Some sources suggest that the main building was thought to be principally the work of Peter Bruff, who had certainly started the structure.

By Robert Sinclair, the Eastern Counties Railway’s engineer, although Gordon Biddle suggests the design may have been Peter Bruff’s.

Many of the original platform buildings exist today and close inspection reveals the heads of what are believed to be Greek Gods incorporated into the design.

At the beginning of World War I, soldiers of the Norfolk Yeomanry regiment were deployed to Ipswich to guard key railway bridges in the area.

By the late 1970s, the costs of running the dated mechanical signalling systems north of Colchester was recognised and, in 1978, a scheme for track rationalisation and re-signalling was duly submitted to the Department of Transport.

The previous year another member of the class had been dragged to Ipswich by a diesel locomotive and was used for crew training.

[17] Ticket barriers were installed in the station building in 2009 and the exit gate on platform 2 was closed permanently.

[18][19] In October 2011, the Department for Transport awarded the new franchise to Abellio, the services formerly operated by National Express transferring to Greater Anglia in February 2012.

One interesting working in the 1920s and 1930s was a train that operated from Sheffield via Worksop, Spalding, March and Ely to Felixstowe during the summer months.

After the grouping of 1923, LNER designed locomotives were also employed in the area with the B17 4-6-0 class working many main line services.

The first one of these ran in June 1958, complete with a headboard with the wording "First Diesel Hauled train on the GE in public service".

Former train operating company Anglia Railways ran services known as London Crosslink from Norwich to Basingstoke via Stratford.

In the main yard a transhipment shed existed for a number of years where small consignments were transferred between wagons; there was no public or road access to this facility, which closed in 1951.

[36] Further changes were made during 2021 with the construction of a new vehicle maintenance facility (VMF) which opened in August 2022 with freight locomotives now stabling in the Upper Yard/East Suffolk Junction area.

This was built circa 1920 and was at one time going to be a new route into Ipswich docks avoiding the level crossing on the other branch.

The warehouse served a number of companies including Boots, J Lyons & Co, McFarLanes Biscuits, and Swift and Co.

Cattle pens were also located close to this yard (traffic ceased in the 1960s) and there was a siding to Constantine Road power station.

This was built as a branch off the Bury line in 1848 crossing the River Gipping adjacent to the station and served the northern side of the docks area.

Initially starting business as Catt and Quadling they built a number of carriages for the Eastern Union Railway at a works in Handford Road, Ipswich.

This premises which had no railway access was blown down in a gale in February 1847 damaging several carriages under construction and after that Catt withdrew from the rail side of the business but continued making road carts.

There were industrial sidings serving Eastern Counties Farmers, Petters (Ipswich) Limited and Manganese Bronze and Brass.

An extensive site with loading and unloading platforms was developed in 1934 to serve the needs of the 1934 Royal Agricultural Show which was held on 3–7 July 1934 at Chantry Park.

One track off the wagon turntable led to a small shed which housed a steam fire engine mounted on a flat truck.

Using the troughs was a quicker method of filling the tenders of steam locomotives and they were located between the rails in the centre of the tracks.

[59] Ipswich tunnel was built by the Eastern Union Railway's engineer Peter Bruff and opened in November 1846.

Trains from Bury St. Edmunds passed the existing station site (at that point undeveloped) and continued to Halifax Junction south of the tunnel where they then reversed into the original Croft street terminus.

The latter excavation was as a result of the GER widening the cutting east of the tunnel to accommodate some additional sidings.

On 5 May 1910 a wagon examiner was taking a short cut through the tunnel (this was forbidden) when it is believed he tripped whilst trying to get out of the way of an engine.

The tunnel was closed again in 2004 to allow for work to lower the track in order to enable larger containers to pass through on goods trains to and from the Port of Felixstowe.

[63] The Ipswich Railway Chord (or 'Bacon Factory Chord' in early documentation), officially the Bacon Factory Curve[64] is a short 1,415-metre (4,642 ft) section of track constructed to link the East Suffolk Line and the Great Eastern Main Line just north of Ipswich Goods Yard.