Photos of Clacton-on-sea

[Ocean Swell]

Hi

Could anyone point me in the direction of photos of Clacton station (particularly in the 50s) but anytime before electrification.
I have Great Eastern Engien Sheds vol 2 which has some and I have found a couple on flikr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45859117@N ... otostream/

It seems odd that for all the thousands of people that went on holidays and day trips to Clacton (many with cameras) there are so few photos of the trains that took them there and the station.

[AndyRush]

British Railways Illustrated January 2000 featured the station.

Andy

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Nice picture, with a nice collection of coaches, Have to agree with you so few pics of the Great Eastern and there seaside towns, Southend Victoria, is another rare destination, can't ever remember seeing a photo of that engine shed or the station in steam days

manna

[kieranhardy]

Hi,

My first post on this forum,

Sadly Clacton images are extremely hard to come by in steam days.

Other than the flickr photos you have shown i have only seen one other shot of clacton in steam days on the web. Sadly it was on fotopic and not knowing fotopic would vanish i didn't get a chance to save it. It was an extremely early shot possibly in the early 1900's taken from ground level facing the station including the large station sign 'Clacton on Sea for Holland on Sea' with a classic GER tender loco.

I am a collector of archive photos of both Clacton and the Brockenhurst area for the SR. In contrast i have about 70 shots i've bought off ebay of Brockenhurst. Clacton on the other hand i have just 9, only 3 of which show the station.

I do hope one day someone will upload a flurry of Clacton shots!

[65447]

Not easy for someone now located in the Antipodes but there are a number of potential sources of photos in the relevant period, but not readily accessible to you I'm afraid to say. There's bound to be the odd shot in the Dr Ian. C. Allen's photo albums, similarly shots spread right through the various J. D. Mann South Anglia Productions photo albums, and perhaps the odd shot in the various Richard Riley and Peter Swinger albums. Regrettably Peter Kay's Essex Railway Heritage all but ignores the Clacton branch, there being but one small photo of the exterior of the substantial 'new' (1929) station building - very much in the civic building vernacular. I do have the issue of BRILL mentioned by Andy Rush, and you can always approach the local sources in Clacton - here's your starter for 10: http://www.clacton-on-sea-essex.co.uk/H ... acton.html

As you have stated your period of interest, when I have a spare moment I'll go through the above and see what turns up...

As for Manna, the sources for Southen (Victoria) are as stated above, with the exception that Peter Kay does examine that station in greater detail in his Essex Railway Heritage, self-published and available from him - details on request. Curious that such as the Brightlingsea branch seem to be well photographed whilst others do not...

[AndyRush]

There are quite a number of c.1911 shots of both Clacton-on-Sea and Southend-on-Sea in the so called 'Windwood' collection. Unfortunately, this is somewhat dispersed, parts being held by the National Railway Museum, the Historical Model Railway Society, the Great Eastern Railway Society and a private collector. It is the intention of the GERS to add to the collection of station photographs on its website and I have noted the interest in Clacton for future reference.

Andy

[Ocean Swell]

Cheers for the info so far, I saw some copies of BR Illustrated on a second hand stall a couple of weeks ago so I'll have to see if it has the Jan. 2000 edition. Also I understand one of the GE in town and country books has some photos although I don't have a copy.
There is a Photo of B1 61109 under the footbridge at cCacton in Charles Phillips book the Great Eastern since 1900 and the photo credit is Real Photos T5440.
BR Steam motive Power Depots ER by Paul Bolger has a couple of photos of the Southend Victoria engien shed.
I've managed to pick up a couple of John D Manns books off amazon in the last couple of months along with both of the Brigtlingsea books. It is certainly strange that there is so many photos of Brightlingsea and Wivenhoe yet comparatively few of Clacton and I have never seen any of Colchester Hythe, which must have been an interesting place with J70s and previously sentinals and a Y5 with side plates and cow-catchers shunting the docks and gasworks.
Finally I wonder how many books and boxes of photo's there are around the UK (and world) that have a couple photos of trains in these coastal holiday spots. All those B2s, B17s etc tucked in between the pier, the donkeys and aunty mavis in her deckchair!

[kieranhardy]

Do you have 'Great Eastern Railways' by J D Mann?

This book seems to be the best for pictures of clacton with at least 12 (though a few are the sorts of photos that give no indication of location) including one very rare one of 34059 'Sir Archibald Sinclair' (now preserved and operational at the Bluebell Railway) on the turntable. There's one rather good one taken in the summer of 1948 showing much of the station and on the opposite page a large shot of 70000 'Britannia' with 'The Essex Coast Express' headboard.

[60022Mallard]

Hello. A quick scan of Ian C Allan and R. C. Riley negatives held by The Transport Treasury revealed nothing.

There are a couple by A. E. Bennett B5031/2 taken 02.08.59 of a K1 and B1/1.

Regards.

[Amiguru]

Hi

Could anyone point me in the direction of photos of Clacton station (particularly in the 50s) but anytime before electrification.
I have Great Eastern Engien Sheds vol 2 which has some and I have found a couple on flikr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45859117@N ... otostream/

It seems odd that for all the thousands of people that went on holidays and day trips to Clacton (many with cameras) there are so few photos of the trains that took them there and the station.

Can't help directly with your request Ocean Swell but if you visit our Jaywick Local History Society pictures thread:
http://jaywicklocalhistorysociety.co.uk/photos.html
Scroll down and you will find several local railway related items; in particular an LNER return ticket from Bradford to JAYWICK SANDS!
I managed to buy it on E-bay last year - a rare catch indeed that one.

I'll keep an eye open for anything re your OP

[Ocean Swell]

Cheers for your link Amiguru there are some very interesting photos there. My grandfather and great uncle were both on the clacton life boat and worked in jaywick in the aftermath of the 1953 flood. They both went on to be coxwain of the lifeboat, my grand father is now 87 and still very active in coastal flooding awareness.

The rail ticket is very interesting as aside from the family conections I am researching for a model railway I am building based on the concept that the line from clacton was continued to St. Osyth (as was planned in 1901) and on to Brightlingsea (as planned in 1876) my line will include a station at Jaywick lane although it will probably be "off scene".

Thanks everyone for all your sugestions and info so far it certainly makes research from the other side of the world considerably easier.

[kieranhardy]

Ocean Swell, a picture previously on fotopic (before it closed down) has been reuploaded to Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmightycat/5644117105/

[Ocean Swell]

Sorry to drag out this old topic but I recently recieved a copy of this photo of soldiers leaving for the Boer war from Clacton it is from my grandfathers collection and the Soldier on the far right (you can just see his pith helmet in the crowd is my great grandfather). Any suggestions on the loco class, coach type etc would be apprecited.

[allan_hume]

I realise this topic has gone cold but I've only recently stumbled across it. Of course, this stumbling happened as a result of trying to find the sorts of historical pictures which were/are being sought.

I was, together with several school chums (including the then Clacton stationmaster's son who later became a big name in Network Rail), a keen gricer during the final days of steam at Clacton. I regret that I didn't have a half decent camera at the time but cannot believe that was also true of all of my fellow enthusiasts. Given the apparent scarcity, I'm encouraged to research some more and root out whatever I have amongst snapshots taken at the time.

I have recollections of days, particulary when Essex CCC were playing on the Recreation ground, of lines of "exotic" locos in the sidings next to the shed. And then there were all of the Butlin specials which kept the station busy on summer Saturdays...

There's a wealth of information, including photographs, of people employed on the railway in the Clacton area at
http://www.fwheritage.co.uk/localrailwaystaff.aspx

There's an excellent picture of the B17 Manchester United at the concourse end of Clacton station:
http://www.fwheritage.co.uk/ImageFormX. ... 1_10_P.jpg

(It's my understanding that, tragically, none of this class made it into preservation but that there is currently a project to build a replica of this actual loco from scratch. http://www.engine61662appeal.co.uk/history.html )

It will be apparent that The Frinton & Walton Heritage Trust, whose website I've pointed to, have used local newspaper cuttings to illustrate their researches. How accessible are the phot archives of the Clacton Gazette, I wonder?

I'll post more as and when I find.

[Ocean Swell]

Hi Allan,

thanks for those interesting links there was certainly some familiar surnames amongst the Railway staff and good photos also. A while ago I found some footage on the East Anglian film archive of evacuee trains leaving Clacton during WWII.
http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/536
There are views of the station at the start and of a B12 leaving around the 3 minute 38 mark. Somewhere my Aunty has a photo of the train my Grandmother was evacuated on, I haven't seen it for several years but I believe the loco was a D16.