Southminster railway station

Southminster railway station is the eastern terminus of the Crouch Valley Line in Essex, England, serving the town of Southminster and other settlements on the Dengie Peninsula. It is 45 miles 42 chains (73.27 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street. The station is managed by Greater Anglia who operate all services. The Engineer's Line Reference for the line is WIS, the station's three-letter station code is SMN. The platform has an operational length for 8 carriages. The preceding station to the west is Burnham-on-Crouch.

Southminster
The terminus in 2011
Location
PlaceSouthminster
Local authorityMaldon
Coordinates51.66006°N 0.83386°E / 51.66006; 0.83386
Grid referenceTQ961995
Operations
Station codeSMN
Managed byGreater Anglia
Number of platforms1
DfT categoryF1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 0.148 million
2015/16 0.152 million
2016/17 0.148 million
2017/18 0.137 million
2018/19 0.129 million
History
Key datesOpened 1 July 1889 (1 July 1889)
National Rail – UK railway stations
  • Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Southminster from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
Southminster nuclear flask transhipment facility, 2002

The line and station were opened on 1 June 1889 for goods and on 1 October 1889 for passengers by the Great Eastern Railway in 1889. The station had a single platform and station buildings.[1] There were extensive sidings including a line to gravel pits which operated until 3 November 1979. The sidings included a goods shed, cattle pens and a locomotive turntable.[1]

The station was host to a LNER camping coach from 1935 to 1939 and possibly one for some of 1934.[2] The goods yard closed on 4 October 1965. There was a 36-lever signal box which closed on 19 January 1986.[1] The line and station were passed to the London and North Eastern Railway following the Grouping of 1923. It then passed to the Eastern Region of British Railways upon nationalisation in 1948. The Wickford to Southminster line was electrified using 25 kV overhead line electrification (OLE) on 12 May 1986. When sectorisation was introduced, Southminster was served by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Rail. A nuclear flask handling facility operated to the south of the station from 1962 during the operation and decommissioning of Bradwell nuclear power station, this facility was last used on 31 August 2006.[3][1] The timetable in the 1990s allowed for this traffic by the absence of a down and up passenger train on the branch late on Wednesday mornings.

Services

The typical off-peak service is of one train every 40 minutes to Wickford, with additional services at peak times. Some peak services continue to or from Shenfield and/or London Liverpool Street via the Great Eastern Main Line. On Sundays, the service is reduced is to hourly. Services are typically formed of Class 321 rolling stock, built by BREL York and introduced in 1988.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Greater AngliaTerminus

References
  1. Mitchell, Vic (2010). Branch Lines to Southend and Southminster. Midhurst Sussex: Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-906008-76-5.
  2. McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. p. 10. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.
  3. "Essex Family History - Bradwell Nuclear Power Station". Retrieved 15 April 2011.

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