| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Essex, Middlesex and Hertfordshire, England |
| Dates of operation | 1840–1902 |
| Successor | Great Eastern Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Previous gauge | 5 ft (1,524 mm) |
The Northern & Eastern Railway (N&ER) was an early British railway company, that planned to build a line from London to York. Its ambition was cut successively back, and it was only constructed from Stratford, east of London, to the towns of Bishop's Stortford and Hertford. It was always short of money, and it got access to London over the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). It was built at the track gauge of 5 ft (1,524 mm), but it converted to standard gauge in 1844.
Its main line opened progressively between 1840 and 1842. It was worked by the neighbouring ECR, and it leased its network to that company in from the beginning of 1844 for 999 years. From that time it was a financial company only, it amalgamated with the ECR's successor, the Great Eastern Railway, in 1902.
The entire network is still in use and is now electrified, and part of the original main line now forms a section of the West Anglia Main Line between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge.[1]