Now the Shoeburyness annual show is a big one and really busy. Held at the Southend on Sea leisure centre quite a bit east of London on the Thames estuary. From my house it is an epic journey down some of the worst motorways in the U.K. This year I had decided to visit the East Anglia Railway museum at Chappels & Wakes Colne on the way down. I had last visited here in 1988 so reckoned I was overdue! Uniquely the museum has the real railway running through it, Greater Anglia's Marks Tey to Sudbury branch uses Platform 1 of the station with the museum building entrance and shops located there. Platform 2 reached over the footbridge is the main body of the museum site. Class 156 no 402 spent all day working the branch The weather had been awful all the way down and the murk never lifted The gate sentinel is Pecket 0-4-0ST no 2039 of 1943. The imposing station building sits on the slope down to the river crossed by the imposing viaduct A view from the footbridge looking towards Sudbury. No Crisp November morning here sadly The Mk I carriages sat in Platform 2 are used on weekdays as the cafe. more soon Kev
You get an idea of the general attention to detail with this view of the station from the Loco restoration shed The interior of the signalbox Former Great Eastern Railway N7 0-6-2T was a stalwart on steam hauled commuter services in and out of London It has had the rare honour of being allowed out onto the main line to work a series of steam specials in London and is seen here with a London Underground train Kev
Andrew Barclay 0-4-0DM of 1938 has been named after the legendary Radio DJ John Peel who liver not far from the museum. As a radio presenter he was a pioneer of all sorts on new music for decades, always ready to listen to new tapes submitted by bands and willing to give them a live slot if hew thought they were worthy. War department 72229 was built in 1945 by the Vulcan Foundry (the U.K one not the USA one) This Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST was built in 1905 The museum has some rare stuff but perhaps nothing as rare as this North London Railway four wheel passenger brake van beautifully restored
A short drive south took me to Marks Tey station where the Sudbury Branch leaves the Great Eastern main line. You can see the branch on the 25Kv main line from Norwich and Ipswich to London Liverpool Street The Class 360 EMUs handle a lot of the stopping trains and are a variant of the Siemens Desiro design The limited stop express passenger trains are the realm of the Class 90 electrics. Introduced in 1987 and built by British Rail under licence from GEC they will push out a constant 5000hp They work push-pull with the loco at the south (London) end of the train
At the other end is a DVT (Driving van trailer) styled to look similar to the loco They whistle through the station at Marks Tey and you really do not want to be too close to the platform edge The line also sees a lot of container traffic from the east Coast ports. Here we see a pair of Freightliner EMD Class 66s on a Felixstowe-Manchester Trafford Park intermodal back at the branch platform 156 402 waits to set off to Sudbury again Kev
Kev, you gave us a delightful photo essay, as you always do, thanks. What is the cause of the curious whistling given off by the Class 360 power cars when powering up?
Its the IGBT inverter control gear for the 250Kw asynchronous traction motors. I believe the control gear generates a a phase system that the motors respond to a bit like a stepper motor. The class 350s in England and the 380s in Scotland share the same system and sound the same. The days of putting them into Notch 3 are long gone! Kev
