Station Name: SAFFRON WALDEN


Saffron Walden Station Gallery 3: c1950s - April 1961

Looking west from South Road bridge towards Saffron Walden station c1950s. Saffron Walden had a complex network of sidings. The centre line could either be used by freight trains bypassing the platform or as a run-round loop. The foundry siding is seen on the left with the main goods yard beyond the station on the right. The purpose of the open-fronted shelter near the end of the platform is unknown; it seems unnecessarily long for a bicycle shed.
Photo from Jim Lake collection


This view from 1956 suggests a BR running-in board has now been installed but unfortunately only a small part is visible on the right so confirmation is difficult. There is no totem on the gas lamp seen on the right. Saffron Walden had only three totems and all were sold after the line closed to the same collector. However, Dr Beeching also wished to acquire one so, following enquiries, one was later resold to him. It is not known what his interest in Saffron Walden was but perhaps he just liked the name. It would be churlish to suggest that he proposed the station’s closure so that he could acquire a totem.  Business is brisk at Saffron Walden, above, and there is a large number of trunks and other items on the platform as Class G5 0-4-4T No.67279 awaits departure for Audley End. The G5s were purposeful-looking machines but disliked at Saffron Walden. They were not in the best condition by this time and the push-and-pull apparatus was difficult to control. No.67279 was somewhat jinxed, being involved in a number of incidents on the branch. It is also thought to be the locomotive which failed to stop at Audley End and almost pushed its train down the bank beyond Audley End station. The LNER converted a number of the class, 39 it is believed, for auto-train working, a former name of push-and-pull, in the north-east which was the home territory of the class. The conversions were done to replace the Sentinel steam railcars, of which the LNER had a large number. Some of the Sentinels appeared briefly in East Anglia (see the Cambridge feature) and with hindsight it is surprising they were not tried out on the Saffron Walden branch - a service which would have been ideal for them. As it was, the branch soldiered on with conventional trains until 1951, which involved the monotonous running-round of locomotives some 22 times per shift.
Photo by Peter Jamieson


A view from South Road bridge looking towards Audley End in the summer of 1956. The G5, unidentified, is taking on water; there were two water cranes at Saffron Walden, the other being outside the locomotive shed. The photographer records that this is not the same train as was photographed approaching from Bartlow in another 1956 image. The push-and-pull sets, two of which came to the branch in 1951, had a rather odd appearance because the two vehicles making up each set dated from different periods. This is very evident in this image. The driving trailers dated from 1897 and were built for the Liverpool Street - Cromer services. Numbered by BR as E63423/6E, they were converted for the Palace Gates push-and-pull service in 1924 and 1920 respectively. The layout was driving compartment (an ex-passenger compartment), two passenger compartments, vestibule, passenger compartment, luggage compartment, and two passenger compartments. Original accommodation was 1st and 2nd class, separated by the vestibule, but following conversion they became all-third. The other two coaches were all-third E61328/30E, dated from 1906 and had been converted as early as 1917. Conversion of these non-driving vehicles involved provision of through piping for the control apparatus. The driving trailers bore a plate on their driving, if not both, ends stating 'Audley End - Saffron Walden - Bartlow' beneath which, painted on the body panel, was 'P&P'. They were fitted with what, at first glance, looked like a whistle but was in fact a hooter. They sounded similar to the hooters on the Stanier 'Black 5s’ and were used not only as a warning but also as a means of communication between driver and fireman when the train was in push mode. At Saffron Walden, above, the spare set can be seen in the siding on the right. By this time the station had received BR totems and one is visible to the right of the G5. It would appear, however, that the running-in board has yet to be replaced. Prior to totems appearing, Saffron Walden had the well-known 'horseshoe' LNER lamp tablets
fitted beneath the canopy.
Photo by Peter Jamieson


A view from South Road bridge looking towards Bartlow in the summer of 1956. A push-and-pull train is approaching, propelled by one of the G5 class locomotives. These trains would be replaced with N7s and less antiquated sets in October of that year. Two G5s were on the branch at any one time, with the third spare or undergoing maintenance at Cambridge. The second G5 stands beside the water tower; the engine shed was to the right as was the turntable, the latter being squashed in between the shed and South Road. The turntable was rarely used, even when a tender locomotive was sent to the branch to deputise for one of the tank locomotives. The G5 and coal wagons are on what was known as Gas House Siding. At 912ft long it gave access to the engine shed and presumably, from the name, also supplied coal to Saffron Walden gasworks; coal would have been taken the short distance to the Thaxted Road gasworks by road. The loop, branching off ahead of the G5 on the right, rejoined Gas House Siding where the gap between the coal wagons can be seen. Unlike at Audley End and Bartlow, signalling at Saffron Walden was latterly of the upper quadrant type as seen above. Signal lamps were originally gas, a common practice at one time, apart from distant signals which, until the 1930s, were of the Coligny-Welch type and oil lit. The ground signal in the left foreground is a shunting disc signal, there being a facing crossover in the up direction from the running line to Gas House Siding
behind the photographer
Photo by Peter Jamieson

No, this is not track-lifting in progress, or at least not of the type familiar following line closures. It is the renewal of track and pointwork at Saffron Walden in 1957. In June of that year bridge renewal work was undertaken at Great Chesterford, and Liverpool Street - Cambridge trains were diverted via Saffron Walden. The operation was complex due to unbalanced workings (meaning more trains in one direction than the other) and train lengths dictating that only the passing loop at Linton could be used. It is known that some work was done on the branch in order for it to cope with much heavier main line locomotives; whether the work seen above was related is not known, but as the siding on the left is also receiving attention the answer is probably not. The 'Steam Travelling Crane' appears to be either No.102 or No.112 but the photograph is not clear enough to confirm. The other lettering, on the base of the crane, states 'Not To Be Hump Shunted' and was a standard restriction for such equipment. Note the FPL (Facing Point Locking bar) on the points in the foreground.
Photo by Peter Jamieson


Class N7 0-6-2T No.69692 waits at Saffron Walden with a Gresley push-and-pull set. This photograph came with the incorrect date of 1954. The Cambridge-based N7s and Gresley sets did not appear on the branch until October 1956 and maintained the services until railbuses took over in July 1958. Cambridge shed had several of the N7 class in the 1950s; 69616/7/19/20/51/90/2 and of those 69651/90/2 were for Saffron Walden services. The class was built for GER London suburban services. Some ended up on Kings Cross suburban services while others drifted further afield including to Annesley and No.69692 was one such before returning south in 1954. After leaving Cambridge in September 1958, No.69692 shuffled between the GE and GN sections before reaching her final depot, Stratford. She went on to become one of last survivors of her class, being withdrawn in September 1962. The N7s were absolute masters of any task given to them at Saffron Walden and they were well-liked by the local crews, unlike the detested G5s and their antiquated push-and-pull sets which were difficult to control. The Gresley P&P sets had a far better control system. These sets, antiquated and Gresley, had been transferred from the Palace Gates service as had the three G5s. When the above photograph was taken (October 1956 - July 1958) Saffron Walden station had only partly received BR signage treatment and it is strange to think that Cambridge station had already lost its totems by October 1955. In the left background the goods shed can be seen and the cattle pens are out of view between the shed and station building. Station Road is behind the trees on the right. Looking at the roof of the station building, it would appear that there were ample television receivers installed, Click here to see this locomotive at Harpenden East after it had been transferred from Cambridge. The loco was Hatfield based when photographed at Harpenden.
Copyright photo from Colour-Rail 362740


Saffron Walden engine shed in September 1960. The shed closed one week after the end of steam on the branch in 1958. However it was used to rest the line's diesel shunter which can be seen in the shed in this view. The shed was later disconnected and the diesel was stabled in Foundry Siding instead. On the left the water crane can be seen, one of two at Saffron Walden, while on the right is the water tower which supplied both water cranes. Saffron Walden's rarely-used 40ft turntable was squashed in between the shed and South Road bridge, seen in the background. Perhaps obviously, the turntable had no stabling roads leading from it and it served only the single road through the shed.
Photo from Roger Griffiths collection


The east end of the goods dock was a popular view point for photographers. Here is another view looking north-east from the dock; a railbus waits in the platform in August 1960. Diesel railbuses replaced steam on 7 July 1958. Five (E79960 - 64) were ordered from Waggon und Maschinenbau in Germany for branch lines where passenger numbers were extremely low. Only two of the lines worked by the German railbuses were closed to passengers as part of the Beeching cuts, these being the Maldon and Saffron Walden branches. The Mildenhall and Colne Valley services had gone pre-Beeching and the Braintree branch had gone over to DMU operation. As a result, all the German vehicles were withdrawn in 1967. Four of the five have survived into preservation, the non-survivor being E79961. The final BR first-generation railbus lasted in service until 1968, this being one of the AC Cars vehicles. Interestingly, the Eastern Region's original railbus allocation was to have been two Waggon und Maschinenbau and three Wickham offerings. Given that only two of the five Wickham railbuses were identical, perhaps it was just as well that at the last moment it was decided to allocate all five of the German vehicles to Cambridge instead.
Photo by David Pearson


Cattle being loaded onto a freight train at Saffron Walden in April 1961. The cattle are being taken to Bodmin in Cornwall, along with the rest of the farmer's equipment and stock. British Railways, like its predecessors, offered a farm removal service. It transported livestock, equipment, farmers and their families when they moved. However, by the 1960s the number of animals being transported by rail was in decline due to competition from the roads, and services ceased in the 1980s.
Photo from National Railway Museum and SPPL


Tractors have been loaded onto flat-bed railway wagons at the Saffron Walden goods dock ready for transporting to Bodmin in April 1961. This was the relocation of a complete farm, something for which the railways - pre-nationalisation and BR - were quite famous. Everything, permanent farm buildings excepted, was transported and sometimes by just one train. The farmer and his family would usually travel by scheduled passenger train; they would conveniently depart after their equipment was despatched and arrive at the destination ahead of it. Livestock, if not an arable farm, might travel in special vehicles attached to passenger trains or as a train in its own right and with precise arrangements tailored according to type of livestock. Keen-eyed readers will have noticed that even a car has been loaded onto the train. Too far from the camera and too obscured to be certain, it nevertheless appears to be a Humber Hawk Series I (not to be confused with the Hawk MkI).
Photo from National Railway Museum and SPPL

Click here for Saffron Walden Station Gallery 4:
c1963 - Summer 1968

 

 

 

[Source: Nick Catford & Darren Kitson]


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