Disused Stations: Tollesbury

Tollesbury Station Gallery 2: 1920s - June 1948

Photographs of J15 class locomotives working service trains on this line are rare but here is a resplendent No. 7567 waiting at Tollesbury with a mixed train. She is complete with stovepipe chimney and wooden cab roof. The LNER progressively replaced these wooden roofs with steel roofs to a smaller radius and pitched rather higher. She may have been ex-works and running in or deputising for the unavailability of the usual 0-6-0T. When on the Kelvedon & Tollesbury Class J15 was subject to restrictions when running tender first, namely a maximum speed of 15mph. On this occasion she may therefore have worked the first Down train of the day which was a goods train also conveying empty coaching stock to Tollesbury, returning to Kelvedon as a mixed train but without the original photograph information we can only guess. Perhaps not obvious from this size photograph but obvious on a larger version, the first carriage behind the locomotive is one of original vehicles converted by the GER for the line's opening in 1904. These Brake vehicles were withdrawn following the arrival of the Stoke Ferry stock in 1931. The second vehicle is one of the ex-Wisbech & Upwell bogie cars, transferred to Kelvedon following withdrawal of the Wisbech & Upwell passenger service on the last day of 1927. We can as a result date this photograph to the 1928 - 1931 or 1932 period. One of the footplate crew is posing for the camera and the open door of the first carriage suggests the photographer was a passenger, photographing the train after it had drawn forward into the station. He was perhaps accompanying the other man leaning out of a window. Unlike the grounded carriage body on the left, that on the platform had recently been repainted. Views of the non platform side of this body are all but unknown but we can see here that the LNER livery was carried right round the body. The locomotive became British Railways No. 65465 and was one of the four final survivors in service, being withdrawn on 16 September 1962 as was No. 65462, the sole class member to survive into preservation.
Photo from Jim Lake collection

Quite what was going on in this scene requires examination of an enlargement to determine. Coupled behind the locomotive are several goods wagons and then, further back, one of the ex-Wisbech & Upwell passenger cars. Another of the latter is sitting on the siding to the right of the train together with what looks like a goods brake van, telling us the photograph is from 1928 or later but going by the number on the locomotive's bufferbeam still in LNER days. With mixed trains, for braking reasons passenger cars in service were always coupled to the locomotive with goods vehicles at the rear of the train. In all probability we are looking at the first Down train of the day, which was a goods working but conveying empty coaching stock for the first Up working. Shunting goods vehicles and running round at Tollesbury was quite a performance and before this train could run round for the return to Kelvedon it would need to cross the road, behind the camera, and run round on the Pier extension where another double-ended siding was located. It would appear an intending passenger in period attire was waiting on the platform. The Trespass warning sign on the left remains as it was in GER days. Later the 'Great Eastern Railway' header would be painted out and the remainder of the text picked out in white. Across the network, sometimes this was done and sometimes not. British Railways Southern Region had a penchant for painting out 'Railway' on former Southern Railway signage, leaving an unbalanced and rather bodged appearance.
Photo from John Mann collection

Tollesbury station looking towards Kelvedon. The date is unknown but the building and grounded carriage body have received LNER livery. The two LNER posterboards, which remained until closure, have yet to appear on the end of the building so we are likely looking at sometime early in the LNER period. Note the long bench seat against the end of the building; these benches were moved around quite frequently and perhaps in accordance with the seasons. There are wagons on the double-ended siding with others on the running line and this tells as shunting operations were ongoing. It also illustrates why a second double-ended siding was necessary, for running round, on the Pier extension behind the camera. The dock is visible on the right and has become quite weedy. Photographs suggest the dock, which seems to have been rarely used, was cleared of weeds from time to time. The advertisement on the end of the station building reads 'Foster Clark's'. Foster Clark & Co. began life at Maidstone, Kent in 1889 when a young George Foster Clark began experimenting in his mother's kitchen, the company being founded in 1891. Their products were and are centred around desserts, baking products, jams, juices etc., with products invariably branded 'Foster Clark's'. In this photograph there is lettering beneath the name; unreadable but would have been promoting one of their products. As 'Foster Clark Products Limited', in 2025 the company was still in business and
headquartered in Malta.
Photo from John Mann collection

Sometime in LNER days and possibly early 1930s as the carriages appear freshly painted (the livery was brown) a train has arrived at Tollesbury. If the goods yard siding, opposite the station, was occupied by wagons the train would continue over the level crossing to run round but on this occasion the run round will be performed in the goods yard siding. We know this because the points on the right are set for the carriages to be pushed into the siding. The two carriages are nos. 62262 and 60462. The dock, to the left, appears to have had very little use.
Photo from John Mann collection

Class J68 LNER No. 7045 waits at Tollesbury with a passenger train formed of vehicles 62261 and 60461. Life forms on the platform comprise human of varying ages and canine. The somewhat bent lamp on the right was a feature right up until closure of the station in 1951. Note the Swastika on the locomotive's smokebox door, assumed to have been actual rather than for some reason added to the photograph. The Swastika has existed for centuries; it is a symbol of certain religions and can be in left facing, as here, or right facing form. The right facing form, but tilted at 45° and coloured black, was to become the symbol of Hitler's Third Reich and unfortunately this has come to tarnish the entire history of the Swastika and regardless of which way it is orientated.
Photo from Jim Lake collection

Sometime after 1931, a mixed train has arrived at Tollesbury with what was perhaps the porter-in-charge looking on. Behind the unidentified locomotive is ex-Stoke Ferry Brake Third No. 62261, a goods van and a goods Brake Van. The Brake Third seated 24 passengers in the opulence of Third Class. Some open wagons stand on the siding. Whether the van will be dropped off and/or the open wagons collected can only be guessed at but either way the train will proceed over the level crossing to shunt and run round at Tollesbury's second double-ended siding. With passenger (only) trains running round was simple as the Brake Third did not need to be at the rear of the train. Mixed trains, however, were required to have goods vehicles at the rear and in these cases the shunting and running round at Tollesbury was quite a performance but one the staff had become accustomed to.
Photo from John Mann collection

Sometime between 1931 and 1947 Class J69 No. 7053 has arrived at Tollesbury with a mixed train. There would have been five members of staff present; the porter-in-charge and four train crew. Three staff are seen here plus another man apparently taking notes but who the latter was can only be guessed. Passenger accommodation comprises an ex-Stoke Ferry Brake Third and an ex-Wisbech & Upwell four-wheeler while at the rear is one goods van and a goods brake van which appears to still be in GER livery. What would happen next would depend upon the origin and destination of the van, which may or may not be shunted into the siding out of view behind the train. Either way, the train will proceed over the level crossing to run round and reform before drawing forward into the platform for the return to Kelvedon. Some baskets can be seen on the platform, for oysters perhaps.
Photo from John Mann collection

LNER Class J67 No. 7169 waits on the other side of Tollesbury level crossing before drawing forward into the station with a mixed train. This locomotive went on to become British Railways No. 68616. She was destined to spend the last three years of her life well away from her native haunts, at Staveley ex Great Central shed from where she was withdrawn in November 1958.
Photo from Jim Lake collection

Ex Wisbech & Upwell bogie car LNER No. 60462 is seen at Tollesbury circa 1947. The location is the double-ended siding opposite the station, used to run round when no goods wagons were present, otherwise trains had to proceed over the level crossing to use the second siding. Visible at the end of the car is the drop plate and grab rails used by the conductor-guard to move between cars, a move which passengers were officially prohibited from making. The buffers were by necessity set at standard height and being above underframe level the arrangement was relatively feeble and could only withstand the lightest of shocks.
Photo by Dick Riley

Looking north along a bleak-looking Station Road, Tollesbury. The station was to the left and the railings of the dock are visible at centre left. The locomotive, Class J67 LNER No. 7161, is running round its train on the Pier extension which by this time was otherwise disused. In the LNER renumbering scheme of 1946 this locomotive became No. 8608. In another photograph showing a similar but later, 1947, scene far more bushes had appeared and the road signs repositioned. The 'National Speed Limit' sign nearest the camera was a type introduced in 1936 and in this view it appears quite new. It is one of the few pre-Worboys road signs to survive to this day albeit minus the small reflectors set into the diagonal black stripe. While the photograph may be considered not to have been taken in wartime (there was a military presence in this area) we can place the date of this photograph to the 1936 - 1946 period and given the bushes that had appeared by 1947 it is likely to be a prewar photograph post 1936.
Photo from Cedric Gurton collection

Class J15 LNER No. 5473 sits at Tollesbury ready to return to Kelvedon with a mixed train. The train is on the former Pier extension where it will have run round using the double ended siding in the foreground. This locomotive had began life in 1913 as GER No. 545, becoming LNER No. 7545 in 1924. Under the LNER renumbering scheme of 1946 she became No. 5473 in January 1947, being withdrawn in March 1960 as British Railways No. 65473, which number she had received in June 1948. Of note is her smokebox door fitted with destination board brackets; perhaps she had been given a smokebox door from another class of locomotive. The second vehicle of the train is the last surviving ex Wisbech & Upwell four-wheeler, No. 60465. This vehicle was withdrawn in March 1948, therefore we have a date window for this photograph of January 1947 - March 1948 although the scruffy condition of the locomotive, number barely visible, would suggest a while after January 1947.
Photo from Duncan Chandler collection

On 15 August 1947 an unidentified Class J69 negotiates one of the line's typical ungated level crossings. The location is thought to be Station Road, Tollesbury with the station hidden from view to the left and, if so, the train is proceeding to the double-ended siding to run round. Behind the locomotive is No. 60465, the last surviving ex-Wisbech & Upwell 4-wheeler. The National Speed Limit road sign tells us there is a built-up area, such as it was at the time, behind the camera. Two months after this photograph was taken, on 23 October 1947 to be precise, wartime limits on speed introduced mainly because of the blackout but also to save fuel were to be repealed. The sign has, set into its stripe, little reflectors which were, or were supposed to be, picked out by vehicle headlamps. Signs so-fitted became obsolete when Worboys signage was introduced in the 1960s but examples lingered for many years thereafter and a few can still be found in rural locations.
Photo by Cyril Footer

The presence of the two boys suggests this photograph was taken at the same time as the photo above. Certainly it was taken on the same date, 15 August 1947. At bottom right what appears to be a blockade over the line is actually nothing more than a deception caused by the camera angle. On the left, the lamp casement contains its oil lamp; most photographs of Tollesbury show the casements minus lamps. The presence of a lamp in August may be considered unusual as the timetable dictated station lighting would not be required.
Photo by Cyril Footer

Another view from 15 August 1947, this time without the two boys in shot but with canine and locomotive crew member onlookers. With the ex-Stoke Ferry Brake Third and ex-Wisbech 4-wheeler, seating capacity of this train was 46 which was no doubt more than adequate. All the ex-Wisbech cars had longitudinal inwards-facing seating whereas the ex-Stoke Ferry cars had normal seating facing directions of travel. Despite being Third Class, all this seating was far more comfortable than the awful 'ironing board' seating of most modern trains. The one downside, however, of the Kelvedon & Tollesbury stock was the low seats backs and especially in the ex-Wisbech cars which were nevertheless provided with armrests.
Photo by Cyril Footer

In June 1948 Class J69 No. 8636 waits over the level crossing before drawing forward into Tollesbury station. The locomotive would have to wait until November 1950 to receive British Railways livery and number, 68636. The guard appears to be walking past the open door of his van and no doubt to speak to the locomotive crew. Note his immaculately polished shoes; in those days wages were mediocre and, then as now, hours antisocial by necessity but pride in the job still remained. Also of note is the bowed body and underframe of the ex Wisbech bogie car which in this case is No. 60462.
Photo from John Mann collection

Sometime in British Railways days, in other words between 1948 and closure in 1951, a train draws into the platform at Tollesbury behind an unidentified locomotive. The train has come from the double-ended siding over the level crossing where it would have run round. This involved using part of what in 1907 became the Pier extension and therefore was the final fragment of the extension to remain in use. The white gate at centre background gave access to the dock from the road, it was not
a level crossing gate.
Photo from Jim Lake collection

Click here for Tollesbury Station Gallery 3
c.Late 1940s - c.1950

[Source: Darren Kitson]

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Station Name: TOLLESBURY