Station Name: KELVEDON LOW LEVEL[Source: Darren Kitson)]
Kelvedon Low Level Station: Gallery 3
1950 - Last Day (5 May 1951) 
In this view No. 68578 is descending the incline from the main line with the goods brake van. The photograph dates from after February 1950 as the locomotive has a shedplate (30E Colchester) fixed to the smokebox door. The points opposite the signal box are set for the carriage siding, upon which some passenger coach has been stabled. The two brackets on the locomotive's smokebox door were used to hold destination boards. These boards are most familiar from Liverpool Street and other suburban services in the London area. They were also used in a somewhat haphazard manner in other areas of the former GER system, in Norfolk for example. However away from the intensive suburban services to and from Liverpool Street the provision was rather unnecessary and perhaps needless to say were not used on the Kelvedon & Tollesbury. Nevertheless those locomotives fitted with the brackets retained them until withdrawal from service. Photo from Geoff Mortimer  If the foliage taking possession of the bench seat is anything to go by, this view dates from shortly before closure of Kelvedon Low Level. The two ex-Wisbech & Upwell bogie cars were not externally identical or at least not in later years as repairs were undertaken. The full display of bodyside beading seen here tells us this is car E60461. While passenger stock on the Kelvedon & Tollesbury is well documented the Full Brake is not; the reason being that while one of these vehicles was allocated to the line it was changed over from time to time and no doubt as works visits became due. The Full Brakes were standard vehicles which did not require step removal to travel over the main line, in contrast with the passenger stock. The camera angle shows the very protruding step on the passenger car to good effect and it was these protrusions which had to be removed. The steps were fitted to the underframe and while they may have, just, cleared straight platforms they would have fouled curved platforms.
Photo rom John Mann collection 
An apparently happy chap has his photograph taken inside one of the ex-Wisbech & Upwell cars. The Third Class seating has obviously seen better days but it nevertheless looks more comfortable than the ghastly seating in many modern trains, providing one didn't lean back too far. The leather straps were for lowering and raising the droplights. Rather like a belt one might wear with trousers, they were perforated at intervals and could be secured on a peg at the bottom of each window to suit how far open one required the droplights to be. The last passenger stock on the mainland network to have this arrangement disappeared during the 1970s while the very last was the ex-London Transport Standard Tube Stock on the Isle of Wight which had the strap arrangement on the connecting doors between carriages, although these doors were not normally used by passengers. The last of this stock was withdrawn in 1992. The gas lighting, seen here, was spaced at even intervals along the ceiling of the saloon and there were also lights above the verandah at each end, this latter accounting for the uneven spacing when the vehicles are viewed from outside. How often the straps for standing passengers were used on the Kelvedon & Tollesbury is open to question. Returning to the seating, the preserved car has been fitted with ex-DMU or EMU seating and probably the latter. It does not look good and spoils what is otherwise a splendid restoration. Perhaps one day as funds permit this seating will be replaced by something more resembling the original.
Photo from Jim Lake collection 
On 19 September 1950 car E60462 sits on a siding at Kelvedon although the precise spot is difficult to determine. The car had returned from the workshops following a repaint. The livery was probably still LNER brown, using up stocks, with black running gear, buffer beams and headstocks. It is fairly obvious the latter two items and the gas tank have been repainted. The former LNER style 'E60462' has been replaced with the plainer British Railways style. The strip-style devices below the fourth sidelight from each end were probably ventilators and are thought to have been present on only one side of the vehicle and not at all on E60461.
Photo by Ian Wright 
Brake Third, British Railways No. E62261 on the siding at Kelvedon along with the Gresley van. This fairly clear photograph offers a good view of the inner end of the vehicle and the accoutrements of conductor-guard operation. The drop plate which bridges the gap between adjacent vehicles is here seen in the folded back position. This vehicle began life as GER No. 337 before becoming No. 11 on the Stoke Ferry branch when that line's passenger traffic proved woefully short of expectations and conductor-guard working was introduced. After the Stoke Ferry passenger service was withdrawn in 1930 No. 11 was transferred to Kelvedon where it became LNER No. 62261. As the Stoke Ferry branch had standard height platforms, car 62261 had to be modified for the Kelvedon & Tollesbury by fitting smaller diameter wheels and extra steps as did sister car 62262. The letters 'BTZ' can be seen on the tumblehome; 'Z' indicated a six-wheel vehicle and therefore 'BTZ' meant 'Brake Third Six Wheel'. This coding system had been introduced by the LNER and was carried on by British Railways. The lettering on the solebar, just left of the steps nearest the camera, is difficult to read but the letters 'KT' can be made out. It was probably therefore a statement to the effect that the vehicle was allocated to the Kelvedon & Tollesbury. The footholds and handrails on the end of the car gave access to interior lighting via the roof and were a throwback to the days of oil lighting.
Photo from John Mann collection  Sometime in British Railways days a mixed train awaits departure as what is probably the guard and a member of the locomotive crew pass the time on a platform bench. The locomotive appears to be Class J67 No. 68578. The train comprises Brake Third E62261, three open wagons, one van and the Gresley Full Brake. On the siding is one of the ex-Wisbech bogie cars with Brake Third E62262. Quite how this train was operated in respect of the guard is open to question. He would need to be in the leading vehicle to issue tickets yet if the goods vehicles were unfitted, i.e. not fitted with the continuous automatic brake, he would need to be in the Full Brake at the rear.
Photo from John Mann collection 
With closure to passengers and the line beyond Tudwick Road Siding to all traffic just days away, on 23 April 1951 a mixed train shuffles away from Kelvedon Low Level. From the locomotive footplate a young man looks rather suspiciously at the camera. Was he the fireman in shirt sleeves? Probably not but more likely an enthusiast who had been invited onto the footplate. The train is climbing the 1:63 gradient out of the station, the station itself being on the level. On the siding sits the other passenger set; by this time the usual formations were one ex-Wisbech plus one ex-Stoke Ferry vehicle. A third ex-Stoke Ferry vehicle also survived until the end. All sidings along the line were on the level. In this view two splashes of relative modernity can be seen, namely the steel-bodied mineral wagon and the upper quadrant Down Starter signal on the main line.
Photo from Jim Lake collection
An undated view of Kelvedon Low Level station from British Railways days. A passenger train had arrived comprising the Gresley Full Brake and Brake Third E62261. On the platform barrow is a Lyons Ice Cream container. This is how J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. branded themselves before the 'Lyons Maid' branding became the norm. See here for more information.
Photo from John Mann collection  On 28 April 1951 Class J69 No. 68578 departs Kelvedon Low Level with a mixed train with the two Ex-Stoke Ferry carriages providing passenger accommodation - if there were any passengers. The train was the 10.10am departure, the first Down passenger service of the day and the train which would linger at Tollesbury for two hours before returning at 12.50pm. One week later this locomotive would work the final passenger train, by then facing the opposite way round i.e with smokebox leading and probably because it had negotiated the Manningtree triangle. At bottom right is the incline connecting the branch to the main line.Photo by RFE Vincent  No. 68578 again, this time caught taking on water. Part of the corrugated iron engine shed can be seen at far right. Behind the shed was a brick building about which little is known. Probably it contained a mess room, an office and perhaps a signing-on point. The brick hut at far left was a later addition as was the gas lamp which had replaced an oil lamp. At bottom left was a timber store (for lighting up locomotives) and a coal pen.
Photo from Jim Lake collection 
The Kelvedon & Tollesbury passenger service was withdrawn on Monday 7 May 1951 with the final train running on Saturday 5 May, there being no Sunday service. This view taken on that final day is thought to show the very last train awaiting departure from Kelvedon at 5.45pm. It arrived at Tollesbury at 6.25pm. The train departed Tollesbury at 6.37pm arriving back at Kelvedon at 7.22pm. Locomotive No. 68578 headed the train which was formed of cars E62261 + E60462 + E62262. Railway closures or passenger service withdrawals were no new thing in 1951, contrary to what many people think who out of either ignorance or with a political axe to grind blame Richard Beeching for each and every closure. Judging from the foreground of this view some track lifting had already started, perhaps from one of the sidings between Tudwick Road and Tollesbury although why this material had been dumped where it is seen is unexplained. Perhaps it awaited loading onto bogie or long wheelbase wagons coming down from the main line.
Photo by Dick Riley  Kelvedon Low Level on 5 May 1951, the final day of the passenger service. This is probably the very last train awaiting departure, although the throng is not quite as dense as it would be as departure time became imminent. Following the return of the final train from Tollesbury, Kelvedon Low Level closed along with the engine shed seen here right background. The remaining goods trains then ran direct via the main line connection.Photo
by JJ Smith
 Another view of the final passenger train awaiting departure from Kelvedon, 5 May 1951. The weather that day was damp and dismal but that didn't stop enthusiasts, many with raincoats and hats, from wandering all over the station area.Photo by JJ Smith 
Kelvedon Low Level on 5 May 1951, the final day of the passenger service. This is probably the very last train awaiting departure, although the throng is not quite as dense as it would be as departure time became imminent. Following the return of the final train from Tollesbury, Kelvedon Low Level closed along with the engine shed seen here right background. The remaining goods trains then ran direct via the main line connection.
Photo by PJ Kelly
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