Station Name: CHAPPEL & WAKES COLNE (This station is still open but has been included to complete the Stour Valley line)

 

[Source: Nick Catford]



Date opened: 2.7.1849
Location: At the end of a short approach road on the right hand side of Station Road.
Company on opening: Eastern Union Railway
Date closed to passengers: Still open
Date closed completely: Still open
Company on closing: Still open
Present state: Still open
County: Suffolk
OS Grid Ref: TL898289
Date of visit: Not visited

Notes: The station was opened as Chappel but was renamed Chappel & Wakes Colne on 1.10.1914. Chapel & Wakes Colne Station is now home to the East Anglian Railway Museum

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE STOUR VALLEY RAILWAY (Marks Tey - Sudbury)
In 1846 the Colchester, Stour Valley, Sudbury & Halstead Railway was authorised by parliament to build a 12 mile line between Marks Tey and Sudbury. On 1.6.1847 further Acts were obtained allowing the company to extend from Sudbury to Clare with a branch from Melford to Bury St. Edmunds. The company was leased to the Ipswich & Bury St. Edmunds Railway which was in turn absorbed by the Eastern Union Railway the following month.

The line from Marks Tey to Sudbury opened on 2.7.1849 with intermediate stations at Bures and Chappel & Wakes Colne. In 1865 the line was extend to Shelford to allow through running to Cambridge.

In April 1965, the British Railways Board gave notice of their intention to close the line from Marks Tey to Cambridge with total closure planned for 31.12.1966. The Minister of Transport refused permission to close the Sudbury to Marks Tey section because of commuter needs and planned development at Sudbury.

The line to Sudbury survived several further attempts to close it and after the 1974 energy crisis and the threat of petrol rationing it was reprieved in the interests of the local community.

For further reading see: 'The Stour Valley Railway' by B D J Walsh. Published 1978 by Stour Valley Railway Preservation Society. ISBN 0 95064733 0 (£1.20 from Amazon)

To see the other stations on the Stour Valley Railway line click on the station name: Pampisford, Linton,
Bartlow, Haverhill, Sturmer, Stoke, Clare, Cavendish, Glemsford, Long Melford, Sudbury & Bures

See also Colne Valley Railway
Long Melford - Bury St. Edmunds Branch Line
Bartlow - Audley End Branch Line



Chappel & Wakes Colne Station in May 1960
Photo by D. Thompson



Chappel & Wakes Colne Station in August 1988 - the footbridge came from Sudbury Station in the 1980's
Photo by Leslie Oppitz

 

 

 

 

:[Source: Nick Catford]


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