The Bishop's Stortford–Braintree branch line was an railway line connecting existing railways at Bishop's Stortford, Dunmow and Braintree. It was promoted independently by the Bishop's Stortford, Dunmow and Braintree Railway (BSD&BR) company, but the directors failed to generate subscriptions, or to manage the construction properly. The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was the dominant railway company in the area, and saw the line as a blocker, to prevent the incursion of a rival line, so they felt obliged to support it. However they themselves had other pressing priorities, both managerial and financial, at the time, and for some time the construction was in abeyance.
The line opened in 1869, and the company was absorbed into the Great Eastern Railway. Goods traffic developed healthily in the agricultural district served, but intermediate passenger business was slow. A sugar beet processing plant provided a considerable boost for the line.
Nevertheless, the decline in passenger carryings led to closure to passengers in 1952. General goods and certain specific traffics continued, but failure of a viaduct severed the route intermediately in 1966 and the line closed completely in 1972, except that the Braintree station continues in use as the terminal of the active branch line from Witham.
Promotion of a line Prior ideas
The town of Dunmow was significant enough to warrant being on a London to York Railway of 1835 proposed by Joseph Gibbs,Cecil J Allen, The Great Eastern Railway, Ian Allan, London, 1955 reprint 1968, page 11 but that came to nothing. In 1860 the Epping Railway was authorised to extend to Great Dunmow, but the line as constructed never reached further than Chipping Ongar.E F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959, page 319
Bishop's Stortford became connected to the railway network on 16 May 1842 when the Northern and Eastern Railway (N&ER) reached the town.Allen, page 12 The N&ER was planning to advance on York, but its lack of financial resources made that impossible. On the first day of 1844 the company agreed to lease its line for 999 years to the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). The obtained authority to extend to Cambridge and Brandon, in order to meet the Norfolk Railway there and form a through route to Norwich. The opened its line to from Bishop's Stortford to Brandon on 29 July 1845.
Further east the Eastern Counties Railway had opened a line from its London terminal to Colchester, on 7 March 1843, running through Chelmsford and Witham.Allen, page 8
Communities on these main line railways immediately benefitted from faster transport and reduced transport costs, and places not served by the new railways suffered correspondingly. For some, branch lines seemed to be the solution, and in 1846 the Braintree, Witham and Maldon Railway (BW&MR) was authorised. Joining Braintree to a small harbour on the River Blackwater at Maldon, the line was to make a direct crossing of the Eastern Counties main line at Witham. Part of the authorisation included improvement to the Maldon harbour. In fact the directors sold the unbuilt line to the Eastern Counties Railway a few months after getting Parliamentary authority. The altered the arrangement at Witham, so that both arms of the line ran to the Witham station, in effect forming two branch lines from there. The opened the line in 1848, but failed to improve the harbour facilities at Maldon, on the River Blackwater.Peter Paye, Branch Lines to Maldon, Lightmoor Press Lydney, 2016, ISBN 978 1 911 038 16 0, page 9
A definite scheme
In 1859 businesspeople from the general area projected a railway through the town, linking Bishop's Stortford and Braintree. They sought advice from the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR), testing whether their line would be welcome. At the time the board were fearing a possible incursion into the territory they considered to be their own. A London and Bury St Edmunds Railway was being proposed, and such a line would bisect the area of control. At this period in railway history, dominance in any particular geographical area was considered to be key to commercial success. After commissioning a survey of the route in 1860, the declared that they would support the line.Paye, page 9
The proposal went to Parliament, and the Bishop's Stortford, Dunmow and Braintree Railway was authorised in the (24 & 25 Vict. c. clxxxii) on 22 July 1861. Share capital was to be £120,000. The London and Bury St Edmunds Railway proposal was abandoned.Donald J Grant, Directory of the Railway Companies of Great Britain, Matador, Kibworth Beauchamp, 2017, ISBN 978 1785893 537, page50
Subscriptions for shares in the line were very slow to come, but the had already determined that its interests lay in keeping interlopers out of the district, so it was ready to pay for the construction. However it was left to Thomas Brassey, the contractor, to deal with the situation, and there is a constant stream of requests from Brassey for money for work carried out, and for facilities that the owners should provide. Land acquired by the Company was far too narrow for the track bed and necessary earthworks, and Brassey himself had to purchase additional strips of land.Paye, page 25
Construction delays The construction process continued, and Col. Yolland inspected the line for the Board of Trade on 20 November 1866. Yolland found a number of deficiencies and declined to approve opening to passenger traffic. In particular, at Bishop's Stortford no arrangements had been made by the to accommodate the trains from the Braintree line, and the station was considered too small to handle the extra traffic. At Braintree the line to Bishop's Stortford diverged some distance from the existing terminus; the intention was to work trains in and out of the old terminus by reversing, an arrangement deprecated by Yolland. Paye, page 27
The asked Thomas Brassey, the contractor, to make good the shortcomings, but Brassey was already nettled at the failure of the company to pay his certified accounts, and he declined to carry out the remedial works until he was paid. The had no money and the noted that they had already contributed 75% more than had been expected towards the construction. A hiatus followed in which a rift between the Great Eastern Railway and Brassey became particularly marked, as Brassey waited for his money. At the same time the solicitor reminded the board that the company had no ordinary shareholders, and had already exceeded its permitted debenture borrowings. As the wanted the line completed, for the tactical reasons already described, then it would have to find the money.
In addition, the period allowed by Parliament for completion of the construction phase had already been exceeded, and the dragging out of a decision on carrying out completion works meant that Thomas Brassey's obligation to maintain the railway for the first year was becoming unreasonable.A common condition in new works construction was, and is, the obligation to maintain the new works for a year; this corresponds to a warranty offered on modern-day technical purchases.Paye, pages 28 and 29
Absorbed by the Great Eastern Railway Financial reconstruction
It had long been plain that the Bishop's Stortford, Dunmow and Braintree Railway Company was incapable of bringing the construction to a conclusion, and all its financial outgoings were being made by the Great Eastern Railway. It was decided that the company should be purchased by the . This was ratified by the (28 & 29 Vict. c. cl) of 29 June 1865.Paye, pages 21 and 22
Financial difficulties dragged on; the was not free of financial problems itself, and the dispute with Thomas Brassey over completion of the construction works and compliance with the specification became protracted. Eventually a difficult agreement was concluded and, with the possibility of arbitration still in place, the matter was ratified by the (31 & 32 Vict. c. clxx) of 31 July 1868, which confirmed the absorption of the railway by the Great Eastern Railway. It was calculated that the cost of constructing the line had been £188,779.Paye, pages 31 to 35
The firm of Valentine and Wilson had been commissioned by the as valuers to examine the state of the railway as constructed, prior to the agreement leading to the 1868 act. It may suggest the state of the administration of the company at that time, that Valentine and Wilson’s account for £403 remained unpaid until they repeatedly asked for settlement, and a duplicate account was sent in by them.
Still the delayed opening the line, which had been substantially completed for years; Brassey's account was unpaid, and at this late stage Col. Yolland of the Board of Trade had to insist on turntables being provided at Bishop's Stortford and Braintree, as well as some signal interlocking alterations. Now at last the was hastening the opening of the line and Col. Yolland made an inspection for the Board of Trade on 28 January 1869. He found many deficiencies, most of which seem predictable. Interlocking at Dunmow had not been attended to; turntables were not yet ready even though this was a definite requirement by the BoT (for tender engine operation); drains were blocked by leaf fall during the period of operational dormancy; and fencing was incomplete. Yolland refused permission to open the line.
Yolland made a further inspection visit on 18 February 1869, and while not everything was perfectly complete, Yolland felt able to give the necessary consent, and this was received formally by the on 20 February.
Opening at last The line opened for traffic on 21 February 1869.D I Gordon, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume V: the Eastern Counties, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1968 reprinted 1977, ISBN 0 7153 7431 1, page 117
The first train service consisted of three passenger trains each way.Paye, page 232 By 1897 the service had increased to five passenger trains and two goods trains each way.Paye, page 241
The majority of the single line route was subject to normal signalling arrangements, but the had never set up a system for the short distance from the Braintree station to Braintree Goods Junction, the point of divergence to the old station for the Witham line, now serving as the goods station. It was worked by pilotman, whose wages amounted to £132 annually. In 1922 the decided to install the Electric Tablet system.Paye, pages 84 and 85
Competition Bus competition was being felt in reducing passenger business on the line, and in reaction the opened two new halts, at Stane Street and Bannister Green on 18 December 1922. Both halts consisted of a small area of clinker surface at track level. One vehicle in each passenger train was equipped with retractable steps, operated by the guard, for passengers at the two halts to use. At the same time the conductor-guard method of working was introduced: the guard issued the tickets for the halts. All the coaches on the passenger trains had a central corridor throughout so that the guard could pass through the train for ticket issuing purposes.Neil Burgess, The Lost Railways of Essex, Stenlake Publishing Ltd, 2014, ISBN 978 1 84033 6702 Leslie Oppitz, Lost Railways of East Anglia, Countryside Books, Newbury, 1999 reprinted 2000, ISBN 1 85306 595 1, pages 130 and 131
The geopolitical events of two world wars had little lasting effect on the line, although Sunday trains were introduced “to help the war effort” in October 1914.Paye, page 243 The railway reorganisations of grouping and nationalisation seemed to lead only to changes of names of the owning company – to the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923 and to British Railways in 1948. However British Railways operated an enhanced service of seven passenger trains each way Monday to Friday, six on Saturdays, nearly all running through to Witham. There were four goods trains each way.