Why is Clacton-on-Sea station so big?

[Class 170101]

At that time there were many more relief, charter, advertised excursions and other specials which were not in the timetable than is the case today.

Will be a few extra trains for the Airshow in August. The station will be busy then if its anything like last year.

 

[dave12435]

The Butlins comment is very true. The company made sure their camps were near a station so their campers could get there by public transport, ie. Skegness, Filey, Ayr, Pwllheli & Bognor (Minehead came later). Some of the summer Saturday trains were dedicated for Butlins visitors.

In the case of Pwhelli and Filey they even had their own stations to specifically serve the Butlins site

Filey Camp

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/f/filey_holiday_camp/

And Pwhelli (which is still there but now part of Haven)
had Penychain station which is still open and is even still referred to as Butlins Penychain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penychain_railway_station

 

[CockneySparrow]

North station goes down to six platforms with electrification work.
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Out of interest would that have much impact on any measures to reduce the number of operational platforms? Surely even if the building (and subsequently its grounds) was listed there'd be nothing to stop Network Rail actually removing physical lines into excess platforms them, and just leaving them redundant?

Good question, although you are not actually touching the actual building in terms of damaging or altering anything, however some might argue that removing the track to a platform might make the appearance unsightly which would be a detriment to the area
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Suppose its no different to companies being forced to use their "alternate? shop front signage on listed buildings, although the original first choice colours might not damage the building it gets knocked back on the appearance of the area

 

[Taunton]

Looking at the 1960 summer timetable, it showed only 2 Saturday return holiday services to Clacton that originated from the Midlands - one from Birmingham (via the long closed Rugby - Peterboro' line) and the other from Leicester (via reversal at Mkt Harboro' - again part of another route that is long gone). In previous years, there was a service from Manchester / Sheffield Vic. However this is nothing like the volumes that went to other East Coast resorts like Yarmouth & Skegness.

As others state, most of the business was traditionally from London. Once the electrification was done, on summer Saturdays there were the regular hourly express EMUs, supplemented by a very large number of services provided using the Liverpool Street suburban stock, getting to a 20-minute interval service for some hours. Given the other resorts down the line, from Southend (mainly done by extending the regular interval Saturday trains to 12 cars) to Cromer etc, Liverpool Street was a VERY busy place on those days, with managed queues for the Clacton trains.

 

[fairysdad]

Chingford branch, Chessington branch, Heathrow branch, Tattenham Corner branch, East Grinstead branch etc.. All of those are twin tracked and have far more trains that the Clacton/Walton branch. Branch just means that it branches off the main line and doesn't join onto anything else at the outer end.

Does this mean that Okehampton is a branch of the Barnstaple... erm... branch? (Would that make the Okehampton line a twig?)

 

[AM9]

Does this mean that Okehampton is a branch of the Barnstaple... erm... branch? (Would that make the Okehampton line a twig?)

Probably, and the bit to Tavistock has withered and died.

 

[adrock1976]

Regarding Falmouth, as I perceive things, I would not really class that as a branch line myself, as the original intention of the Great Western Railway was to have the main line continuing west of Exeter and Plymouth to Truro, then on to Falmouth for the packet steamers.

The present route west of Truro to Penzance is the West Cornwall Railway I believe. Again, I'm more inclined to lean towards the shuttle service to and from junction stations as mentioned earlier as the term for branch lines.

In peace

Adam

 

[AM9]

So to summarise this thread in the context of the original question, Clacton-On-Sea station is still (roughly) the size it is because:

until the '60s it provided a full summer seaside service, not only from London (Liverpool St) but also from some other English centres.
as the first outer-suburban/regional* line electrified at 25kV it has served a commuter population that has grown owing to the relatively low-cost housing in the area.
It has been convenient to use the available sidings and platforms for overnight stabling despite the low off-peak patronage that exists today.​

* Main, secondary, branch or whatever semantic description one wants to use.

 

[Taunton]

The Clacton express stock originally was 10-car, formed 2 x 4-car and 1 x 2-car. Arriving at Colchester the rear 2-car was dropped off and did all stations, including the reversal through Colchester Town, through to Clacton. The remaining 8 ran on nonstop to Thorpe-le-Soken, where the train divided again, the front set without the buffet went to Walton, and the rear one, with buffet, went to Clacton. So there were two off-peak services an hour to Clacton, compared to the current one.

After a period the Colchester division stopped, the local stations being served by a separate connecting train, and six cars went fast to Clacton, and four to Walton. There were later changes again, a series of Open Seconds were converted from hauled stock, and replaced the buffet cars and augmented the 2-car units up to 4. The current arrangement where the local connects with a different Liverpool Street train, precedes the express to Thorpe, waits there to connect, and then provides the Walton service, is more recent, and in all truth reflects the all-year demand better.

 

[eastdyke]

Back in late steam / very early diesel days, the basic 1957 weekday timetable shows (mostly) 2TPH.

One being the 'Clacton Interval Service' leaving Clacton on the hour with Refreshment Car. The dwell time at Thorpe-le-Soken was 6 minutes to allow attachment of the portion from Walton-on-Naze. Service then called at Colchester, Chelmsford, Shenfield and Liverpool St., total journey time was around 1 hour 50 mins.
The other service was all (or most) shacks to Colchester, again with a portion from Walton attached at Thorpe-le-Soken.

As noted by SouthDevonian at post #11, Saturday services originated from both Leicester and Birmingham. The service from Birmingham split a Felixstowe portion at Ipswich. The Felixstowe portion ran through to Beach station where the empty coaching stock would be stored, along with many others, on the Dock Branch awaiting the return working. In 1957 there was a through service to Clacton from Derby (Friargate) via Nottingham Victoria and March.

The Saturday timetable also included a through train from Enfield Town (I kid you not) as well as many 'extras' from Liverpool St.

In 1957 I lived alongside the Felixstowe Branch - Summer Saturdays were great days!

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'Train station' is an americanism for 'railway station'. 'Branch line' describes a line in relation to others, e.g. 'main line, or maybe 'avoiding line'.

'Train station' is a term used out of modern necessity by Bus passengers.

 

[LAX54]

I don't think there is a hard and fast rule. I would generally say that branch lines are single track lines off main lines that don't go particularly far. For example, I wouldn't consider the Far North Line a branch line, nor the line from Newton Abbot to Paignton, even though they do 'branch off' the main lines. The Cornish branch lines to places such as Falmouth, St Ives, Newquay and Looe are classic examples of branch lines in my mind.

But you have the Felixstowe 'branch' and that is far from a branch line !

 

[eastdyke]

But you have the Felixstowe 'branch' and that is far from a branch line !

I think the dichotomy here arises out of associating 'branch' with 'minor'.

Whilst the line to Felixstowe is certainly a branch it is certainly not minor.

 

[AM9]

I think the dichotomy here arises out of associating 'branch' with 'minor'.

Whilst the line to Felixstowe is certainly a branch it is certainly not minor.

With a single 153 running every hour, the passenger service is definitely 'branch line'. Freight traffic is pretty heavy and likely to be moreso in the future.

 

[yorksrob]

Does this mean that Okehampton is a branch of the Barnstaple... erm... branch? (Would that make the Okehampton line a twig?)

No, Okehampton is a once and future main line.

 

[LAX54]

With a single 153 running every hour, the passenger service is definitely 'branch line'. Freight traffic is pretty heavy and likely to be moreso in the future.

11,000+ boxes in / out Fxst each week, (2011) busiest rail connected Port in the Country

 

[Taunton]

Back in late steam / very early diesel days, the basic 1957 weekday timetable shows (mostly) 2TPH.

One being the 'Clacton Interval Service' leaving Clacton on the hour with Refreshment Car. The dwell time at Thorpe-le-Soken was 6 minutes to allow attachment of the portion from Walton-on-Naze. Service then called at Colchester, Chelmsford, Shenfield and Liverpool St., total journey time was around 1 hour 50 mins.
The other service was all (or most) shacks to Colchester, again with a portion from Walton attached at Thorpe-le-Soken.

1957 London services would be a Britannia, B17 or B1 steam locomotive, while the stopping train to Colchester would be one of the new dmus, the 2-car Derby or Metro-Cammell "yellow diamond" sets, where East Anglia was one of the first areas for their service. At Wivenhoe they would connect with the Brightlingsea branch, a real branch, also a 2-car dmu.

The Saturday timetable also included a through train from Enfield Town (I kid you not) as well as many 'extras' from Liverpool St.

More of these oddball London suburban station services operated on Sundays, as "excursions", often not in the public timetable but advertised at stations and in local newspapers, and catered for day visit traffic, while the Saturday extra service aimed more at the weekly holidaymaker. Same stock used for both of course. Saturday trains tended to return during the day while the Sunday ones would go home in the evening. It would be a little calamity if it came on to rain during Sunday afternoon and everyone attempted to return home early by the normal service, but there were contingency plans for this sort of thing. There would be great pressure on siding (and platform) space at places like Clacton, I wonder where they put all the trains in the afternoon.

 

[aylesbury]

n remember excursions from Chingford made a change from Southend seemed like going abroad!

 

[eastdyke]

1957 London services would be a Britannia, B17 or B1 steam locomotive, while the stopping train to Colchester would be one of the new dmus, the 2-car Derby or Metro-Cammell "yellow diamond" sets, where East Anglia was one of the first areas for their service. At Wivenhoe they would connect with the Brightlingsea branch, a real branch, also a 2-car dmu.

I would be interested if anyone could confirm the regular use of DMU's on Colchester to Clacton/Walton as the line became a stand-alone section of 25kv overhead starting in public use in March 1959. Effectively a forerunner for all 25 kv systems.

My memory of those days is very hazy!

I know from pictures that DMU's were in use on the Brighlingsea branch, not sure from exactly when, but steam may have prevailed on the local services to Clacton and Walton until March 1959. Even after then of course steam /diesel was used on the LST services umtil the electrification was completed south of Colchester. Colchester shed had an allocation of N7's until towards the end of 1959.

The Eastern Region DMU's were first used in the most rural places, Ipswich shed becoming the first in the country to have (officially at least) an all diesel allocation by sometime around 1960.

 

[Taunton]

55 pioneer ' yellow diamond' E79xxx 2-car dmu sets were delivered to East Anglia between January 1955 and August 1956, 26 Derby ones in 1955 and 29 Met-Cam ones in 1956. They were spread around Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and Stratford depots. They will have served the Clacton line for some 3-4 years until the electrification was turned on.