Eastern Counties Railway

On 20 February 1860, a passenger train derailed at Tottenham, Middlesex, when a tyre broke on the locomotive hauling it. Seven people were killed.

Engine sheds and works

The first engine shed was located at Whalebone Lane, Chadwell Heath opening in 1839 with the railway. Following the extension of the ECR to Brentwood in 1840, a "railway factory" at Romford (between the current stations of Chadwell Heath and Gidea Park (on the east side of the line) was built being fully operational by 1842. The most significant task the factory undertook was the gauge conversion of the ECR stock in 1844.

As the ECR, grew it became apparent that a new site would be needed and land was acquired at Stratford between the ECR Colchester line and the N&ER line to Cambridge. The N&ER had already established an engine shed at this location when their line to Broxbourne had opened in 1840.

At this stage, Stratford was a largely rural location with plenty of land being available and in connection with this move the ECR built 300 new houses for the work force.

Stratford engine shed and Stratford Works initially shared this site and it was not until the 1860s that the GER moved the engine sheds to the other side of the Cambridge line.

Various other engine sheds grew up around the expanding ECR network either being constructed by the ECR or the railways it took over; for example Ipswich engine shed which was built by the Eastern Union Railway.

Early Eastern Counties locomotives

In order to build the line, the ECR purchased four 0-4-0 locomotives for hauling ballast. These were delivered in late 1838 and named Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Middlesex. These and the next six engines ordered were built by Braithwaite, Milner and Co. Six 2-2-0 locomotives (original numbers 1 to 6) were the first ECR passenger engines and had a poor reputation with regard to derailments. Braithwaite, Milner and Co supplied another similar locomotive in 1839 which was number 7. Two 0-4-0 goods engines (8 and 9) were also ordered from Braithwaite, Milner and Co in 1840 lasting until 1849 when they were sold.

In 1841, Lancashire firm Jones, Turner and Evans supplied four 2-2-0 locomotives (Nos 12 to 15) which lasted until 1850. Later the same year Burys supplied two 0-4-2 passenger locomotives (Nos 10 and 11) to the ECR.

Numbers 16 and 17 were 2-2-0 passenger singles ordered from Bury and Co and were in service in early 1842. Later in 1842 the ECR board ordered eight more Bury singles (Nos 18 to 26). Some of these engines survived until 1859–60.

These were all the locomotives purchased before the acquisition of the Northern and Eastern Railway in 1844 and the gauge conversion of late 1844 when many of these engines were converted to UK standard gauge at the Romford factory.

Locomotive fleet as at 1856

As described above, the ECR grew up in piecemeal fashion at times ordering its own locomotives, and then acquiring other companies' locomotives when the firms were taken over. This makes the history quite complex and the table below is an overview of the company's locomotives in 1856.

Robert Sinclair

Robert Sinclair took over as Locomotive Superintendent after Gooch’s departure. In 1858, he designed a small class of 2-4-0 (known as Z class) built by Rothwell and Co. These were locomotives numbered 301 to 306.

As can be seen from the table above, he inherited a mixed bag of locomotives and set out on a road of standardisation. Perhaps the best example of this was his Y class 2-4-0 introduced in 1859, which when finished (in Great Eastern days and after Sinclair had departed the company) numbered 110 locomotives. Although the general design was the same the locomotives were built by a number of different companies including Kitsons, Vulcan and in 1865 (in GER days) the French railway firm Schneider at cie.

The ECR sent the first Y class No 327 (an example built by Stephenson) to the 1862 International Exhibition where it caught the eye of the Egyptian government who ordered 11 similar locomotives.

Sinclair’s only other design (for the ECR) was the five strong X class 2-4-0WT introduced in 1862 and built at Stratford Works. Numbered 120 to 124 (noting the similarly numbered locomotives in the above table had been renumbered or withdrawn) these were deployed on the line to North Woolwich.

Carriages

The Railway Act 1844 laid down standards for third-class carriages. Facilities were very spartan with wooden benches seating 46 passengers who could access the three compartments through three doors. The middle compartment seated 18 passengers whilst the end compartments seated 14 each.

It is known that carriages were built at Stratford Works and Fairfield Works in Bow.

An ECR first class carriage has survived and is part of the UK national collection.

Goods traffic

Goods traffic on the ECR was largely agricultural in nature. The table below shows a breakdown of the traffic carried week ending 6 May 1849.

Use of steam excavating machine

Railways in the UK were generally built by pick, shovel and large numbers of railway navvies. Engineer John Braithwaite deployed the first steam excavating machine used on a UK railway at Brentwood (exact date unknown but working in 1843).

Two wheel pony truck

The ECR was the first railway company to use a two-wheel pony truck, in 1859, using the design of American inventor Levi Bissell. This innovation was patented in the USA on 2 November 1858 and on 1 December 1858 in Great Britain. In the summer of 1859 the ECR fitted the truck to locomotive 248, a Kitsons built 2-4-0 of 1855, and it was reported that the ride of the locomotive was improved and wheel flange wear noticeably reduced.

An early steam coach

In 1849 the ECR introduced a steam rail motor called Enfield which worked on the Enfield Branch Line.

This locomotive was a 2-2-0 locomotive and 36-seat four-compartment coach on one frame and was built by William Bridges Adams in 1849 at Fairfield Works, Bow. It proved reasonably successful and in fact not long after delivery covered the 126-mile (203 km) route from Bishopsgate to Norwich via Cambridge in a creditable (for the time) 3 hours 35 minutes.

Enfield was later converted to a 2-2-2T locomotive as the difficulty of a combined locomotive/carriage (presumably too long for early turntables?) became apparent.

Track gauge

At the time of the railway's construction, there was no legislation dictating the choice of gauge. The ECR directors favoured the Great Western Railway's broad gauge of 7 ft (2,134 mm) but, mainly on the grounds of cost, construction engineer John Braithwaite recommended a gauge of 5 ft (1,524 mm). The N&ER, which was planning to use the ECR between Stratford and Bishopsgate, was forced to adopt the same gauge.

With the extension of the ECR in the early 1840s, it became apparent that 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge was a better choice, and in September and October 1844 gauge conversion was carried out, along with the N&ER, which had merged with the ECR on 1 January 1844.