EASTERN TIMES • •
The history periodical for students of the BR(E), BR(NE), LNER and pre-grouping constituents
ISSUE NO. 7 • JUNE 2025
EASTERN TIMES
WORKHORSE AT NORTH BLYTH
1st
May 1965 • Darlington built Raven Class Q6 0-8-0 No. 63381 pictured at North Blyth shed.
Photo: Trevor Davis © Transport Treasury.
Ex-LNER Class O1 2-8-0 No. 63795 leaving East Leake tunnel (also known as Barnstone tunnel) on the Great Central main line.
Photo: H. Cartwright © Transport Treasury
26th October 1948 • Class B3 No. 61497 pictured at Sheffield Victoria, less than a year before withdrawal. Photo: Neville Stead Collection © Transport Treasury
17th May 1953 • Class K1/1 No. 61997 MacCailin Mor at Eastfield shed. Photo: Neville Stead Collection © Transport Treasury
8th September 1958 • No. 61997 MacCailin Mor at Fort William shed. Photo: Nick Nicolson © Transport Treasury
This is a black and white journey over a lesser known Essex byway that has become a great success in terms of increased train services, electrification and investment over the decades since these images were recorded on the camera of the late Jack Sullivan in 1957.
The collection is now owned by Richard McLeish who has kindly given permission for their publication; believed to be the first time they have been seen by the wider world. The Witham to Braintree line was first proposed by the Maldon, Witham & Braintree Railway Company in 1845, but the company was short-lived and was quickly taken over by the more powerful and better financed Eastern Counties Railway under the direction of ‘The Railway King’, George Hudson. By mid-1847 work had commenced and it is recorded that over one thousand navvies were forging ahead on the Witham to White Notley section. The original Braintree station opened on the 2nd October 1848. This was a simple single storey wooden building, and was
only used for 21 years until the much larger double-storey brick built structure on a different alignment was constructed by the Bishops Stortford, Dunmow & Braintree Railway (taken over by the Great Eastern Railway in 1863 prior to construction), opening on the 22nd February 1869. The original station building survived for well over one hundred years, being reused as offices in the goods yard. Passenger services between Bishops Stortford and Braintree ceased on the 1st March 1952, but freight traffic, (mainly sugar beet at Felsted), kept the line open until 1969, when the Braintree to Felsted section officially closed and freight traffic from Dunmow also ceased. This left just the Bishops Stortford to Easton Lodge section open for Geest’s banana traffic, which in turn succumbed to closure in 1971. The last train over this section was an Enthusiasts’ Special comprising of Class 31 diesel No. D5637 and two brake vans on the 27th July 1972. It seems inconceivable now, but Witham to Braintree was listed for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report. Thankfully, a very strongly
WITHAM JUNCTION • A better view of the overhanging Witham Junction signal box on 22nd September 1957. The box was of the GE Type 7 ‘elevated’ style, opening in 1893. It closed on 8th May 1960, to be replaced by a modern box on the opposite side of the line. Although the replacement structure no longer carries out any signalling functions, it still stands intact.
supported local Campaign Committee saw off the threat of closure and the line was officially reprieved in 1966. Longer Diesel Multiple Units were then provided for the ever increasing numbers of passengers, and the Committee’s efforts were further rewarded in 1976 when electrification was agreed to by the BR Board. The first electric train left Braintree on 31st October 1977. Some of the accompanying photos show a very healthy flow of wagon load traffic in 1957, and ten companies had private sidings within the yard. By 1969 freight traffic at Braintree had considerably declined, but a reprieve came in the form of the Shellstar Company deciding to use rail for deliveries of pre-packed fertiliser from its Ince factory. These trains were often Class 37 hauled and ceased circa 1991.
Looking briefly at the other side of the GE Main Line at Witham, the much-loved branch line to Maldon East also
WITHAM TURNTABLE • A short spur off the Braintree branch gave access to a small turntable. The gate on the left protected the macabrely named Cut Throat Lane Level Crossing, which was mainly used by Crittalls Window Company employees living on the east side of the town. The footpath survives to this day. Trains are still limited to 10 mph on this very sharp curve.
suffered from the attention of the 1963 Beeching Report and closure came swiftly on the 7th September 1964. Local opposition was quite weak at the time, which was shortsighted. The majority of the trackbed survives and is now known as The Blackwater Trail. The ornate terminus at Maldon is a Listed Structure and beautifully preserved. Today, the line is listed amongst 85 potential schemes in the Department for Transport’s Restoring Your Railway Fund. The town’s population now exceeds 25,000 and new housing estates crop up regularly. A strong case exists for restoring trains to the town, but only time will tell.
I would like to express my gratitude to Richard McLeish for supplying all the photos, Dave Underwood and Paul Lemon for background information and Andy Grimmett for his wealth of signalling knowledge.
MY TRAINSPOTTING ODYSSEY – 1961 all
good things come to an end
BY GEOFF COURTNEY
All good things, ’tis said, come to an end, and for my Ilford trainspotting days that was 2nd August 1961, when, having left school and fewer than four weeks before embarking on a lifelong career as a news journalist, I biked from home to Mill Road, on the Liverpool Street side of Ilford station, to log passing trains for the final time. The first visit had been on 9th April 1957, and my logs from that date up to this last one were in issues 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Eastern Times. In that time I had seen steam being relegated from the Premier League and through the Championship to Division One, and now in 1961, Division Two beckoned.
My first 1961 visit was on 10th February, for 90 minutes in the evening, and the first four trains to pass by emphasised that steam was going to have a tough time defensively, for attacking with a strong forward line was D204 ex-Norwich, D5523 on its way to Parkeston Quay, D5545 with the Up ‘Day Continental,’ and D5050 on an Up freight, although this was followed by a steam fight-back comprising B1 No. 61043 on its way to Norwich with an express and No. 64697, a J20 built at nearby Stratford in January 1923, the first month of the ‘Big Four’ Grouping, running light to Goodmayes.
Then came a balancing act, with six-week-old Type 3 Co-Co D6703 (a new class for my logs that was later to become Class 37) on the Up ‘Norfolkman’ and 11 minutes later Brit No. 70003 John Bunyan on the Down ‘Hook Continental,’ but it was half-time and diesels led 5-3.
The second half followed the pattern of the first, although steam didn’t throw in the towel, thanks to B1 No. 61362 and L1 No. 67729 both on freight duty, and J20 No. 64699 running through light engine. It was, though – with one notable exception – diesel traction that dominated, with D203 on a Down Norwich, D5522 ex-Clacton, and Type 1 or Type 2 power on five freight or parcels workings and another running light.
What was the ‘notable exception’ I hear you ask? Well, the final Up Norwich express of the day thundered through a minute before I cycled the mile home, with Brit No. 70002 Geoffrey Chaucer at the helm. Diesels may have won the day, but a last-minute goal always puts a little gloss on a defeat.
Class B1 4-6-0 No. 61362, a regular entrant into Geoff’s Ilford logbooks, attracts a few glances as it travels light engine through Stratford Low Level. Photo: Dr. Ian C. Allen © Transport Treasury
9th September 1959 • Class N2 No. 67628 pictured after arrival at Helensburgh station with a train from Bridgeton via Glasgow Queen Street.
Photo: Hugh Davies © The Transport Treasury.