Opened in 1844 by the Northern, Eastern and Norfolk railways, Lakenheath (and also Brandon) were the first places in Suffolk to have access to steam trains.
A side effect of the railway arriving here, was that the noise of the engines frightened off the wildfowl which was trying to be captured in the nearby Lakenheath decoy. This leads to the closure of the decoy in 1850.
The station had a brief mention in the Bradshaw handbook in 1866.
During the first world war, a temporary narrow gauge railway was built to serve the building of the aerodrome at Lakenheath. This is now of course the US airbase of Lakenheath.
A signal box is still standing, but is in a bad state of repair and obviously disused.
The station now has only a limited service at the weekends. Passengers who do alight will more than likely be heading for the nearby Lakenheath Fen reserve, which is a very short walk away. Without this, the station would probably no longer exist, as the village is nearly 3 miles away.
Passenger entry and exits for 2019 / 200 were 416
After a lot of research, I could not find a lot else to write about this station. At time of visiting, the signal box was still there, but I fear not for long. Hopefully the nature reserve stays, because as already said, if that goes, so will the station.
My Vlog from this station can be seen below:
Rainham Rail Enthusiast 