway was extended eastwards along the back of platform 1 to the quayside area with this area being shunted by horses or tractors as locomotives were forbidden to cross the road (now the A12) by the original 1856 act. This area contained a tightly spaced network of sidings linked by wagon turntables. As well as a traffic from the quayside there was (according to the 1928 map) a saw mill, corn mill and an icehouse all served by rail.

The station had small 2-road engine shed located south of the station area with a turntable, coaling and watering facilities. Some repair work was carried out here, despite the facilities being rudimentary. The shed closed in November 1959 when the line to Beccles was closed.

Yarmouth South Town station was the northern end of the East Suffolk Line which opened on 1 June 1859 linking Ipswich with Yarmouth South Town station. From opening the line was operated by the Eastern Counties Railway(ECR) although the East Suffolk Railway continued to exist until 1862. By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway. Although they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by amalgamation.

During this period of operation there were express services to Liverpool Street (generally calling at Beccles where carriages from Lowestoft were added) and then other main stations and an all stations service to Beccles and Halesworth.

In 1872 the addition of a curve at Haddiscoe High Level allowed a direct all stations service to run to Lowestoft.

At the beginning of the 20th century a line was built from Yarmouth South Town to Lowestoft via Gorleston and opened in 1903. The Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway was jointly owned by the Great Eastern Railway and Midland and Great Northern Railway and served intermediate stations. Its primary function was to aid the development of the area as a resort although it also offered a more direct route from Lowestoft. There was also a link line which linked this line to Yarmouth Beach railway station to facilitate traffic between the two systems and this crossed the East Suffolk route just south of Yarmouth South Town.