Disused Stations: Mildenhall Station

Mildenhall Station Gallery 5: May 1975 - June 2006

May 1975 and looking towards the station forecourt from the public side of the goods shed. The bays on this side of the shed were for collection and delivery by road vehicles which, at least when motor transport arrived, would reverse up to the doorways. The shed had four such bays.
Photo by David Burrows from his Flickr photostream

Inside Mildenhall goods shed in May 1975. Two of the doorways to the loading bays can be seen on the left. The hut on the end of the platform will have been an office and may have contained a weighing machine. This shed also had a fixed crane and a granary but precisely where these features were located is not known. The crane would have been removed when the line was dismantled. The station building can be seen through the doorway; the track through the shed led either into the dock or, via the scissors crossing, into the station platform.'

Photo by David Burrows from his Flickr photostream

The scene outside the goods shed looking towards the station in May 1975; station building on the left and second staff cottages on the right. The clearer section of trackbed is the site of the running line while on the right was a headshunt leading from the run-round loop and the spur to the turntable. The latter branched off opposite, and slightly beyond the far end of, the shed. Alongside the shed wall ahead of the camera ran the goods loop. It was here where stationmaster Turner became trapped between the wall and an open wagon door of a moving train on 5 November 1942 and lost his life as a result. A photograph has been seen showing the track in situ but otherwise identical to this 1975 view and it is apparent that clearance between the goods loop and the shed wall was tight.
Photo by David Burrows from his Flickr photostream

Mildenhall platform, altered station building and goods shed on 14 May 1977. The neatness of the alterations to the doorways onto the platform is evident, as is the provision of a porch at the entrance to the station house. It would appear that no changes had been made to the goods shed at this time.
Photo by Alan Young

The west end of Mildenhall station platform and goods shed seen in May 1977. The shed appears to have been designed to take two tracks if necessary, one each side, although had this happened it is difficult to see how it could have worked in practice. Perhaps the design of the shed was purely for aesthetic symmetry. Note the rather odd appearance of the railings between platform and dock caused by the stanchions being set perpendicular to the platform ramp. Photographic evidence tells us this had always been the case and the arrangement appears to have been peculiar to Mildenhall. Presumably simplicity was the order of the day as to keep all stanchions perpendicular to the level surface of the platform just two ramp stanchions would have required holes drilled at an angle.
Photo by Alan Young

Mildenhall in 1978 is similar to the 1975 image above; nothing has changed in three years. The repairs to the roof, which required new slates in two places after damage caused prior to the 1971 auction, are clearly visible.

Photo by Ian Dinmore

A June 2006 view of Mildenhall station from the platform side. By then it was no longer possible to see as far as Worlington. Apart from the porcherisation of the entrance, the station house is little changed from railway days. Note the matching, or near matching, brickwork of the house, porch and new building on the right.
Photo by Nick Catford

Looking east towards Mildenhall station in June 2006. The photographer is standing on the site of the run-round loop. Some of the platform edge stones are missing and have been for a number of years. The lamp at the bottom of the ramp is clearly not original, nor is its post. The dock can be seen behind the lamp and the station area is now divided from the second pair of staff cottages. Presumably these would have been sold off separately to the station with the original limits of their gardens forming the post-sale property boundary. On the end wall of the station building, evidence of the former gents' toilet is still apparent. Sharp eyed readers will have noticed that a chimneystack has reappeared on the west end of the building. It is similar, but by no means identical, to the original stack which was rather more slender and had a deeper base section. In all colour images, especially those taken post closure, the sandy heathland nature of the region is apparent.
Photo by Nick Catford

Looking towards Mildenhall goods shed, with the station building behind the camera, in June 2006. This was once the site of the cattle pen(s) and the extant dock can be seen directly ahead. The passenger platform is behind the fence on the left, which is original. The lamp is not original although its post might be; when the station was still open there was a lamp at that very spot. The photographer is standing where the lock-up once was, the fence post nearest the camera being adjacent to its west wall. To the left of the fence the platform edging is visible and the flatter grassed area beyond marks the area once covered by the tracks. The signal box stood on the left with the turntable road running behind it, the railway boundary being approximately where the darker strip of grass is just beyond the flat area.
Photo by Nick Catford

A June 2006 view of the business side of Mildenhall goods shed looking south-west. Dilapidation no longer prevails and the retention of the bays suggests that the internal layout is little changed but details of this are not known. There was never any railway track this, north, side of the shed. At Fordham, for example, albeit not a branch station technically speaking, they was a 'back road' siding which, had one existed at Mildenhall, would have been on the extreme right of the above image but impossible to shunt without locomotives first running round their trains. Although Mildenhall station and its environs were quite spacious, land was not used unnecessarily. A possible exception might be the rather odd siting of Mildenhall's turntable, but this was probably the result of the last-minute dithering over whether to locate it at Fordham or Mildenhall.

Photo by Nick Catford

An aerial view of Mildenhall station and associated facilities on an unconfirmed date. However, at the top of the picture is the modern Bridge Farm Close housing development which appears to be complete. Checks with estate agents reveal most of the properties were sold when new during 2010 so the photograph will date from that year or later. Centre right of the image can be seen the station building, but shadows and the addition of a conservatory covering the platform in front of the building do make it instantly recognisable. The platform is also intact, as is the dock, but again not obviously so. Towards the lower left is the former goods shed; apart from the buttresses on its south wall and the bricking-up of the rail entrances the exterior of the shed is little altered. Internally, however, it has been greatly altered for its present commercial role. The main point of interest in this aerial view is the former turntable pit. Its outline is clearly visible in the grass just below the station platform. The outline of the former inspection/ash pit, to the right of the turntable, is also just about discernable. The two pairs of former staff cottages can be seen on the right, now in the company of a scattering of more recent buildings. Station Road is on the right, leading from Mildenhall to Barton Mills and in which parish Mildenhall station was actually located. At the extreme top left Worlington Road can be seen.

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Station Name: MILDENHALL