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| Some of the following notes are
extracts taken from a guide book written for and sponsored by the
Great Eastern Railway around 1895 entitled “The Empire by Express”.
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| Eastern Counties Railway |
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| The Eastern Counties Railway Company was incorporated in 1836 to
build a line from Shoreditch to Yarmouth via Colchester, Ipswich and
Norwich. The company’s first railway guide was produced in 1838,
giving travelling times as far as Brentwood – but the first
public trains did not run until 20 June 1839 and then only between
Mile End and Romford. The Shoreditch to Brentwood section opened in1840,
and Colchester was finally reached in 1843. Here the line terminated
due to lack of capital backers, and it was left to the Eastern Union
Railway to build a line further north. |
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Eastern Counties Railway Prospectus 1834
To quote an extract of writings from the time, given in the GER guidebook;
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| “We start our journey at Bishopsgate, which was the terminus
until Liverpool Street was built in 1874, and then go out to Stratford,
the position of the works and junctions. George Hudson was in favour
at the time, and was involved in the design of the works. Stratford
is well described: "in another portion of the buildings the carriages
are being cared for and attended to: some, first class, are being
stuffed, and padded and petted, to fit every bend of the human frame;
others, second class, have to be satisfied with a dose or two of paint,
and a lotion of varnish; and the less-favoured third class merely
get a copious application of cold water, and a liberal application
of mop". |
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| Eastern Union Railway |
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The EUR, backed heavily by Ipswich businessmen and investors anxious
to get access to London, raised the capital to finance the railway
on to Ipswich.
Led by Ipswich brewer John Chevalier Cobbold, an Act of Parliament
was obtained on 19th July 1844 authorising the Eastern Union Railway
to be built onward from Colchester to Ipswich. The line was opened
to goods traffic on 1st June 1846, followed by a full official opening
10 days later. It then had running powers over the ECR onwards to
London. However, in 1847 the EUR absorbed the Ipswich to Bury Railway,
which had been built two years earlier as an independent company,
and it’s expansion plans turned northwards.
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| The Colchester, Stour Valley, Sudbury, &
Halstead Railway |
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The first proposal to build a railway in the Colne Valley was in
1846 when, by
Act of Parliament, the "Colchester, Stour Valley, Sudbury and
Halstead Railway" was incorporated to build a line from Marks
Tey on the Eastern Counties Railway to Sudbury, with branches to Halstead
and from Colchester to Hythe. Further powers authorised extensions
to Bury St. Edmunds and Clare but an acute shortage of funds ensured
that only the Sudbury line was built together with the Hythe branch.
The Colne Valley had to be crossed at Chappel – no mean feat
due to the width of the valley. Construction started on the viaduct
in 1846 and two years and 31 arches later, this magnificent structure
was completed; which to this day looks somewhat out of place in
rural Essex.
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| The Colne Valley & Halstead Railway (CV&HR) |
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When in 1856 the branch railway to Halstead had still not been built,
the local
citizens took matters into their own hands and a scheme was formally
sanctioned by Act of Parliament on 30th June 1856 to build a line
from the Eastern Counties Railway * at Chappel & Wakes Colne to
Halstead. The embryonic Colne Valley and Halstead Railway (CV&HR)
found it difficult to raise the required capital and it was a further
two years before construction of the line was started.
* By this time the ECR had absorbed the Stour Valley and Sudbury
Line.
By the end of 1859 construction work was almost complete, but a
dispute arose with the larger Eastern Counties Railway because they
would not make a decision on where to locate the junction with their
line at Chappel. After months of haggling a decision was made, but
not before the CV&HR had threatened to build their own station
as close as possible to the Eastern Counties station.
The formal opening of the six mile long railway took place on Monday
16th April 1860 and was celebrated by the running of an excursion
train from Halstead to Colchester at a return fare of one shilling.
Meanwhile, the new Company obtained powers to extend the line from
Halstead to Haverhill and work commenced on June 19th 1860. The
extension was opened in stages, to Sible and Castle Hedingham on
July 1st 1861, to Great Yeldham on May 26th 1862 and finally to
Haverhill on May 10th 1863. A station opened at Birdbrook late in
1863. However, the construction of Halstead station lagged behind
the railway and was not started until late 1862, prior to which
not even a temporary structure existed.
Plans for further extensions from Haverhill Junction to Cambridge
and from Chappel to Colchester came to nothing, but the CV&HR
retained it’s independence when the Great Eastern Railway
was formed in 1862. The GER was sanctioned to build a line from
Sudbury to Cambridge via Clare and Haverhill, which was opened in
1865 and included a connecting spur to the CV&HR at Haverhill
Junction.
Following completion of the railway the CV&HR entered a period
of financial
crisis during which bankruptcy threatened. Internal disputes were
commonplace, a situation which was made worse by the local press
who turned public opinion against the Railway Company. In 1874 a
receiver was appointed and under his guidance matters slowly improved.
New capital was raised by an issue of Preference and Ordinary shares,
although apparently no dividend was ever paid. The healthier financial
situation enabled the Railway to purchase three locomotives in 1876,
two of which were named, "Haverhill" and "Hedingham".
Up until this time all rolling stock had been privately owned.
Finally, a description of a journey on the CV&HR given in the
guidebook.
“At Chappel railway station we can change into the carriages
of the Colne Valley Railway or we can go by way of Sudbury to Bury
St Edmunds and the north. We had better though run up the Colne
Valley line to visit Halstead and Castle Hedingham. Halstead is
one of the quaint old market towns of which Essex and Suffolk have
so many examples. We might go along this line to Haverhill, and
there rejoin the Great Eastern, but we must visit Sudbury so must
return to Chappel".
“Sudbury is remembered as the birthplace of Thomas Gainsborough,
the celebrated artist, many of whose pictures are treasured by the
nation as priceless examples of English art at its highest. Gainsborough,
the son of a Sudbury clothier, it is said, drew his inspiration
from the beauty of the Stour Valley”.
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