Station Name: FEERING HALT[Source: Darren Kitson]
Feering Halt: Gallery 1 March 1910 - September 1950  Moments after departing Kelvedon on 31 March 1910 the 12.30pm Kelvedon - Tollesbury train, continuing to Tollesbury Pier if required, seen beside Kelvedon Up Distant signal. The train will shortly negotiate the level crossing over Feering Hill but it was to be a further twenty-four years before Feering Halt came into existence. The locomotive is GER Class R24 No. 391, nominally an 0-6-0T she is seen here running as a 2-4-0T. Under the LNER she would have been classified Class J67 but she was one of those rebuilt, in 1913, to what would become Class J69. Ultimately she became British Railways No. 68567 and withdrawal came in August 1957 from Cambridge shed. The device in front of the water tank is a Westinghouse pump, the GER being an air-braked system. The two carriages, both 4-wheelers, are of course from the stock originally converted for the line. In conductor-guard form only the end doors, or on the Brake Third the inner end doors, remained for passenger use with the rest being sealed shut. This is evident by the presence of the grab rails going right down almost to the solebars.
Photo by Ken Nunn  
The 1923 1:2,500 OS map. The halt opened eleven years later in May 1934 on south side of Feering Hill and on the Up side of the line. Kelvedon station is just out of view, upper left..
The 1925 1:10,560 OS map, nine years before Feering Halt opened. Visible is the double-ended siding that was Brooklands Siding, bottom centre, and the spur, a private siding, which led across the field to Threshelfords Farm where a run-round loop was provided. The spur crossed the road adjacent to the farm via a level crossing, a feature not indicated on the map. Traffic to and from the farm was not a success and the spur was removed in the 1930s. The 'Brooklands' name was probably derived from Domsey Brook.
The 1949 1:10,000 OS map with Feering Halt marked. As the halt did not open till 1934 and closed in 1951 it does not appear on any large scale OS maps. The by-then-removed spur to Threshelfolds Farm is still shown due to the map being a revision of an earlier publication. Running across bottom right of the map is Domsey Brook which the railway, on an embankment at that point, crossed on Bridge No. 873. The railway passed through land owned by The Crown Estate and at the time of writing a proposal existed to develop this land, with the former railway embankment at Domsey Brook acting
as a 'Wildlife Buffer'.  On 31 March 1910 Class R24 No. 391 pauses at what would become many years later the site of Feering Halt. The guard is closing the level crossing gates behind the train. The train was the 12.30pm from Kelvedon and was one of those which would continue to Tollesbury Pier only if required. Note the neatly tended ground either side of the track; perhaps used by the PW linesmen for growing vegetables. Class R24, later Class J67, was an 0-6-0T design but like several others at various times No. 391 is here running as a 2-4-0T. Also like many others she would be rebuilt to what the GER classified 'R24 Rebuilt' and she would ultimately become a member of LNER/BR Class J69/1. Under British Railways she became No. 68567 with withdrawal coming in August 1957 from Cambridge shed.
Photo by Ken Nunn halt_old1.jpg) Feering Halt and level crossing in the 1930s, probably shortly after the halt opened. The house on the far side of the A12 is still standing.
Photo from John Mann collection halt_old2.jpg) This is a quite early view of Feering Halt as the omnibus body still retains, at least on this side, the screen beside what was the driving position and the supporting bracket between end wall and canopy. Omnibuses of its era did not always have entrance doors fitted but the second photograph among the station notes shows that particular vehicle was fitted with a door. In this view the door is open, obscuring the view of what was the offside of the body, but from what can been seen it appears the sidelights had been panelled over. In addition there would have originally been windows either side of the entrance above waist height. These have also been panelled over. Economy of glass therefore appears to have been of some importance and perhaps to deter vandalism which, contrary to what we are led to believe, is by no means a modern thing. What became of the body after the passenger service was withdrawn is not known. Most likely it was burned on site or British Railways may have allowed a local person to break it up for domestic firewood.
Photo from John Mann collection halt_old3.jpg) Feering Halt in 1947 with signs of wartime and subsequent austerity being quite obvious. Somebody, a lady apparently, is sitting in the former omnibus body. Could it be an intending passenger? More likely the bored wife of the photographer. In this and other photographs some clutter is visible dumped behind the body but what exactly it is is difficult to determine although this view appears to show a bench seat, perhaps discarded from the body. The building in the right background was the premises of Electric Art Shades (EAS), a manufacturer of shades for electrical lighting. The company's heyday would have been the lengthy transition period between gas or paraffin and electrical lighting. Established in 1928, EAS was a regular exhibitor at the British Industries Fair held annually in London and Birmingham between 1915 and 1957 excepting 1941 - 1946 due to the Second World War. The first reference to the company being situated at Feering Hill was in 1930. The company very likely distributed their products by rail from Kelvedon for much if not all of its existence. EAS appears to have been wound-up in 1970 although this procedure is of a legal nature and production could have ceased some time previously.Photo from John Mann collection  On 30 September 1950 Class J67 No. 68608 has arrived at Feering Halt with the 12.50pm ex Tollesbury. This is the train which for some reason lingered at Tollesbury for two hours, having worked the 10.10am service from Kelvedon. Both workings were mixed although on this occasion no goods wagons were present. Both passenger cars are out of the platform so presumably no passengers wished to alight and apparently none were waiting to board - a not unusual situation. It appears the fireman has dismounted and is about to unlock and close the level crossing gates to road traffic; he has what looks like the train staff with key attached in his hand. Who the young man hanging onto the locomotive was is not known although he has the air of being an enthusiast about him. Photo by Ken Nunn
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The aforementioned and former main road (The A12 now bypasses Kelvedon) is named 'Feering Hill' which would have been a more accurate name for the halt as Feering is a village about one mile to the north-east of the site of the halt although this has become somewhat academic in modern times with the title 'Kelvedon & Feering' being used for some local institutions such as the cricket and rugby clubs. Feering Halt was about a half mile, if that, from Kelvedon station and given the need to change stations and rebook at Kelvedon plus omnibus services being well established by 1934 along with the infrequent light railway timetable it is difficult to see why the LNER thought the halt was a good idea even if it was cheap to construct and maintain. Often an idea of usage can be gained from ticket numbers (the accountancy numbers printed on tickets) but in the case of the Kelvedon & Tollesbury, from the surviving tickets which have been seen all are multi-destination types and no tickets covering a journey between Kelvedon and Feering have been seen. It is possible such a journey was covered by Kelvedon - Inworth, in other words the same fare applied. No doubt the halt saw some passengers to and from Tiptree, where Wilkin employed large numbers of people in the jam factory and in its fields, plus fishermen heading towards the Blackwater although Tollesbury Pier station had closed long before Feering Halt was provided (the by then disused line between Tollesbury and Tollesbury Pier is known to have been used as a footpath by fishermen).
Feering Halt was located on the Inworth side of the level crossing and on the Up side of the line. It comprised a short, low cinder platform, two oil lamps and a waiting shelter in the form of a former omnibus body. There were no goods or parcels facilities. The halt name was displayed on the oil lamp casements and a running-in board was provided, perched onto the cantrail of the former omnibus body. Passengers travelling in the low slung ex Wisbech & Upwell carriages must have had difficulty seeing the name mounted high up on the shelter, although the majority of passengers needing to alight at the halt would have been local people who needed no announcement.
The photograph (right) shows another GER Milnes-Daimler with luggage compartment behind the driver and solid wall. The GER operated a number of these passenger-luggage vehicles. One can imagine herewith lies the answer to the solid end wall of the Feering body, with the solid sides of the luggage compartment being removed and glazed. The problem is these vehicles had glazing either side of the central entrance at the rear of the lower saloon whereas the Feering body had solid panels. The glazing could have been removed, perhaps due to breakage and solid panels inserted in its place. 
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