The Colne Valley & Halstead Railway Co. Ltd.

The first proposal to build a railway in the Colne Valley was in 1846 when, by Act of Parliament, the "Colchester, Stour Valley, Sudbury and Halstead Railway" was incorporated to build a line from Marks Tey on the Eastern Counties Railway to Sudbury, with branches to Halstead and from Colchester to Hythe. Further powers authorised extensions to Bury St. Edmunds and Clare but an acute shortage of funds ensured that only the Sudbury line was built together with the Hythe branch.

But when in 1856 the railway to Halstead had still not been built, the local citizens took matters into their own hands and a scheme was formally sanctioned by Act of Parliament on 30th June 1856 to build a line from the Eastern Counties Railway at Chappel & Wakes Colne to Halstead. The embryonic Colne Valley and Halstead Railway found it difficult to raise the required capital and it was a further two years before construction of the line was started.

By the end of 1859 construction work was almost complete, but a dispute arose with the larger Eastern Counties Railway because they would not make a decision on where to locate the junction with their line at Chappel. After months of haggling a decision was made, but not before the CV&HR had threatened to build their own station as close as possible to the Eastern Counties station.

The formal opening of the six mile long railway took place on Monday 16th April 1860 and was celebrated by the running of an excursion train to Colchester at a return fare of one shilling.

Meanwhile, the new Company obtained powers to extend the line from Halstead to Haverhill and work commenced on June 19th 1860. The extension was opened in stages, to Sible and Castle Hedingham on July 1st 1861, to Great Yeldham on May 26th 1862 and finally to Haverhill on May 10th 1863. A station opened at Birdbrook late in 1863. However, the construction of Halstead station lagged behind the railway and was not started until late 1862, prior to which not even a temporary structure existed.

Plans for further extensions from Haverhill to Cambridge and from Chappel to Colchester came to nothing. However, the newly formed Great Eastern Railway was sanctioned to build a line from Sudbury to Cambridge via Haverhill, which was opened in 1865 and included a connecting spur to the CV&HR at Haverhill.

Following completion of the railway the CV&HR entered a period of financial crisis during which bankruptcy threatened. Internal disputes were commonplace, a situation which was made worse by the local press who turned public opinion against the Railway Company. In 1874 a receiver was appointed and under his guidance matters slowly improved.

New capital was raised by an issue of Preference and Ordinary shares, although apparently no dividend was ever paid. The healthier financial situation enabled the Railway to purchase three locomotives in 1876, two of which were named, "Haverhill" and "Hedingham". Up until this time all rolling stock had been privately owned.

The twentieth century saw a change in fortunes for the CV&HR and many improvements and alterations were made in the organisation and operation of the Railway. Following the appointment of Mr. E. Hawkins as General Manager in 1903 new signalling equipment was installed and a fleet of coaches purchased which were far superior to those previously used.

In 1908 a brand new 0-6-2 tank locomotive was purchased with a view to ending the practice of hiring locomotives from the Great Eastern Railway. This locomotive was built by Hudswell-Clarke and given the number "5". Between 1908 and 1913 all the original cast and wrought iron bridges were rebuilt to allow operation of heavier trains.

As an independent concern the CV&HR reached it's zenith in 1913. The First World War then ensued in which many Colne Valley men fought, including Mr. Hawkins. During the hostilities the railways came under government control, and when returned to local control at the end of the war small Railway Companies, like the CV&HR, found it difficult to operate due to the neglect of their infrastructure and competition from road transport.

Relief came in the form of the Railways Act which grouped all railway companies into four large concerns, so that from January 1st 1923 the CV&HR became part of the Great Eastern section of the London & North Eastern Railway. Economies were soon to be made and the Colne Valley head office and locomotive and carriage works at Halstead were closed. The Colne Valley station at Haverhill was closed to passenger traffic on July 14th 1924 from which date all passenger trains were to use the former GER station.

The Second World War saw an increase in both passenger and freight traffic. Extensive bomb traffic was conveyed to White Colne and Earls Colne stations for transportation to nearby airfields. After the War the railway gradually returned to normal operation, but the days of the L&NER were numbered as the railways were about to be nationalised. The former CV&HR became part of the Eastern Region of the new British Railways on January 1st 1948.

Initially, changes were slow in arriving, but the modernisation programme of 1955 was to increase the pace of change. Economies were to be made by the introduction of diesel multiple units from January 1st 1959. But this was not enough to combat mounting losses and it came as no surprise when closure notices were posted early in 1961. The last passenger train, the 7.15pm from Marks Tey to Cambridge ran on Saturday December 30th 1961. Freight traffic was still handled at all stations except Birdbrook, the line between Great Yeldham and the Colne Valley junction at Haverhill was closed completely.

The freight service survived but a few years more, and the line closed completely in April 1965 with demolition and track lifting taking place the following year.

The Colne Valley Railway was dead, or was it?

This brief history was written by Andrew T. Wallis.