East Anglian Dis-used Stations

Shown below are a few of the gems that can be found hidden in the leafy and not so leafy parts of the eastern counties of England.

                                           
                                                             Braughing   
                  

               

            

                             2010                                                                 1961

Situated on the former Buntingford branch, this delightful station is currently a private home to the son of the former stationmaster. Opened in 1863 by the Great Eastern Railway, this was an intermediate station, with the terminus of the branch at the prosperous market town of Buntingford.

Connection to the Great Eastern main line was at St Margarets, on the Hertford – Broxbourne loop.Other intermediate stations were at Mardock, Widford, Hadham,West Mill and Standon. Braughing is the only surviving station now (2011) as the only other surviving station building at Buntingford is believd to have been re-delepod into housing. It had been intended to extend the line to Ware, but to avoid expensive land purchases, the line made it junction at St Margarets.

The end came for passengers in November 1964, with the last services being provided by Class 125 DMU units, steam passenger services having ended in 1959. Freight succumbed in September 1965.

The site has on it the original booking hall which together with the former station house forms the owners dwelling. The platforms have on them the  original lamp room, waiting room and a grounded coach body, which has been clad with atimberr shell. A replacement signal box is under construction and in the down platform is parked a BR Mk II TSO coach on a preserved length of bull head track. A replica starter signal is also to be seen on the up platform, as can the original BR totem sign over what was the station entrance door.


                                                                 Rayne  

     
                          



       

                                                                                                                 1907

Rayne is currently in use as the headquarters for the Flitch Way rangers, a café and information centre for the 17 mile Flitch Way footpath,which is formed from the route of the closed Braintree- Bishops Stortford line which opened throughout in 1869. One of a number of surviving station buildings on the former line, Rayne retains much of its original character. The other stations were; Dunmow, Takeley, Felsted, with halts at Hockerhill, Stane Street, Bannister Green and Easton Lodge.

The last named has an interesting history as it was built and paid for privately by the Countess of Warwick so that Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VII could visit her at Easton Lodge stately home during their 9 year liasion. The gardens of Easton Lodge our now open to the public.

The line was never profitable for passengers receipts, many trains running virtually empty and for profits relied on goods traffic revenue. The line had a busy time during WWII transporting rubble from blitzed London buildings for building bomber airfields for the US Air Force, then transporting munitions once these airfields were operational.

Passengers services were an early casualty , the final trains running in March 1952. Freight however, survived to Rayne until 1971, although the line remained open as far as Easton Lodge for the adjacent banana storage unit until 1974.The final passenger train was an enthuiasts special in July 1972.

                                                      Wickham Bishops


                                          



           
                
                       

Now in use as a private residence, this former station on the Maldon - Witham line has been preserved by incorporating the platforms and former booking office into a sympathetically extended house. The owner was quite happy to let us look around, and even let us have some copies of photos of the station in its working days which came to an end in 1964 with the closure to passengers.

Opened in 1848 as part of the of Maldon, Witham & Braintree Railway the line was economically constructed from timber wherever possible ,and had six timber trestle viaducts. Only one of these survives, now a scheduled monument, and is the last surviving timber trestle railway viaduct in the country. This is located a short distance from the station where the former line crosses the River Blackwater.

                                                                      

By the 1950s, the Witham to Maldon section was losing money and was eventually closed to passengers in 1964 and to freight two years later. The former line is now partly incorporated in the Blackwater Rail Trail, leading from Maldon station, along the old rail route to Langford.

It’s not just preserved railways that have a monoply of railway architecture from the past. Many individuals have loving preserved stations and other artefacts where the remainder of the closed line has disappeared.