Land acquisition soon proved to be hugely more expensive than had been expected; the first portion of line, from Romford to Mile End, opened on 20 June 1839, but the project ran out of money.

It was cut back to open only between London and Colchester, on 29 March 1843; surveying for the onward route as far as Ardleigh, less than 3 miles away, had been completed.

Bruff was discharged from the service of the Eastern Counties Railway in 1842, but he maintained contact with John Chevallier Cobbold, a director of that company.

With the impetus of Cobbold's support and Bruff's engineering competence, it was shown to be practicable and affordable to extend to Ipswich.

The meeting determined that the scheme was to be supported, and parliamentary authorisation was sought in the 1844 session; the bill received royal assent on 19 July 1844.

On 11 December 1844 the board resolved to lay double track; this would incur an 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.

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 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.

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.

[14] 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 Ipswich and Bury Railway promoted a line from a triangular junction north of Stowmarket (at Haughley)[note 2] to Norwich by way of Diss, and it was this that gained royal assent on 27 July 1846.

The I&BR was authorised to take additional capital of £550,000, and the Act permitted amalgamation with the Eastern Union Railway.

Shareholders' meetings of both companies were held on 8 December 1846, and the amalgamation was approved, to take practical effect on 1 January 1847.

The Railway Mania had expired suddenly, and in the slump that followed money was extremely difficult to come by, so that construction to Norwich was slow, not beginning until 1848.

[17][5] The building of the line on to Norwich provided a number of technical challenges, in particular another marshy stretch known as Thrandeston Bog, which was eventually overcome by the sinking of weighted faggots.

The contractor's engine (probably "Skylark") reached Diss on 19 January 1849, amid considerable rejoicing: it was the first railway locomotive in Norfolk.

[22] The market town of Hadleigh was at one time to be a junction on a Colchester to Bury line, giving access to an Ipswich branch.

When the EUR line was actually built, interests in Hadleigh saw the possible disadvantage to trade in their town of not being on the railway network: Bentley was seven miles away.

Ipswich Wet Dock was on the north-east side of the New Cut, and a railway connection to it was created by building eastwards from the area of the I&BR through station.

John Bagshaw, the MP for Harwich, objected violently, and took out an injunction to stop the EUR using the money for this purpose, but for the time being construction work was in abeyance.

In 1853 the East Suffolk Railway started to extend from Halesworth southwards towards Woodbridge and the EUR plans were amended to accommodate through running.

It was to be a 12-mile branch from a triangular junction at Marks Tey, 5 miles south of Colchester, to Sudbury, Suffolk, and from Chappel to Halstead.

[29] In June 1848 the I&BR were in talks with the EUR and the terms of the lease were rejected at first, but fear of an ECR takeover ensured that a deal was done.

In November 1850 Cobbold presented a bill to Parliament requesting running powers to London, Lowestoft and Yarmouth all over ECR operated lines.

The EUR finances were in a serious state with considerable debts from building the Norwich extension, and operating costs had climbed to 60%.

This was a lease and working agreement, and the EUR remained an independent company until the formation of the Great Eastern Railway on 7 August 1862.

The 10:50 a.m. departure to Norwich Victoria called all stations whilst the 1:10 p.m. omitted Ardleigh, Bramford, Claydon, Finningham, Burston and Flordon.

In the up direction there were also two early morning services from Ipswich to Colchester with the 1:20 a.m. mail train and the 7:00 a.m. giving a connection via the ECR to Liverpool Street arriving at 10:05 a.m.