[1] The line opened in stages, firstly from Tivetshall to Harleston on 1 December 1855, then to Bungay on 2 November 1860, and finally to Beccles.

Some of the last wagon loads to leave Ditchingham were sand and gravel from Broome Heath, used in the construction of Hammersmith fly-over in west London.

This was a condition placed on the railway by landowners in the Starston area of Norfolk who had to give their consent before the line could be built.

"When going over the bridge on the Bungay side of the factory, the engine lost the metals, dragging with it eleven tracks and two Passenger Cars for about seventy yards, when it ran off the embankment with some of the coaches."

"Bungay Station: Killed on the Railway" – (Unknown Date) "On Thursday an inquest was held at the Kings Head Hotel by H.E Garrod, Esq.

, Diss, coroner for the liberty of the Duke of Norfolk, on the Body of Frederick William Skipper, aged 23 Years, porter of the railway station, who was killed the same morning.

Mr. John Haythorpe, station master, deposed that at twenty minutes to eleven he was on the platform, and saw an engine taking some goods trucks on to the siding.

After the engine parted with the trucks, Kerrison, the foreman/porter called to him and Haythorpe went and saw the deceased lying across the rail apparently dead.

But the evidence of Kerrison, Foreman/Porter, went to show that the rope was attached to the engine, and the other end to the front of the trucks to the couplings between the buffers.

An inquest was held at the Railway Tavern on Monday Afternoon, before H.E Garrod, Esq., of Diss, coroner, and a verdict of "Accidental Death" Returned.

The line from Beccles station was partly converted to an industrial estate, reaching the river next to the aptly named Railway Score.