Lowestoft Central Project

The Railway first came to Lowestoft in 1847 and the current station dates to 1855.

Praised by architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, Britain’s most easterly station has undergone many changes since it first opened, surviving damage in two World Wars, local authority attempts to demolish and relocate it, and many years of under investment culminating in the removal of the concourse roof by British Rail in the early 1990s.

Since 2016 the volunteer run Lowestoft Central Project has worked with the Railway Heritage Trust and Community Rail Network to restore and rejuvenate the station, which is situated opposite the harbour at the very heart of the town centre, just a few minutes-walk from the town’s award-winning South Beach.

Lowestoft Station

Bus at Lowestoft Central

Lowestoft Central Station Roof Demolition

Lowestoft Station Low Roof Sketch 1800s

Lowestoft Station Roof 1950s

Lowestoft Station Roof 1980s

Lowestoft Central Station 1980s

Lowestoft Station 1986

Working closely with the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership and train operator Greater Anglia, the award-winning Lowestoft Central Project has created and operates the town’s primary Tourist Information facility which is situated off the station concourse.

The volunteer run office stocks a wide range of souvenirs, railway books and other railway and transport related items and provides a small range of refreshments. The Tourist Information office also stocks a wide range of literature on local attractions and walking routes around the area.

The Parcels Office Public Exhibition Space is housed in the restored former station Parcels Office and acts as Lowestoft’s town centre Village Hall, hosting a variety of events and activities including public meetings, exhibitions, slide shows, book launches, seasonal craft, antique and produce fairs and a small museum of local railway artefacts.

In June 1940, some 3000 Lowestoft school children were evacuated from the town away from the threat of invasion and wartime bombing. Leaving Lowestoft Station on a series of special trains, most were given refuge in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The station concourse has two large panels telling the story of the evacuation day and how the town still has links to the host communities including Glossop who cared for the town’s children.

Events, meetings and exhibitions in the Parcels Office

The station also hosts information on various local museums and its history as an arrival point of a Kindertansport Train in 1938 bringing some 500 Jewish children from Vienna to safety.

The project continues to restore the station and has reopened doorways leading from the station concourse into the town centre, previously closed for some fifty years.

Each Summer the project works with Lowestoft in Bloom to maintain an array of attractive planters and hanging baskets.

New concourse lighting at the station has been created to include modern, low energy fittings housed in replica Victorian casement lamps. In 2021 a new secure cycle storage facility was opened in the adjacent station onward travel hub (situated on the former platform 1) which also houses the bus interchange and taxi rank.

From late 2021, the project team are creating a new heritage area at the south of the station and has secured investment to install new toilet facilities and refurbish the station buffer stops.

On special event days Lowestoft Station is connected to the East Anglia Transport Museum at Carlton Colville by a special vintage bus service. The station is also the Information hub for the annual Lowestoft Heritage Open Days Festival and often welcomes visiting steam and diesel hauled rail tours.

For more information on the project and enquiries about booking the Parcels Office Public Exhibition Space please email lowestoftcentral@gmail.com

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Lowestoft Central Station Roof Demolition photo courtesy of David Pearce