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In 1836 the Eastern Counties Railway obtained powers to construct and run a railway from London to Ipswich. Due to lack of money the railway stopped at Colchester in 1843. John Chevallier Cobbold sponsored the Eastern Union Railway's Act of Parliament passed July 19th 1844 to connect Colchester and Ipswich. After much negotiation the two railways, EUR and ECR, eventually settled with an "end on" connection at the site of the present Colchester Station.
Early railways around Colchester
The Act of Parliament passed June 26th 1846 for the Colchester, Stour Valley, Sudbury and Halstead Railway, and the consequence of this was a further line from Colchester to The Hythe. The Hythe being a quay owned by the Borough of Colchester, for smaller sea going vessels, and this line opened March 31st 1847. The Hythe has this year, 1999, seen a dramatic downturn in activities and the next century could start without this item of transport infrastructure being in use. This development was the embryo of the present Clacton and Walton branches.
The 1955 modernisation plan of British Railways proposed to electrify all of the ex-Great Eastern Railway suburban lines to Liverpool Street and the main lines to Chelmsford, Colchester and Ipswich. Initially a pilot scheme was decided upon, and this culminated in the Colchester to Clacton and Walton branches being chosen. 1959 saw the successful completion of this scheme which included the rebuilding and enlargement of Colchester Station. Another part of this modernisation was the construction of a burrowing junction to avoid suburban services having to cross the main line.
B17 Class locomotive is shown on a down Clacton service train in the 1950s, a J15 Class awaits departure from the up sidings Colchester locomotive depot is shown in the background.
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