Station Name: KELVEDON LOW LEVEL[Source: Darren Kitson)]
Kelvedon Low Level Station: Gallery 3
Last Day (5 May 1951) - July 2024  No. 68578 has arrived back at Kelvedon after working the final passenger train. Reputedly this train ran to time throughout. Note the wreath and the typically juvenile, for such occasions, chalkings on the side of the bunker. Similar chalkings adorned the other side and front of the locomotive. Somebody did not know how to spell 'Winkle'! The Kelvedon stationmaster is here seen present, still wearing his LNER cap. The gentleman seen being helped from the footplate and most unsuitably dressed for such a location was perhaps the Maldon MP Tom Driberg who had tried to save the line although no doubt primarily in the hope of gaining votes as by 1951 hardly anybody used the line and this would not have changed had the service been saved.
Photo from John Mann collection 
A familiar friend, Class J15 No. 65443, is seen here departing Kelvedon with the goods train for Tiptree and Tudwick Road Siding. She still carries the full 'BRITISH RAILWAYS' title on her tender. The main line can be seen in the background. The date is 19 May 1951, two weeks after withdrawal of the passenger service and closure to all traffic of the line beyond Tudwick Road Siding.
Photo by PM Alexander 
A somewhat forlorn looking E60462 sits on a siding somewhere at Kelvedon (logically it is the carriage siding although the running line, bottom left, appears too close) with one wheel set chocked. This view is thought to date from after withdrawal of the passenger service on 7 May 1951 and E60462 was not officially withdrawn from service until December 1951 while sister car E60461 was officially withdrawn in October 1951. The last of the ex Wisbech & Upwell 4-wheelers was withdrawn in March 1948. It had been Wisbech car 3 and at the time of withdrawal was British Railways E60465; this was its official number but whether the 'E' prefix was actually applied is unclear. Returning to the photograph it can be seen that the droplight furthest from the camera is propped up with a stick. Most likely the leather strap had broken, this being a not uncommon occurrence as vehicles aged.
Photo from Jim Lake collection 
Kelvedon Low Level engine shed. This photograph is undated although evidence suggests it was taken immediately after closure. The coaling stage is for all intents and purposes devoid of coal and the gas lamp on the right has been partially dismantled. On Monday 7 May 1951 men arrived to remove furniture from the station yet some buckets are still present, bottom left, and the 'Fire Devil' brazier still stands beside the water column. The plate on the end of the coaling stage is a Limited Clearance sign with a red and white chequered pattern. This is an early example and in 1952 British Railways introduced a version with "Warning" in one white square and 'Limited Clearance' in the other and originally with block capitals. The text version is mounted with the 'Warning' white square at upper left and therefore with two sides perpendicular to the ground. This sign is still in use today. The engine shed was a small, single road affair capable of fully accommodating nothing larger than an 0-6-0T locomotive. No photographs of its interior have come to light and the brick building which stood behind it is only seen from a distance in a couple of photographs. The impression given by this photograph is of the brick building already having been demolished. To the right of the water tower is the footbridge from the main line station. This and the station footbridge had been de-roofed by the LNER.
Photo from Jim Lake collection  Class J15 No. 65443 again with the open wagon railtour of 6 April 1957. The location is Kelvedon Up platform, from which the train can proceed directly into the Tiptree branch. Kelvedon signal box is just about visible through the haze, centre background. On the right is Kelvedon Down goods yard with what appears to be another Class J15 locomotive present. In the distance is bridge No. 184, Rolley Lane.
Photo by NC Simmons 
Class J15 No. 65443 is seen here with the open wagon railtour of 6 April 1957. The diminutive 'REC' (Railway Enthusiasts Club) headboard has yet to be attached. The location is Kelvedon Up side goods yard and behind the Up platform adjacent to the signal box. Tour participants are waiting on the platform. The train has probably been placed in this siding to allow an Up Main passenger train to pass, after which it would reverse out onto the Up Main, collect the passengers and then proceed 'wrong line' to the junction for the Tiptree branch. In the left background are the two carriages which brought the passengers to Kelvedon; these carriages were used on the Maldon West part of the tour but with Class J67 No. 68628.
Photo by NC Simmons 
Presumably this view depicts the Railway Enthusiasts Club railtour of 6 April 1957 as it is the only known tour to have used use open wagons during the British Railways period. Class J15 No. 65443 is lifting the train up a 1:63 gradient, after which was a short level section followed by a falling 1:50 gradient before regaining the level at Feering. The summit of the line was shortly before Heath Siding (in the Down direction, shortly after in the Up). Plain to see is how after closure to passengers the line became a plain track connection from the Up main line. Left of centre can be seen Kelvedon Up Home signal, it's apparently 'tree trunk' like post is probably a photographic flaw. The low embankment left of centre and ending abruptly was the site of the Low Level station's carriage siding. We are also given a lesson in the fashions of the time; black, dark grey and fawn raincoats being standard along with various styles of hat and cap, although male headgear was no longer compulsory except on Sundays and formal occasions. Kelvedon main line station is just about discernible to the left of the prominent agricultural storage building background, right of centre.
Photo from Jim Lake collection 
Class E4 2-4-0 No. 62785 has arrived back at Kelvedon following the brake van tour of 27 September 1958. Whether this tour terminated at Tiptree or continued to Tudwick Road remains a mystery. The location is Kelvedon Down side goods yard. At this time No. 62785 was fitted with a tender cab to protect the crew when running tender first. A number of Class J15 locomotives were also so-fitted, the primary reason being for operation on the Colne Valley Line (Haverhill - Chappel & Wakes Colne). These duties were taken over by Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 locomotives which had tender cabs from new, then by diesel-multiple units and railbuses. No. 62785 now resides at the National Railway Museum restored to Great Eastern Railway livery, minus tender cab and dented tender. She was the final 2-4-0 tender locomotive to operate on what we now call the National Network.
Photo by Dr IC Allan  The ancient and the [then] modern side by side at Kelvedon, probably in August 1958. On the main line Riddles Britannia Pacific No. 70037 'Hereward the Wake' passes with an Up express passenger train while on the branch an unidentified Class J15 waits at the signal for clearance to continue up the incline onto the main line. Introduced in 1951, the Britannia Class was one of the BR Standard designs and the introduction into service was not without problems but with these remedied the class soon settled down. All the East Anglian examples had been transferred to other areas by 1963, ousted mainly and initially by English Electric Type 4 diesels. The leading carriage carries a destination board below the cantrail and the fourth carriage appears to be an ex LNER Gresley type. This is the only photograph that has come to light showing the upper quadrant Up Home signal installed sometime after the withdrawal of branch passenger trains, it having replaced the original, wooden, lower quadrant ex GER signal. While the Kelvedon & Tollesbury was not exactly awash with signals, this was the only upper quadrant metal type to have been installed on the branch. By the time of this photograph all track in the Low Level station had long since been removed, leaving the running line with a plain track connection up the incline to the main line.
Photo from Jim Lake collection  Elsewhere is mentioned the removal of certain items, the running-in board, platform benches, lamps etc., immediately after closure of Kelvedon Low Level in 1951. Viewed from the country end of the Up main line platform, this was the scene on 7 June 1954. At bottom centre is the base of the former engine shed and to its left some discarded materials, presumably from the building annexed to the shed. Image quality is poor but nevertheless between the two nearest telegraph poles the main line connection can be discerned as can, further back, what by this time was referred to as 'The Tiptree Branch' curving away towards Feering Hill. The ground signal partly visible at far left controlled access to the branch. In 1961 this section of the main line was resignalled using colour-light signals and Kelvedon signal box closed. Thereafter and for the remaining life of the Tiptree branch, the branch was controlled by a ground frame unlocked by a key kept at another ground frame which had replaced the signal box and operating in conjunction with Witham signal box.
Photo from Leiston Works Railway 
The remains of Kelvedon Low Level on 30 April 1977 and looking south towards the main line station. The Low Level station was in the distance and in the centre of the photograph, nearer the camera, is the remains of the incline from the main line. Quoted as being on a 1:50 gradient it always appeared rather steeper. Where the trackbed widens at left foreground was where the carriage siding branched off, the signal box having once stood left of centre. The oddly shaped house in the background was Kelvedon stationmaster's house. It is still there in 2024. Between the house and the footbridge but further back is the original main line station building, now longer in existence.
Photo by Mark Dufton 
The remains of Kelvedon Low Level platform on 30 April 1977 with the main line heading towards Marks Tey and Colchester. Most of Low Level's provision, including the engine shed, was removed very quickly after closure in 1951 leaving only what can be seen here. The railings on the left marked the footpath from the covered footbridge linking the main line station, the final section of the path descending to the Low Level platform being in the open air. In 2024 the very degraded platform, if not the railings and lamp stanchion, still existed. The site is however heavily overgrown, on private land and if permission can be sought is physically very difficult to access.
Photo by Mark Dufton  The remains of the Low Level station platform on 28 March 1978. Compared to the state of things a year earlier, nature really was taking over the site. The train on the main line is formed of two 4-car Class 309 electric-multiple units. Commonly referred to as 'Clacton Units' they began life in 1962 as Class AM9 and were built for Liverpool Street - Clacton/Walton services. They spent most of their lives on these services but in 1994 a few were transferred to the Manchester area and could on occasion be seen at Euston. The last were withdrawn from passenger service in 2000. The unit seen here still has its wrap-round cab windows and eventually these would be replaced by flat windscreens with small, separate side windows. The result was not aesthetically very pleasing. The four-character headcode system is still in use today but has long since ceased to be displayed on trains. The first numeral, '1', signified express passenger and '2' stopping services. 'F' was the code for Liverpool Street - Colchester - Clacton/Walton passenger trains. The last two numerals identified specific services in terms of the timetable with odd numbers for Up trains and even numbers for Down trains. The same system was used on the Liverpool Street - Cambridge - King's Lynn line except that the letter 'L' was used. On BR Eastern Region the system was peculiar to the former Great Eastern lines.
Photo by Mark Dufton  Some remains of Kelvedon Low Level photographed in January 2015, before the site became difficult to access. The photograph is believed to show the footings for the former waiting room, although the style of the brickwork is difficult to match in photographs of the building when still in existence. However, to accommodate the waiting room part of the embankment carrying the main line was cut away and the result shored-up with vertically-mounted redundant sleepers. Close examination of the extreme upper left of the photograph appears to show these sleepers still in situ and this would confirm the original of the brickwork seen here.
Photo by Fabiano Vianello  Looking north east from the Kelvedon station approach road towards the site of Kelvedon Low Level station in February 2023. The station was located in the overgrown area between the railway embankment and the trees. The River Blackwater runs parallel with Station Road through the railway arch. There was a footbridge across the river but this was never the public access to the station. The only access to the station was from the north end of the up main line platform. The footbridge was still accessible in the 1970s but there is no trace of it now.
Photo by Rosalind Lifford  A January 2023 view from the country end of Kelvedon Up platform towards the site of the Low Level station. Many decades earlier the photographer would have been looking along to walkway to Low Level. The walkway was supported by iron stanchions adjacent to the piers of the brick arch main line bridge, from which latter there may have been some cantilevered supports at the south end. The River Blackwater runs across the bottom of the photograph and on the opposite bank, directly ahead of the photographer, stood the Low Level engine shed. The Low Level station itself was situated beyond the engine shed but before the steeply graded connection with the main line. The connection branched off about where the nearest catenary gantry stands, left of centre. At around the time of this photograph the degraded remains of the Low Level platform reputedly still existed but the site is private property and now very difficult to physically access.
Photo by James Phillips  Looking north east towards the site of Kelvedon Low Level station in July 2024. The new fencing surrounds the station site with the main line embankment on the west side. The footbridge across the River Blackwater from Station Road has now gone and the only way to reach this point is from Feering Hill where there is a gate after the river bridge. The station site was accessible in 2021 and the fence looks very new.Photo
by Nick Catford
 Wisdom Art Prints is a Tiptree based studio, illustrating and producing the highest quality greeting cards and art prints. Artist Robert Wisdom has been illustrating professionally for over 45 years. Robert has a particular interest in his local railway, the Kelvedon & Tollesbury Light Railway, and has illustrated all the stationsPrint by Robert Wisdom
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