share capital of £400,000 to build from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds. The proposed line was 26 miles long, following the Gipping Valley. Once again Thomas Brassey was given the contract for construction; an elaborate ground breaking ceremony took place on 1 August 1845. The EUR Ipswich station was a terminus, at the corner of Wherstead Road and Croft Road, and was unsuitable for continuing northwards. The new line diverged from the earlier route at Halifax Junction, a little to the south of the station. The planned line was to pass through a tunnel under Stoke Hill. The tunnel was to be 361 yards in length; it was Bruff's first tunnel, and it proved very difficult to build, particularly due to ground water, and at one stage Bruff considered abandoning the tunnel, but it was completed in September 1846 and on 19 September 1846 a celebratory dinner was held in the tunnel. A further challenge for construction was in the Stowmarket area, where there was marshy ground; indeed the bog was ascertained to be 80 feet deep. The EUR employed George Stephenson's method for building across the Chat Moss bog, and a raft of brushwood and faggots was used to give the embankment a firm footing. The River Gipping was also diverted to aid the project. On 26 November 1846 the first test train ran to Bury St Edmunds with stops at most stations on the route. The Bury station had not been completed, so a temporary station on the Ipswich side of an uncompleted road bridge was used. An elaborate celebratory meal was given. Goods operation on the line started on 30 November 1846, and a formal opening followed on 7 December 1846, when a special train ran from Shoreditch (ECR station) to Bury. The Board of Trade inspection took place on 15 December 1846 and the line opened for traffic on 24 December. The permanent station at Bury opened in mid-November 1847, after a bridge over the main road had been finished, enabling the short extension. The EUR Ipswich station was a terminus on a short spur, by-passed by the Ipswich and Bury Railway main line, so trains to and from Bury St Edmunds reversed from that station to the point of junction (Halifax Junction). It was not until 1860 that the through station (at the present-day location) was provided. Extending to Norwich, and amalgamation Norwich was now