London, Tilbury and Southend Railway

Eastern Counties and Southend Railway

The North Gravesend railway.

The North Gravesend Railway was so named as it ran to Tilbury where a ferry would connect across the Thames to Gravesend in Kent. This line would have had a junction with another line being built to North Woolwich in London. It was notable in that it did not have any plans for Southend whilst the Eastern Counties and Southend Railway and London & South Essex Railway schemes had branches to both. The London and Southend Railway only had a Southend line proposed with a junction at Shenfield. As it was none of these passed and in 1847, the ECR presented the Eastern Counties Extension bill which had a new junction on the Eastern Counties main line at Forest Gate. The bill was suspended in 1847 due to a log jam of schemes and in 1848 due to irregularities in the subscription list the bill was withdrawn. 1848 saw a slump in such schemes and it was not until 1851 that the L&BR presented a bill linking their railway at Gas Factory Junction and thence via the ECR to a new junction at Forest Gate with a line via Stratford, Barking, Rainham, Purfleet, Grays and Tilbury Fort.

The early 1851 bill was thrown out because of concerns over the lease clauses that Samuel Morton Peto and Thomas Brassey were putting forward. George Parker Bidder however kept the momentum going between the L&BR and the ECR and by October they had agreed a bid round a line from Forest Gate Junction to Southend via Tilbury. The new bill promoted by both railways was presented in November 1851 and was known as the London Tilbury and Southend Extension Railway bill. The line would be double track as far as Tilbury and single track onwards to Southend and included a single line branch to Thames Haven (although this was dropped during the passage of the bill). The line was to be managed by a committee of four ECR and four L&BR directors but there were no actual shareholder directors.

After several months of back and forth negotiations which included the completion of the junction at Bow to allow a through route from Stratford, a third line from Stepney to Fenchurch Street and additional platforms being provided at that station, the bill finally got royal assent on 17 June 1852 as the London, Tilbury and Southend Extension Railway Act 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. lxxxiv).

Joint committee

The following ECR directors sat on the committee

Lord Alfred Paget

David Waddington – then the chairman of the ECR

Richard Patterson – deputy chairman ECR

Samuel Anderson

The L&BR directors were

James Nugent Daniel – chairman L&BR

William Haigh – deputy chairman L&BR

Joseph Bishop

Josiah Wilson

Other notable figures were Bidder (Engineer), William Tite architect and Arthur Wightman (Superintendent and Traffic Manager).

The joint committee (JC) entered into a £400,000 contract with Peto, Brassey and Betts to build and manage the line for a period of 25 (later reduced to 21) years.

Construction and opening

The railway was authorised in 1852 and work started about September 1852 on the Forest Gate to Tilbury section. The countryside was mostly flat and with the exception of a reasonably substantial cutting at Forest Gate there were only three other short cutting on the route. As part of the work dredging was undertaken between Gravesend and Tilbury and new pontoons for the ferries provided.

In parallel with the work on the line the ECR were preparing a third line between Stratford and Bow and the disputed junction at Bow was finally being connected to allow the LT&SR and ECR Woodford and Loughton services to access Fenchurch Street. The third line and new junctions were finished in February 1854. A special train ran on 11 April 1854 from Fenchurch Street to Tilbury which was the day of the formal Board of Trade inspection. Full services to the public began on 13 April 1854 with all Tilbury trains splitting at Stratford into a Bishopsgate and Fenchurch Street portion to reflect the joint ownership of the ECR and L&BR.

Work meanwhile was proceeding on the line to Southend via Stanford-le-hope and Pitsea. Predicted construction difficulties, among other reasons, saw a different (cheaper) route selected. Three miles of work had been done east of Tilbury by April 1854 and construction proceeded apace to allow opening to Leigh-on-Sea on 1 July 1855 with new intermediate stations at Benfleet and Pitsea. The line was built as single track with a passing loop at Pitsea but the Board of Trade official took a dislike to the arrangements, so a second track was built and opened in May 1856. Leigh-on-Sea station was built between the high street and the sea and many properties had their long gardens shortened as a result.

The next section to Southend opened on 1 March 1856 and was built as double track. The station was positioned away from the sea front near the High Street to avoid opposition from residents of the Royal Terrace in Southend. The original London, Tilbury and Southend Extension Railway Act 1852 had the line terminating by the pier, but this was changed by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway Deviation and Amendment Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. cxxxiii).

Finally in this early phase, the branch to Thames Haven was constructed, but this was actually built by the Thames Haven Dock and Railway Authority (THR&DA) who had planned one of the early schemes to Romford with the LBR as early as 1836. The engineer was George Berkley (also the L&BR engineer at this date) and the line was built as a separate contract by Peto, Brassey and Betts. The railway was inspected on 27 April and opened to passengers and goods on 7 June 1855. The line was then sold to the LT&SR on 8 September 1855. The THR&DA still existed but were unable to construct the dock they hoped would bring additional rail traffic and eventually the scheme was abandoned in 1861. There were goods facilities at Thames Haven and a Margate boat train ran until 1880.

Locomotives and coaching stock was leased from the ECR. This stock was built by the ECR under John Viret Gooch and the LT&SR paid mileage costs.

The lessees railway (1854-1875)

The arrangements between ECR chairman David Waddington and Peto were being investigated by Horatio Love at the behest of dissatisfied ECR shareholders. One, of several issues, was the rental being paid by the LTSR for the new stock (cost £47,159) built at Stratford Works amounted to £400 per year which was not enough to cover the annual depreciation costs. By February 1856 it looked like Waddington might be forced out by the shareholders but Peto, Brassey, Betts and Bidder bought up large number of shares to ensure his survival. The lessees did agree to pay more money in 1861 on an agreed seven year review of the line.

In October 1855 Peto had approached the LTS Joint Committee for funds to build the Barking Branch linking the LBER at a point north-east of Gas Factory Junction to Barking West Junction. The new line had two purposes:

To avoid Stratford railway station which with the growth of ECR services was becoming increasingly congested.

To have an LTSR route free of the ECR should Waddington be deposed and relationships deteriorate between the lessees and the ECR (remember Fenchurch Street was L&BR at this time).

The price of the ECR supporting the bill was extensive with the LTSR still having to pay for the use of the route through Stratford. ECR Fenchurch Street services to North Woolwich and Loughton would have running rights over the line and provide a pair of new curves at Abbey Mills (east of Bromley) to access the North Woolwich line. The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway Amendment Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. xv) received royal assent in July 1856. The Joint Committee had already appointed Peto, Brassey, Betts to undertake the work which started the same month. Progress was swift and by 31 March 1858 the new line and Abbey Mills south curve was opened. The north curve was never opened and although it periodically was raised in GE/LT&SR meetings, the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. lvii) formally abandoned this proposed line.

The connection on the LBER to the LTSR was too far from the Gas Factory Junction signal box, under the rules at that time, for the LTSR junction to be controlled from the Gas Factory Junction signal box. Therefore, an extra box was built in 1858 by the new junction, and the new junction was named Bromley Junction. In 1866 the GER took control of the LBR and LBER, and in 1869 resignalled those lines. This resulted in a new signal box for Gas Factory Junction but closer to the LTSR, and both the old signal box and that at Bromley Junction being closed. To solve the problem of Bromley Junction being too far from the new Gas Factory Junction box, the LTSR points were moved down to the new box, and the LTSR rails gauntletted amongst the LBER rails until they reached the track bed junction. By this method, the new box was able to control both the NLR junction and the LTSR junction. The name Bromley Junction was re-used at the junction on the LTSR at Bromley-by-Bow where the line from the NLR joined, also in 1869. In 1886, the GER built a goods depot at Bow Road which had to connect to the LBER, between the NLR and LTSR junctions. This caused the GER to have to resolve the gauntletted track here. As a result, they built yet another new box which was again a little nearer to the LTSR, and at last they were able to move the LTSR points back to their original position and rid themselves of the gauntletting.

During 1854 through to 1856 the line from Tilbury was extended in stages to Southend finally opening on 1 March 1856.

Waddington resigned in July 1856 (days after the Barking Branch had its royal assent) and was replaced by Horatio Love as ECR chairman. Both sides engaged in presenting schemes to parliament to try and win some advantage but all failed and this effectively finished Peto as a major player in the East Anglian rail scene.

The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. viii) saw the status of the company change from a jointly owned undertaking to a separate company. 1862 was the same year the Great Eastern Railway was formed by amalgamation. The railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862. A further change saw the L&BR taken over on a 999 year old lease by the GER and whilst the LB&R directors remained the balance of power on the LTSR board was now firmly in the GER's favour.

In 1864 Operations Manager Arthur Wightman died and was succeeded by Joseph Louth.

By 1866 Peto and Betts were both bankrupt and Brassey died in 1870. The line largely stagnated with no additional investment and the lessees place on the board taken actual shareholders and after 1870, following his death by Brassey's executors who had little interest in operation of the railway. With the lease finishing in 1875 the decision to let the things run on was taken. This did not stop the GER asking for improvements (in 1868) to the permanent way after concerns had been raised and it was their locomotives operating the timetable. Improvements were made in the next few years.

Getting control (1875-1881)

With a GER majority on the board, the independent directors had little opportunity to influence or run the railway. Attempt to negotiate a way forward in 1872 were rejected by the GER and an 1874 bill presented on behalf of the shareholders to gain independent control was rejected by Parliament. After the positions became vacant, the shareholders elected Charles Bischoff as chairman, and Henry Doughty Brown as deputy chairman at a meeting on 15 September 1874. During 1873–1874 another shareholder named Eley had approached various other railways such as the NLR, LNWR and Great Northern Railway none of whom were interested in the LT&SR. On 4 November 1874 the GER Chairman Lightly Simpson was replaced by Henry Charles Parkes who was on the LT&SR board, a significant LT&SR shareholder and sympathetic to getting the problem resolved.

The LT&SR employed outside assistance to understand the state of the railway and a report was delivered on 31 March 1875. The GER could have taken over the LT&SR at this time and it is not known why this did not happen. By the end of May 1875 an operating agreement had been reached between the two railways and the arrangements were applied from July 1875 (although for legal reasons everything was not sorted out for another year). Importantly the LT&SR were granted running powers into Fenchurch Street. In terms of rolling stock the LT&SR were now the customer rather than the lessees and any GER staff operating over the LT&SR were to be treated as LT&SR for rules purposes.

The board had employed Arthur Stride ahead of the takeover as General Manager and resident engineer, Louth his predecessor had his employment terminated about the same time. The company secretary was John Fisher-Kennell (ex L&BR who died on 2 February 1881 and was succeeded by H. Cecil Newton who held the post until 1912.

On takeover in 1875 the LT&SR was an old fashioned railway albeit in reasonable condition. An accident at Barking resulted in the company having to pay considerable compensation. The reason for the crash was down to time interval working so an early decision was taken to extend signalling interlocking which was delivered in the early 1880s. The track was all re-laid between 1877 and 1880 and new facilities such as additional sidings and platform extensions were added to the budget. A works/engine shed facility was provided at Plaistow and orders for new locomotives and rolling stock placed.

Tilbury Docks

Construction started on 8 July 1882 but was not straightforward with the first contractor getting into difficulties in 1884 and being replaced by Lucas and Aird. When finished the docks were over £1 million over budget.

The changes to the rail network were:

A set of exchange sidings with the LT&SR located at Tilbury Dock North Junction with a new signal box

A new station called Tilbury Dock which opened on 15 June 1885

A secondary connection at Tilbury West Junction to a new station (for boat trains) called Tidal Basin (later called Tilbury Marine)

An improved service of 24 trains per day was provided to the new station from 1886 but was cut back in 1889 after the dock failed to live up to expectations.

The docks opened on 17 April 1886 but were not a success in generating the additional rail traffic the LT&SR expected until early in the twentieth century.

The docks had its own fleet of locomotives for shunting purposes housed in an independent engine shed and in 1909 Tilbury, along with the upstream docks, became part of the newly established Port of London Authority (PLA).

Southend to Shoeburyness

Peto had first suggested extension to Shoeburyness in 1855 but it was not until the 1870s that the LT&SR resurrected the idea. The War Office had a large military establishment at Pig's Bay Shoeburyness and the LT&SR hoped they would see the benefit of a direct rail link from Southend. The initial response was not positive but the LT&SR presented a bill in the parliamentary session hoping the War Department would change their minds. This was not to be and the bill was withdrawn. By 1881 the War Department had changed its mind and the LT&SR presented a bill (see below) to parliament in 1882. This became law on 24 July 1882.

The contract to build the line was let to Kirk and Parry in October 1882 and work commenced in January 1883. Southend station became a through station and there were no intermediate stations. Operations started on 1 February 1884 and the new Shoeburyness station which also had goods facilities. The first up train each morning was formed of some carriages and a locomotive that worked from Southend (where the engine shed was located) but it was not until 1889 that an engine shed was actually provided at Shoeburyness and the Southend shed closed. An intermediate station at Thorpe Bay was opened in 1912 with a further station at Southend East opening in LMS days.

Barking to Pitsea

Another new line included in the LT&SR 1882 bill was for a new cut off line from Barking to Pitsea. As the LT&SR started to move away from GER influence there was perceived need to claim the area between the Great Eastern Main line and the line to Tilbury. Additionally it was recognised that with the opening of Tilbury Docks more goods trains may render the two track section inadequate. A direct line would see most Southend trains diverted from the Tilbury line and improved journey times.

A sod cutting ceremony was held at Upminster Windmill on 11 October 1883. Two intermediate stations were provided on the new double track railway at Dagenham and Hornchurch. There were four new signal boxes and the line between Barking and Upminster opened to traffic on 1 May 1885. The next section to East Horndon was opened exactly a year later on 1 May 1886. beyond East Horndon the line was on an upward gradient to the summit at Laindon where a new station was built.

At Pitsea a large retaining wall was built to support the hill side (on which the 13th-century church of St. Michael stood) and two new platforms provided. The original 1855 station site on the original line to Tilbury was moved slightly north.

Full opening to Pitsea on 1 June 1888 although a storm on 1 August caused closure of the new line until 1 October.

The GER opens a Southend branch

The following year the GER opened a branch line from Shenfield, through to Wickford in 1888 and onto Southend on 1 October 1889.

Tilbury = 8 services

Barking = 2 services from Fenchurch Street all stations supplemented by four trains from Bishopsgate operated by the ECR.

There was an 8.20 am Southend - Fenchurch Street express arriving at 9.40 am and an evening departure at 4.25 pm arriving 05.45 pm. This had been introduced in the 1861 timetable and was designed to attract people to live in Southend.

The 1863 timetable was typical of the timetables that were worked through to the end of the lease.

It is worth noting that in 1863 Fenchurch Street was being used by the London & Blackwall Railway, the Eastern Counties Railway and the North London Railway.

1858–1875 under the lessees

The line was run by Wightman until his death in 1864 and by Louth thereafter largely from the L&BR offices at Fenchurch Street. The LTS staff consisted of station and line maintenance staff as well as a small number of signalling staff. Most signalling was undertaken by station staff and operation was on the time interval system which carried inherent risks of collision (more so when it was foggy).

The ECR/GER locomotives that ran the LT&SR were all allocated to Stratford engine shed and although there were engine sheds at Southend and Tilbury they had no allocation of their own. There was no set pool of ECR/GER locomotives allocated to LTSR services which required 8-10 regular locomotive and up to 5 more on special days for boat trains, excursions and/or cattle trains.

Locomotives used at this time included:

Gooch designed 2-2-2T engines built by the ECR in 1853–1854 at Stratford Works for specific use on the LT&S.

Sinclair Y class 2-4-0

Johnson "Little Sharpie" 2-4-0

Johnson 477 Class 0-6-0

Johnson 134 Class 0-4-4T

Generally 60 carriages were required to work the service with additional carriages hired in as required.

Timetables in the later years

From 1869 the North London Railway started operating a service from Chalk Farm to Plaistow via the new curve between Bow and Bromley stations. In various guises (sometimes as a short shuttle from Bow) this service continued throughout the life of the LT&SR and in 1880 a dedicated bay platform was provided on the down side of that station. Following the quadrupling of 1905 this switched to a new bay on the up side at Plaistow. The service was discontinued as a wartime economy measure in World War I on 1 January 1916.

To supplement the up morning Southend express, a non-stop train was introduced from Tilbury to Fenchurch Street in 1876 and in 1881 this was timed back to start at Southend. In 1884 the Southend Expresses were timed to start back from Shoeburyness and when the cut off route via Upminster was opened in 1888 there was a ten-minute improvement in journey time from Southend to London. An additional up morning train was added and it was hoped that 45 minutes between Southend and Fenchurch Street could be achieved.

That did not happen thanks to an additional station stop at Westcliff-on-sea opened in 1895.

It is worth noting that the population of Southend was rapidly increasing around the turn of the century. The 1891 census recorded a population of 12,333 and by 1911 had increased by 50,400 to 62,733 (and ten years later to 106,000). Between 1890 and 1910 more peak hour Southend services were added but overcrowding was rife. Some Tilbury line services were diverted after 1892 to run via Ockenden to give an alternative route for Hornchurch and Upminster passengers.

The increased long distance LT&SR traffic led to a need to increase capacity. The quadrupling of the line between East Ham (later Barking) and Campbell Road Junction near Bromley meant the LT&SR could withdraw local services along that line. The District operated a few services to Upminster and by 1911 were running through trains from Southend to Ealing, Putney Bridge and Hammersmith in west London. The Midland railway also operated a Southend to St Pancras service but this was not as popular and took 1 hour 35 minutes.

In 1894 the Midland introduced four Southend to St Pancras trains each way and a Midland Railway locomotive was outbased at Shoeburyness. The Midland stated they could not operate the service and after some negotiation the LT&SR started operating these trains into St Pancras with one of their engines overnighting at Kentish Town engine shed.

Special trains

Even before the railway reached Southend, Southend attracted steamers with day trippers.

From early days the LT&SR carried large numbers of day trippers and had to hire carriages to supplement its own rolling stock. By the 1870s on the bank holidays the L&SR was carrying 20,000 passengers on the August bank holidays and that had increased by 10,000 in the 1880s. The arrival of the GER made some inroads into this traffic but the traffic continued to rise until the 1900s. Interestingly the steamer traffic still carried significant numbers.

Other special trains operated over the LT&SR included (selected from 1909):

P&O trains for staff and baggage between Tilbury Docks and London Docks

A boat train from Liverpool Street to Tilbury for the SS Macedonia

Truman's Horses - special GER trains to Tilbury Docks (PLA)

Special horse train from Chinley - Midland locomotive worked through to Tilbury

Chatham Dockyard to Tilbury - Naval personnel/chests and hammocks - worked by GER locomotive to Tilbury.

There is a section on boat train operation in the Tilbury Riverside entry.

Goods

Although predominantly a passenger railway the LTS did carry freight in increasing tonnages throughout its life especially after the opening of the docks at Tilbury.

In 1854 freight was quite low being predominantly agricultural products into London and household coal into the area. Coal for the locomotive depots at Southend and Tilbury would have also been carried (probably as part of local freight services at this time). In the early days freight trains into the area would have been routed via Stratford station. In the early years there were only two freight trains in the WTT from Brick Lane (a depot on the approaches to Bishopsgate ECR although other freight trains to meet short term requirements would have run (e.g. cattle specials).

Various freight depots were built by other train companies on the approaches to Fenchurch Street (mainly because of good access to the city) and the LTSR operated two of these – Mint Street and Goodman's Yard.

After 1876 goods trains from the north which had been routed via the North London Line and Stratford were instead routed via Bow and the 1869 curve to Bromley station. Sidings installed in 1877 at Plaistow now acted as the interchange point where locomotives and crews were changed. In 1884 there were four regular goods flows consisting of one train each way. namely:

Goodman's Yard (Minories) - Shoeburyness

Goodman's Yard (Minories) - Southend

Plaistow -Tilbury

Plaistow to Thames Haven

The GER worked two trains per day to Barking and the NLR one to Plaistow.

With the opening of the Tottenham & Forest Gate Railway Midland Railway goods trains started using that route and in 1897 exchange sidings were established at Woodgrange Park which were also used by the GER. These facilities were limited and in 1901 four additional through down sidings were opened at West Ham followed in 1909 by a new facility at Little Ilford (just west of Barking). In 1912 a further eight new sidings opened at West Ham.

In 1911, the year before sale, the goods timetable consisted of 38 moves in and out of Little Ilford goods sidings, at least seven paths between Commercial Road and Tilury, and daily trips to Romford and local trips to Purfleet, Grays and Tilbury Dock sidings.

This list does not include accidents between Gas Factory Junction and Fenchurch Street as this was L&BR/ECR/GER owned. The Fenchurch Street railway station entry contains further incidents.