The Eastern Counties

This loosely defined area was very much the preserve of three “Great” companies – the Great Eastern, Great Northern and Great Central (formerly MS&L) Railways. There was the occasional interloper , such as the Midland Railway and LNWR, but those three “Greats” pretty much divided the territory amongst themselves. Given the sparseness of the population it is not surprising that revenue pickings were poor apart from on a few direct lines to London and that large parts of the network succombed to closure during the “Beeching” era.

The Great Northern Railway finally opened its racetrack route from London, Kings Cross to a “field north of Doncaster” (aka Shaftholme Junction) in 1852. Below are four photos of some classic ECML diesel traction. In 1980, after much lobbying, British Rail were granted powers to operate road links connecting with rail services. The first of these was between Peterborough and Kettering, the service being contracted to the National Bus Company. Stamford had been a prosperous coaching town on the Great North Road (later A1) before the new GNR chose to bypass it. The town then fell into decline, served only by a cross-country line from Leicester to Peterborough, although the Midland Railway did provide a suitably imposing station to match Sir William Cecil’s grand Burghley House.

Class 47 at Newark Northgate (1981)

Deltic arriving at Newark Northgate (1981)

HST passing Newark Northgate (1981)

HST InterCity 125 Class 46 Newark Northgate

HST & Class 46 near Newark Northgate (1981)

RailLink coach at Peterborough (1980)

RailLink coach in Oundle (1980)

RailLink coach at Kettering (1980)

Stamford station (1980)

Back to the 1960s with a Class 47 hauling 16T mineral wagons at Ely and a Cravens dmu on the last day of through services between Cambridge and Marks Tey. Then forward a decade to the public demonstration of the BR Research railbus LEV1 (Leyland Experimental Vehicle No.1) on the East Suffolk Line to Lowestoft. Information about the LEV project can be found on this website http://www.traintesting.com/LEVs.htm . More recent, and more comfortable, conveyances are seen at Wroxham and Norwich.

Class 47 passing Ely (1966)

Class 105 at Long Melford (1967)

Stoke (Suffolk) station from Class 105 (1967)

LEV1 at Ipswich (1979)

LEV1 on the East Suffolk Line (1979)

LEV1 at Lowestoft (1979)

Lowestoft station (2017)

Class 156 approaching Wroxham (2017)

Wroxham Signal Box (2017)

Class 68s 'Top & Tail' at Norwich (2017)

Here a mixed collection of main line and byeway views. Was it really the case, as a colleague maintained, that the AM9 Clacton units were designed (and built) as part of the 1955 Modernisation Plan scheme to electrify the ECML, which never happened?

A ferry has operated between Gravesend and Tilbury since at least the 16th century. Even before reaching Tilbury (later known as Tilbury Riverside) in April 1854 the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway had obtained powers in 1852 to operate its own (foot-only) ferry service to Gravesend for passengers. In 1862 the company took over the other ferry operators and the service continued as a railway-owned monopoly until 1984. Car ferries ran from 1927 to 1964, when the Dartford Tunnel opened.

Tilbury Riverside was also an important landing place for deep sea passengers, being famous for the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948. When the line to Southend was electrified in 1961 a sub-class of emus was specially built with baggage cars for boat train traffic. After regular liner calls ceased, the former 1930’s Baggage Hall was renamed by the PLA in 1985 as London International Cruise Terminal . The steady loss of traffic resulted in the station closing in November 1992, hence the wasteland seen in the photos with only the signal box remaining operational to control the through route.

Part of Southend’s claim to fame is its 1.33 mile (2.14 km) long pier with an electric railway for those not wishing to walk so far.