[Source: Darren Kitson]  Tiptree on 27 July 1958. The station was, seven years after closure to passengers, still in remarkably good condition. A porter/shunter was retained here until complete closure but it is doubtful if this was a full time position and it is more likely somebody made his way to Tiptree as required. The vans were probably for Wilkin's traffic and would be shunted into the factory sidings, behind the camera. To avoid locomotives being trapped inside the factory, this is one example of when rope shunting would have been used to draw the vans forward clear of the points beneath the nearest van. Staff would of course have to ensure the rope, which was carried in the goods brake van, was routed the correct side of the loading gauge. A man can be seen standing on the platform and there are two ladies on the access path to the station. Perhaps they were out for a stroll and the photographer was with them,
Photo from Jim Lake collection 
The Railway Club railtour of 27 September 1958 is seen arriving at Tiptree. As with the Railway Enthusiasts Club tour of 1957, this train is described in more detail elsewhere in these pages. The oil drum at bottom left was presumably in connection with the permanent way trolley. It was not present in the 1957 picture above, perhaps it had been taken away for refilling.
Photo from John Mann collection 
Another view of the railtour of 27 September 1958 but this time about to set out on its journey back to Kelvedon. Like the 1957 tour, this one was also supposedly to run through to Tudwick Road but it seems unlikely to have done so. Several photographs of these two railtours taken at various places along the line exist but none have been seen of either train at Tudwick Road, which rather supports the suspicion neither train continued beyond Tiptree. Continuing to Tudwick Road would have necessitated pushing the brake vans back to Tiptree with locomotives running tender first and this was probably the reason for the curtailment at Tiptree. After 1951 the track actually ended at Tolleshunt Knights, the extremity being used as a headshunt for Tudwick Road Siding. Knights, however, had no loop or double ended siding so running round was not possible.
Photo from John Mann collection  On 15 August 1958 a Class J15 0-6-0 which appears to be No. 65470 shunts in the jam factory siding. The brake van is sitting on the running line, the track to its left is No. 1 siding and the locomotive is on No. 2 siding. No. 1 siding was in fact the headshunt for the double-ended siding. It continued to and just beyond a wagon turntable from which ran another siding through the factory at roughly 90° to No. 1 siding. The points at the bottom of the photograph connected into the double-end siding which was public, No. 1 and No. 2 sidings being private. The track layout here at the time the railway opened is something of a mystery as records mention an additional siding with turntable being provided in 1911 and logically this refers to No. 1 siding. If so it would have been merely an extension of the existing headshunt with added turntable and internal siding therefrom.
Photo by Dr I C Allen  A very forlorn-looking Tiptree station with the siding becoming engulfed by weeds. Compare this scene with that from 27 July 1958 (above). The elevation of the camera suggests the photograph was taken from the rear of the goods brake van.
Photo from Ron Sargent collection 
On Friday 28 September 1962 the final goods train was caught by the camera at Tiptree. Hunslet diesel D2571 and train is sitting on the running line, with the double-ended siding in the foreground. Work is still ongoing as some of the side doors of the wagons are open and unless another brake van was present, at the other end, that seen here would need to be shunted to the other end of the train before departing back to Kelvedon. It was common, especially in East Anglia, to use these small diesel shunters on branch goods trains and another example was the remnant of the Waveney Valley Line from Beccles to Ditchingham and Bungay. Not entirely suited to this sort of work, the diesel shunters could and often did overheat resulting in crews running late and claiming overtime. One therefore wonders if D2571 managed its journey over the gradients of the Kelvedon & Tollesbury without overheating.
Photo
from John Mann collection
 Tiptree station with the Drewry diesel pausing on its return to Kelvedon. The locomotive's cab can just be seen through the brake van and there is one, maybe two, trucks coupled in between. Standing with his back to the camera is driver Ron Humphrys and facing the camera at left is Ron Sargent. Mr Sargent, whose name may not be spelled correctly, was perhaps the guard but this in unconfirmed.
Photo from Ron Sargent collection  A nicely posed photograph of the Drewry diesel at Tiptree, about to return to Kelvedon. Looking out of the cab side window is driver Ron Humphrys and from the cab door secondman Derek Jackson. On the platform is Cyril Sargeant and as elsewhere this spelling may be incorrect. He is holding what appears to be a flag, no doubt to see the train over the ungated level crossing. There had been an accident at this crossing when a Hunslet diesel shunter collided with a motor car. Mr Sargeant reputedly came from Marks Tey but nothing else is known about him. The Drewry shunters up to and including No. D2214 had narrow cab side windows fitted with a droplight, which facility driver Humphrys is here seen making use of. From D2215 onwards much wider side windows were fitted, one half of which slid open. Coupled to the locomotive is a16 ton mineral/coal wagon. Apart from Wilkin's traffic the railway also supplied coal merchants at Tiptree, Frost and Garwood. No photographs have been seen showing obvious evidence of coal activity at Tiptree station so this traffic was possibly handled at Tudwick Road.
Photo from Ron Sargent collection 
Tiptree platform seen here returning to nature in 1968, five years after the track had been lifted. Assuming the photograph is the correct way around the camera is looking towards Tollesbury. Photographs such as this can be deceiving as the platform appears higher than it actually was. This is the result of track and ballast being removed.
This newspaper cutting from the Colchester Evening Gazette on 15 September 2004 appears to have been a website extract and to a degree is self-explanatory but some elaboration is necessary. The item under the spotlight is a lamp casement, the lamp itself being placed within it but the term 'lamp' is more convenient so is used here. Tiptree station had three oil lamps, one of which was a different type and wall mounted on the hut at the far end of the platform. The other two were stanchion lamps as indicated so one might question if the lamp then for sale was the one encircled on the photograph. The other stanchion lamp is out of view to the right but by the time the photograph was taken in 1950 this lamp was out of use and had lost its casement (the same situation existed at Kelvedon Low Level) therefore the lamp for sale likely was that encircled. The station name was on a lamp tablet of 'China Glass' and was an item separate from the remainder of the glass. This made lamp relocation and repairs much easier. The vendor mentions Collectors Corner but the inference that the lamp came therefrom should not be assumed factual although it is not impossible. Collectors Corner was a shop set up for the purpose of selling off redundant items in November 1969. At that time station totems, to give one example, could be bought for just a few pounds - the days of totems selling for hundreds or even thousands of pounds were still in the future. Collectors Corner was adjacent to Euston Station and after a number of moves finished up in what had been an upstairs storage building for horse tackle near had become the National Carriers depot on Cardington Street. The operation moved to York in January 1998 but was unsuccessful. The York address, 16 George Hudson Street, is as of 2025 a restaurant. The lamp can now be seen at the Mangapps Farm Railway Museum in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex.
Received from Alan Spratt  Tiptree station oil lamp, complete with actual lamp inside the casement, seen here at Mangapps Museum at Burnham-on-Crouch not too far from Tiptree. Close examination of the damaged areas suggests this is the same lamp as depicted in the 2004 newspaper article. It has been given something resembling the correct style of ventilator. The glass chimney surrounding the wick projected up to the ventilator allowing exhaust to atmosphere. Fuel was usually paraffin. For inventory purposes small plates were attached onto which the name of the station or other location to which lamps and other items were allocated was stamped. The three hand bells are, left to right; Southwold Railway; London, Tilbury & Southend Railway; Great Eastern Railway. They were used to warn passengers and intending passengers of the imminent departure of trains. Of the other two oil lamps that on the right, which looks ready to topple over, was a hanging type. They were hung from ceilings by an often harp-shaped frame with ring at the bottom into which sat the inverted dome fuel tank. Sometimes these lamps could be adapted for desk or table use by means of a heavy base unit into which the tank sat. Wick type lamps when used on station platforms were alright to see, just about, where one was walking but that was as good as it got. It is therefore perhaps surprising that many small rural stations and halts retained this type of lighting well into British Railways days. People in the know would often carry a battery-powered torch with them, something which no doubt happened at stations and halts on the
Kelvedon & Tollesbury. Photo from Mangapps Museum
Looking north west towards the site of Tiptree station in July 2024. Tiptree Telephone Exchange is seen behind the bushes, the platform was adjacent to the near end of the exchange, beyond the bushes. The exchange is on the site of the goods yard.
Photo
by Nick Catford
 The Tiptree waiting room was moved to a strawberry picking field in Tiptree after closure of the line by a former railway worker. It has remained there ever since and is now very overgrown and in poor condition. It has been impossible to confirm that this is actually the former station building or part of it.
Photo
by Shane Jones
 A postcard view of unknown date ridiculing the Kelvedon & Tollesbury. Given the line did not open until 1904 the lady in Victorian clothing is an anachronism, unless we are supposed to think she and the gentleman with her had been waiting there for several years. The caption at the top does not look quite right and may have been added rather later. Such scenes are mildly amusing but hardly hilarious. The former Southwold Railway in Suffolk is perhaps the best known victim of these ridiculing postcards.
 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  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
|
Home Page