Big Question and Little Questions:
Why are there many disused railway lines?
What went wrong with some railway schemes?
What threats are there to successful existing railways?

For Information:
The Kelvedon and Tollesbury Railway, the so-called Crab and Winkle line, was under construction in 1902. Among its promoters was Arthur C.Wilkin whose Britannia Fruit Preserving Company at Tiptree stood to benefit most from easier freight transport. There was a link up planned between sea and rail. In 1907 the line was extended to reach a wooden pier at Tollesbury. This was meant to be a landing place for passengers, but this feature of the line did not develop. Shrimps were carried, hence the line's nickname. In 1921 the pier extension was closed. Passenger traffic decreased when a bus service was opened from Tollesbury to Kelvedon and Witham in the 1920s. The line continued to be used for freight after the last passengers were carried in 1951. Apart from the jam factory, a printing works, a brewery and a coal merchant used the line until it closed in 1962.

This postcard photograph shows a typical 'mixed' train, i.e. with passenger coaches as well as goods wagons. This was a variation permitted on light railways. The locomotive is a 0-6-0 tank engine modified to become a 2-4-0 by removing part of the coupling rods to reduce wear and tear on the wheels as they negotiated the line's sharp curves. The 4-wheeled coaches were fitted with smaller wheels to enable passengers to climb up from the low platforms. The steps at the end of the coaches show that only the end doors were used. A gangway was cut through the centre of each coach and the guard collected fares after walking through the train to take orders and then returning to his van to make out the tickets. The Great Eastern Railway ran the railway.

Significance:
The Light Railways Act of 1896 was intended to reduce distress in the countryside. The agricultural depression was one of the worse features of the late nineteenth century. The relaxing of the rules governing the building of railways was to be allowed if farming would benefit or a link was made between a fishing harbour and a market, or to support 'some definite industry'. Money could be provided from the government's treasury. Work for more people was the aim. Two other light railways were built in Essex, to Thaxted in 1913 and to Kynochtown later called Coryton in 1901.

Artefacts and Documents for Evidence:
Great Eastern Railway Society papers.