 In its first year of operation the Great Eastern Railway operated a through train to London (Bishopsgate station was the London terminal at the time) calling at all stations to Ipswich, then Manningtree, Colchester, Marks Tey, Witham, Chelmsford and Stratford.The following year a 10.00 service from Bishopsgate would get passengers to Lowestoft in 3 hours 15 minutes and Great Yarmouth in 3 hours 25 minutes.After Ipswich the only call was at Beccles where the train divided into two sections for the two towns.