Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 17:06, 14 January 2025

History

Early Years 1854-1922

The station was opened as Grays Thurrock on 13 August 1854 on the London, Tilbury and Southend Railways line to Tilbury which had opened a few onths earlier.

Initially the station had two platforms with station buildings and a goods yard on the up side west of the station. Crossing the tracks was via a level-crossing at the east end of the station.

In the 1880s the town of Grays was increasing in population and the LT&SR recognised the need for improved facilities. In 1882 a footbridge was provided at the east end of the station which could be used by pedestrians when the level crossing gates were closed. This was because the town had spread to both sides of the railway.

The rebuilding of the station took place in 1885 and 1886 with new station building provided west of the original building which was subsequently demolished. The goods yard was extended westward and southward at this time and a replacement goods shed provided.

A new bay platform was provided at the west end of the station ahead of the service to Upminster commencing in 1892. The line from Upminster joined the main line at West Thurrock Junction which is just under a mile to the west of Grays station. Between West Thurrock Junction and Grays station there were a number of private sidings which are detailed below.

In the early 1900s the station became known as Grays. The original settlement of Grays had been south of the railway but had expanded and now included houses and shops north of the railway. By the end of the 19th Century road traffic increased over the High Street level crossing at the east end of he station instead giving rise to a number of complaints. However this remained a problem until 1975.

The Midland Railway took over the LTSR on 7 August 1912 and Grays station became a Midland Railway station.

London Midland and Scottish Railway (1923-1948)

Following the Railways Act 1921 the station became the responsibility of the London Midland and Scottish (LMS) Railway. Some of the cement lines closed early in the 1920s (see below) but the area remained a busy location for goods traffic.

TT

After World War II started there were significant cuts to passenger services on the line in the timetable of 25 September 1939.

During World War II on Saturday 15 March 1941 the up side station buildings suffered a direct hit by a bomb and was damaged beyond repair.

The Nationalisation era (1948-1994)

Following nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1948, the station transferred under British Railways to the London Midland Region. On 20 February 1949, the whole LTS line was transferred to the Eastern Region, yet despite the organisational changes, the old LTSR still was a distinctive system operated by former LTS and LMS locomotives until electrification.

In 1954 a new upside station building was provided which had a pre-cantilevered roof

Re-signalling of the area prior to electrification occurred and the Grays West signal box was closed at that this time. Simplification of some of the goods yard infrastructure was carried out at this time as well. Most notably a third reversible line was introduced between West Thurrock Junction and the station meaning no interaction with main line services was now required. This became operational on 28 August 1961.

A full electric timetable started operating in June 1961 and this was primarily worked by Class 302 EMUs. The branch to Upminster remained steam operated until ??? when DMUs took over operation.

In 1964 the Grays to Upminster branch was electrified.

In 1968 the former Seabrook Brewery siding area (see below) was adapted as the new route to the Port of Tilbury who had opened a new Freightliner Terminal.

In the early 1970s the historic town centre was demolished under the Thurrock Urban District's Council plan and the High Street level crossing was replaced by a foot crossing in 1975. A new overbridge had been provided for the road traffic.

The privatisation era (1994-present day)

On privatisation in 1996, infrastructure ownership passed to Railtrack and Prism Rail took over operations of the franchise, marketing the route as LTS Rail. Prism Rail were bought out by National Express in 2000 and in 2002 the line was rebranded as c2c.

Ownership of the infrastructure passed to Network Rail in 2002.

National Express sold the operation of the franchise to Trenitalia in 2017.

The station and all trains serving it are currently operated by c2c and are operated by Class 357 and Class 720/6 EMUs.

A detailed history of the franchises can be found on the c2c page.

In 2005 the station environment was refurbished, in particular the subway linking the platforms, and the surrounding highway infrastructure. In January 2006 the footbridge linking Grays High Street at either side of the railway was declared unsafe and closed due to structural problems with the supports and bracing, which had to be temporarily supported with scaffolding underneath the stair flights. A hoarding was subsequently erected on this scaffolding. The footbridge reopened in May 2006. Works to replace the stair flights have been completed. Although located at the end of the platforms, there is no station access at this point.

During 2008 and 2009 the four-carriage bay platform was extended to hold eight-coach trains. From 2011 to 2012 the through platforms were extended to receive 12-coach trains.

Operations

Signal Boxes

West to East the signal boxes after the branch to Upminster opened were:

• West Thurrock Junction (circa 1890)
• Grays West (opened 5 November 1901)
• Grays East (opened 5 November 1901 - these two boxes replaced the original 1881 box and were linked to changes at the station with regard to the new bay platform.)

Re-signalling on 1961 saw Grays West box closed and all activity concentrated on Grays East which was close to the High Street foot crossing east of the station. Control of the new route to the Port of Tilbury via the Seabrooks Brewery siding alignment started in 1968.

In 1996 control transferred to the Upminster signalling centre which controls the former LT&S system. A few minor changes to the remaining infrastructure were made as part of this change and Thurrock West Junction and the remaining Grays box closed. on 3 April 1996.

Private Sidings

These are listed west to east starting at West Thurrock Junction and ending at the present junction for the Port of Tilbury.

Two cement works existed along side each other.The western one was Thames Works owned by the Thames Cement Company. This was taken over by APCM in 1900 but closed in 1920. Chalk came from a quarry north of the railway that went under the main lines but a main line connection was not provided. Thames Works had an internal railway system.

The site was purchased by the Thames Land Company and a large soap works called "Hedleys" was built. This was connected to West Thurrock Yard on 23 January 1938 on and three sidings provided. The internal railway was re-used and that ceased operation in 1955. The site was known as Proctor and Gamble's sidings and fell out of use in the 1990s.

Wouldham Works was a large cement works located between the main line and the River Thames. It opened in 1974 as the Lion Cement works and was bought by the Wouldham Cement Company who operated the site until 1911 when Blue Circle Cement took over.

Chalk was supplied to the site via a railway line from a quarry north of the railway line and this line passed under the main line, and later the Upminster branch, immediately west of West Thurrock Junction. The works was connected to the main line on 29 December 1902 and there were a number of sidings for inward and outward traffic which was primarily coal (inwards) and cement products (outwards). The latter also left on barges from the wharf on the river.

There was an internal rail system worked by a number of steam, and later diesel locomotives which moved materials around the works, to/from the sidings and to the wharves. The railway from the quarry as replaced by a conveyor in the early sixties but the internal railway still continued operation on site.

The works closed in 1976 and the mainline connections were removed in the 1996 re-signaling.

Paktank Sidings were a relatively late addition and sited on the down side on the third line between West Thurrock Junction and Grays station. There were three sidings the site, later known as Unitank Storage, the site closed sometime in the 1990s.

A third cement works called Grays Portland Cement Works existed and was supplied by two quarry lines both of which passed under the main line. There was a rail connection at Grays station on the down side but most material arrived or left by barge by one of the company's two jetties.The works had an internal rail system and closed c1922.

There were two sidings that ran off the station goods yard and at various times these served a timber yard (shown as railway sleeper wharf on maps), Grays Engineering Works and T W Ward shipbreakers (which also scrapped some steam locomotives in the 1960s). The latter was the last in use on the site closing in 1983.

Seabrooks Brewery also had a siding which was located east of the station on what was then the edge of town. The brewery was established in 1799 and closed in 1929 when Charringtons bought out Seabrooks. The siding was opened in 1901 although the plan had been to establish four tracks to Tilbury East Junction and the Port of Tilbury yard.

After that, the brewery was bought by the Cooperative Society became a laundry and dairy. In the 1960s the site was being used as a rail served coal depot This closed in the mid 1960s but the sidings were reused as a new access to Tilbury Docks in 1969.

The reason the additional two tracks were not built in 1901 was as a result of a standard gauge railway that went over the tracks to the east of Seabrooks. Formerly a quarry line to the river the line was then owned by Charles Wall who was a building contractor who may have possibly hired out industrial locomotives. A siding was built and opened in 1901 that connected to the Seabrooks area but neither the LT&SR or Wall wanted to pay for a new wider bridge. The rail bridge was converted to a road bridge in 1941 to provide better access to Tilbury Docks and the rail connection removed.

1. Kay, Peter (2010). London Tilbury and Southend - a history of the company and line Volume 4. Wivenhoe: Peter Kay. p. 325. ISBN 978 1 899890 47 7.
2. Kay 2010, p. 325
3. Kay 2010, p. 325
4. Kay 2010, p. 246
5. Connor, J E; Phillips, Charles (August 1998). Fenchurch Street to Barking. Midhurst, UK: Middleton Press. p. 8. ISBN 1-901706-20-6.
6. Kay 2010, p. 329
7. Kay 2010, p. 328
8. "London, Tilbury and Southend Railway" (PDF). Local Studies Information Sheets. Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council. 2008. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
9. "New Timetable Changes Postponement". c2c. Archived from the original on 16 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
10. Kay 2010, p. 321
11. Moran, Dylan. "Wouldham". Cement Kilns. Dylan Moran. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
12. Kay 2010, pp. 322, 324
13. Kay 2010, p. 322
14. "Seabrooke & Sons Ltd". Brewerypedia. Brewery History Society. Retrieved 11 January 2025.