additional £50,000 of expenditure, and this was authorised by Act of Parliament on 21 July 1845. The Eastern Counties Railway had resumed construction north of Colchester, in an attempt to resurrect their Harwich branch, already rejected by Parliament. It was being laid in defiance of the alignment defined in the ECR Act and had excessive gradients. The EUR petitioned to adopt the works and build the line themselves to their own specification, but the matter went to arbitration, and was resolved only by the EUR purchasing and completing the works, at a heavy cost. By May 1845 the earthworks were complete between Ipswich and Ardleigh, and the timber viaducts across the Stour were completed in December, although the embankments each side were not completed until May 1846. The directors were then able to traverse the line by special train on 2 May 1846. It ran from Ipswich to Colchester, taking an hour and a half to complete the journey. Revenue earning goods services commenced on 1 June 1846; on 4 June Major General Pasley visited the line to carry out the Board of Trade inspection; approval was required to start passenger operation. Pasley was satisfied and a ceremonial opening took place on 11 June 1846: a train departed from Ipswich for Colchester, where it picked up a number of notaries, including George Hudson, chairman of the ECR, and Joseph Locke. On return to Ipswich lavish celebrations took place for all involved in the railway and in the evening a balloon ascent over the town was made by a famous balloonist, Charles Green. The line opened for public passenger service on 15 June 1846 from an end-on junction with the ECR at its Colchester station to a terminus at Ipswich, a distance of 17 miles; there were three intermediate stations, Ardleigh, Manningtree and Bentley. It was the first railway to reach Ipswich. Ipswich and Bury Railway From the earliest days, the EUR had intended to extend beyond Ipswich, to Bury and to Norwich. This was opposed by the ECR, which planned to be the sole connection to Norwich when their line from Ely was completed. A number of other competing schemes went to the 1845 session of Parliament, and key among these was the EUR's Bury extension railway. This was promoted as a nominally independent company, the Ipswich and Bury Railway Company (I&BR). This was incorporated on 21 July 1845 with