Editing Great Eastern Main Line (section)

===Eastern Counties and Eastern Union Railways (1839–1862)===
The first section of the line, built by the [[Eastern Counties Railway]] (ECR), opened in June 1839 between a short-lived temporary terminus at {{rws|Devonshire Street}} in the [[East End of London]] and {{rws|Romford}}, then in the [[Havering Liberty]] in Essex. The London terminus was moved in July 1840 to [[Bishopsgate railway station|Shoreditch]] (later renamed Bishopsgate), after 1900 in the [[Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green]], and at the eastern end the line was extended {{convert|6|mi}} out to {{rws|Brentwood}} in the same year. A further {{convert|34|mi}} of track was added out to {{rws|Colchester}} by 1843.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.curc.org.uk/eagle61railwayguide|title=Eagle 61 :: Railway Guide books of the Eastern Counties Railway|access-date=4 May 2009|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203150/http://www.curc.org.uk/eagle61railwayguide|url-status=dead}}</ref> The original gauge for the line was {{Track gauge|5ft|lk=on}}, but this was converted to {{Track gauge|sg|allk=on}} in 1844.

The section of line between Colchester and {{rws|Ipswich}} was built by the [[Eastern Union Railway]] (EUR) to standard gauge and opened to passenger traffic in June 1846. Its sister company, the Ipswich and Bury Railway, built a line to {{rws|Bury St Edmunds}} and this was completed in November 1846. Both companies shared the same office, many directors and key staff, and started operating as a unified company with the EUR name from 1 January 1847. An extension from a new junction at {{rws|Haughley}} to {{rws|Norwich Victoria}} opened in December 1849, although the position of the latter station was poor and a spur to allow some trains to operate into {{rws|Norwich}} (Thorpe) station was opened to regular traffic in November 1851.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Moffat|first1=Hugh|title=East Anglia's first railways|date=1987|publisher=Terence Dalton Limited|location=Lavenham|isbn=0-86138-038-X|pages=62–69 and 85–90}}</ref>

In the late 19th century, the double-track main line was expanded with additional tracks being added to cope with more traffic. In 1854, a third track was added between Bow Junction and {{stn|Stratford}} to help accommodate [[London, Tilbury and Southend Railway]] services which at that time were operating via Stratford.

Until 1860, trains serving the town of Ipswich used a station called {{rws|Ipswich Stoke Hill}} which was located south of the Stoke tunnel. The town's current station is located to the north of the tunnel.

The ECR had leased the EUR from 1854 but by the 1860s, the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the [[Great Eastern Railway]] (GER) was formed out of the consolidation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vaughan|first=Adrian|title=Railwaymen, Politics and Money|year=1997|publisher=John Murray|location=London|isbn=0-7195-5150-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/railwaymenpoliti0000vaug/page/134 134, 135]|url=https://archive.org/details/railwaymenpoliti0000vaug/page/134}}</ref>