Dengie Hundred Branch
History in 1889 the Great Eastern Railway planned to extend the ‘New
Essex’ Branch (Wickford - Southminster) from Southminster to Bradwell Malting.
There were other plans up to the mid 1920's to build
railways
or
light railways from Southend to Colchester via Southminster and Bradwell
while other companies proposed railways and light railways from Southminster to Bradwell
(see Branch Line to Southminster by Dennis L. Swindale). Unfortunately none of the plans
were bought to fruition. However it has been possible
to do so in model form as the Dengie Hundred Branch.
The Dengie Hundred Branch would have run from six and a half miles
from Southminster to Bradwell Waterside via Asheldham,
Dengie, Tillingham, and Bradwell
on Sea. With a halt at Bradwell on Sea called to avoid confusion Orplands Halt.
It was proposed to build a pier at Bradwell Waterside were the goods facilities
for Bradwell would have been concentrated. In East Anglia quays and piers were
seen as a major source of traffic and were a lure to railway promoters - in practise such
facilities rarely lived up to expectation as railway replaced much of the barge
traffic. Like the nearby
Maldon Branch the Branch was built on the cheap and had to make do with wooden
trestle bridges. The Great Eastern Railway was a constituent of London North
Eastern Railway who in turn merged in to British Railways. The Dengie
Hundred Branch had become a minor Eastern Region branch. British Railways has
invested in the Branch including modernised the passenger service by introducing
a railbus.
Traffic
passenger traffic would be light as the population served would have been
2,500-3,000 when the railway was built and about 500 less by the 1960’s. The
current
bus service is 8 round trips a day and a school bus in term times with 4
round trips and
the school bus running to/from Burnham on Crouch. I feel the railbus could do
better with 10 round trips daily between Bardwell Waterside and Southminster
with some extending to Burnham on Crouch. The service would have been roughly hourly with gaps morning and
afternoons for much more valuable goods trains.
Till 1979 sand and gravel were a major source of traffic at Southminster with in
1965 175,000 tons being shipped from private sidings to London. There are sandpits round Asheldham and Tillingham so private
siding serving them would have been a possibility. The
pits produce
- Sand – sharp, soft washed, pit, & building; Gravel - 10mm & 20mm; Ballast -
10mm & 20mm; Screened Soil as raised hogging; and Rejects.
Asheldham |
Population 180 (1961) |
Peak population 219 (1841) |
Halt |
Farming - grain |
|
Private siding G&B Finch Ltd. Asheldham Quarry sand and gravel pit (see above). Not on layout. |
||
Dengie |
Population 117 (1961) |
Peak population 312 (1851) |
Single platform station with goods siding. |
Farming – dairy |
|
Private siding Dengie Crops Ltd. |
||
Tillingham |
Population 764 (1961) |
Peak population 1,048 (1851) |
Single platform station with
passing loop, block post, and goods siding. The loop is used to expedite
the goods trains and can be switched out. |
Farming - grain |
|
Private siding Richard Dewick Curry Farm Quarry sand and gravel pit (see above). |
||
Bradwell on sea |
Population 1,116 (1961) |
Peak population 1,143 (1851) |
Orplands |
Bradwell Village |
- |
Halt |
Farming – dairy |
|
Private siding Flair Ltd. Waterside Quarry sand and
gravel pit (see above). |
||
Bradwell |
Bradwell Quay/Bradwell Maltings |
- |
Single platform station with loop, block post, and
goods siding. |
Farming – dairy |
|
Siding to Quay - out of use post war? Private siding
Royal Air Force Bradwell Bay
later
Bradwell nuclear power station. |
||
Some villages North and East of the Branch
such as Steeple & St. Lawrence make use of the line |
||
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengie
&
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengie_peninsula |
Stock
Sand, gravel and coal could be
handled by sixteen ton mineral wagons. Bagged grain and feed could be travel in
vans.
Bulk
grain hoppers are
possible and operated on
the
Derwent
Valley Light Railway
1955-81. Bachmann are producing a
FNA
nuclear flask wagon but this didn’t come into service till
1970. There would have been small amounts of general goods traffic bring a
range of other goods wagons onto the Branch.