[Source: Darren Kitson]
Inworth Station: Gallery 1 c1910s - 5 May 1951  This is a fairly early view as the running-in board is mounted on wooden stanchions with wooden fencing passing behind it. The track ballast, which was a mix of ash and clinker appears quite fresh. The identity of the four ladies, who clearly prefer the platform edge to the bench seats, is not known. Three of them appear by wearing nurse's clothing so maybe they were awaiting a train to take them to Tolleshunt D'Arcy for work at Guisnes Court VAD Hospital. If this somewhat wild deduction is true, the photograph will date from the 1915 - 1918 period.
Photo from John Mann collection  
The 1922 1:2,500 OS map with Inworth station marked simply as 'station' towards bottom right. Heath Siding, which predated Inworth station, can also be seen. The road running top to bottom on the left is Blue Road. Its junction with Factory Lane, now Vine Road, was a straightforward crossroads until the railway came when it was altered to the form seen here. Perhaps surprisingly the level crossing was ungated. Today this junction has reverted to its pre railway form and on the ground there is no evidence of the railway ever existing.
By the time of this 1954 1:2,500 OS map little had changed in the general area other than a few more buildings being dotted around. On the railway, Heath Siding is now shown as being single ended and the loading dock is marked as 'Ramp'. Further along, Inworth station is now marked as 'Platform' which is technically correct as by this time the passenger service had been withdrawn.
 1965 1:2,500 OS map shows the course of the line after track lifting. There has been substantial residential development on the east side of Maldon Road.
A close up of the original running-in board by now mounted in typical GER fashion on lengths of redundant rail fronted by pipework railings. The identity of the rather smartly turned out young man in a Salvation Army uniform, or the reason why he was photographed, is uncertain.
Photo from Sally Willshire 
An undated and indeed difficult to date view looking in the direction of Kelvedon. The notice board header appears to say GREAT EASTERN but is too unclear to confirm while the general air of dilapidation, note the collapsing bench seat, suggest later. An apparently busy Heath Siding, complete with dock, can be seen in the background. This siding predated the station. Inworth was effectively an unstaffed halt but was nevertheless always referred to as a 'station'. Initially a ground-level request stop, it was later provided with the platform as seen here. The carriage body was also a later addition. When the railway was built it severed what is now Perry Road and the resulting northern stub became the approach road, with access to the platform being via the ramp seen just beyond the carriage body. Just beyond the ramp the original running-in board is still present.
Photo from John Mann collection 
It should be remembered that Inworth station was actually in Tiptree and some two miles from Inworth village. This postcard view shows the level crossing on Maldon Road, Tiptree looking due north. The date is unknown but the photograph has an air of 1930s about it. Inworth station is to the left, the carriage body waiting room being just visible. Referring to the photograph showing the Drewry diesel shunter with its caption referring to the damaged level crossing gate, it is very obvious in this view how Maldon Road narrowed north of the level crossing. Tiptree windmill stands in the right background while just about in view at lower left is the 'cut off' road provided when the railway severed Perry Road, formerly Perry Lane. Today this area is entirely built up and while Perry Road is once again a through road it has been realigned. Anybody looking for the site of Inworth station now would find themselves both confused and disorientated but two clues do remain, namely the bend in Maldon Road and the house on the right which is No. 35 Maldon Road, Tiptree.
Photo from John Mann collection  The poster tells us this view dates from around the time of Nationalisation which took effect on and from 1 January 1948 (see below). The ladies and children wear typical clothing of the time and it is not difficult to work out what is going on; the lady with her head turned is not dressed for 'going out' and she has 'nipped out of the house for a few minutes to meet one if not all the others off a train. The camera position suggests the photograph was taken from the rear of a train as it trundles away over the level crossing. Heath Siding is seen in the background, this time devoid of wagons. Of note is the level of the surface of the clinker platform relative to the platform edge. It would be easy for the unwary to trip, a situation which would not be tolerated today.
Photo from John Mann collection 
A readable version of the notice seen in the previous view. These notices appeared in their thousands across the country and with the exception of London Transport heralded the creation of British Railways or 'BR' is it was commonly referred to. The date at the bottom is misleading. The Act had received Royal Assent, thereby passing into law, on 6 August 1947. The Act had been necessary due to the parlous state of the railways and other transport industries following WWII. Unfortunately it caused the public and some railwaymen to view British Railways as a 'lame duck', something not helped by the large scale switch to road transport which gained momentum from the 1950s although this was no new thing, it having started after WWI. It has to be said however that British Railways, or British Rail as it later traded as, became a very efficient organisation operating under difficult, to put it mildly, financial circumstances.
Image from Science & Society Picture Library 
On 16 April 1949 Class J69 0-6-0T No. 8636 arrives at Inworth with a train for Kelvedon. The train is formed of ex-Stoke Ferry Brake Third No. 62261 and one of the ex-Wisbech & Upwell bogie cars which here displays signs of becoming bowed which would suggest it was car 60461, this sign of age being less obvious with sister car 60462. By this time the running-in board had been given a rather ill-fitting enamel nameplate. Whether any passengers would alight from the train is something we will never know but the lack of waiting passengers was nothing unusual by this date. Even if there were no passengers alighting or boarding the train would still stop at the platform while the fireman and guard dealt with the level crossing gates, so a lack of passengers was academic. April 16 1949 was the same day, at least on paper, this locomotive was reallocated to Colchester from Stratford. The following year No. 8636 would become No. 68636 and would survive until January 1959, having returned to Stratford in February 1955.
Photo by W A Camwell 
On Saturday 5 May 1951 the final Down passenger train arrives at Inworth. Details of the locomotive and stock in terms of numbers is given elsewhere in these pages. What is presumably the fireman is climbing down to tend to the level crossing gates which are just out of shot to the right. The train was well loaded as evidenced by the protrusions from the windows and on this final day the Kelvedon & Tollesbury likely saw more passengers than it did for the total of the preceding months of 1951.
Photo by Ron Berry
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Notes: Inworth station, actually a halt but never named as such, was a curious affair being among the later provisions on the Kelvedon & Tollesbury, opening on 1 May 1905. 
Awkwardly sited could be called an understatement as the station was located at a crossroads with the railway and station severing what is now Perry Road, the truncated of stub of Perry Road from Maldon Road being used for station access. To compensate a cut-off road was provided south the station to allow road traffic to move between Perry Road and Maldon Road unhindered.
The above 1:2500 map from 1920 shows the location of Inworth station (blue arrow) and the cut-off road mentioned previously between Perry Road and Maldon Road. Maldon Road had a gated level crossing worked by train crew. Heath Siding is not shown it was between Factory Lane and the station, on the Down side of the line. Perhaps surprisingly, at Factory Lane despite the railway passing through the middle of a crossroads this level crossing was ungated. Such would be unthinkable today. 
The request stop status does appear a little odd when trains, Down trains anyway, had to stop at the station for the crew to operate the level crossing gates. It is thought Inworth originally had no passenger shelter and following complaints the inevitable grounded carriage body appeared. Other provision was two oil lamps, a bench seat and a running-in board. As at Feering, Inworth did not handle goods traffic, this being dealt with at the adjacent Heath Siding. As with most other sidings along the line, Heath was double-ended which simplified the shunting of mixed trains which required goods vehicles and the goods brake van to be at the rear of the train. 
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