Many of Britain’s railways were born in moments of industrial and commercial optimism, enjoyed good and bad times, and then became shadows of their former selves. The Stour Valley Railway was no different, as Steven Russell discovers

THERE are footprints of the past everywhere, if you know where to look. The great thing about Andy Wallis’s latest book is that he points out where the ghosts can be found. There are photographs of railway scenes from decades past alongside modern pictures showing the same location today. For example, the extensive goods yard outside the old Sudbury station, with its sidings and wagon turntables, is nowadays home to a supermarket and large car park. The old Great Eastern Hotel became a nightclub . . . but at least the landmark tower of St Peter’s church remains as an anchor.

Stour Valley Railway Through Time – Marks Tey to Bury St Edmunds and Cavendish takes us on a 90-odd-page picture-led journey from past to present.

Andy Wallis explains that the former Colchester, Stour Valley, Sudbury and Halstead Railway was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1846. There was permission to build two lines: one from Colchester to the Hythe, and the other from Marks Tey to Sudbury – with a branch line to Halstead that “was duly forgotten about, due to lack of finance”.

It wasn’t the only example of ambition being stymied by stark reality. Further extensions were authorised in 1847 – from Sudbury to Long Melford and Long Melford to Lavenham – but never got off the ground because of money.

Then two more Acts paved the way not only for a new stretch from Lavenham to Bury St Edmunds but the lease in 1848 of the Colchester, Stour Valley, Sudbury and Halstead Railway to the Eastern Union Railway. In turn, it was leased to the Eastern Counties Railway in 1854.

Never a dull moment, then . . .

“The Eastern Counties Railway now controlled or leased the majority of lines in its area and, together with the other principal railways in East Anglia, was amalgamated into the Great Eastern Railway in August 1862,” writes Andy, who served six years in the Royal Navy – some of it on HMS Ark Royal.

There was a new and approved plan to build an extension from Sudbury to Shelford – via Long Melford, Clare and Haverhill – and a branch from Long Melford to Bury St Edmunds. This new era began in the summer of 1865 and included a new station at Sudbury.

“Under the Great Eastern Railway the fortunes of the line reached their zenith by the earlier part of the twentieth century.” You can feel a “but . . .” coming. And here it is: “The Great Eastern Railway passed into the new London & North Eastern Railway on 1 January 1923, and the new owners started a cost-saving programme that saw the closure of duplicate signal boxes on the line and reduction of the single-line sections . . .

“During the late 1920s and 1930s, special summer excursion trains ran from the Midlands and Cambridge, via both the Stour Valley and Colne Valley lines, to Clacton and Walton.

“Traffic over the line peaked again during the war years, and for a short time afterwards passenger traffic was heavy – especially during the period after the war when petrol rationing was in force.”

Andy, who in the past put together a similar book called Colne Valley & Halstead Railway Through Time, says that from 1959 steam gave way to diesel-hauled trains for freight and excursion traffic along the Stour Valley. Local services were worked by diesel multiple units and railbuses – lightweight passenger vehicles.

“Unfortunately, this did not slow down the losses being made over the line.” Costs were closely examined and plans to withdraw passenger services on the Bury branch were proposed, and implemented, from the spring of 1961.

“The last passenger service to travel over the whole line took place in June 1961 when the Ramblers’ special worked from Liverpool Street to Bury St Edmunds, via Marks Tey and Long Melford.

“Freight continued to run as far as Lavenham from the Bury end of the line. The section from Lavenham to Long Melford was lifted in 1962. Freight on the Bury line finally ceased in April 1965.”

Following publication of the Beeching Report in 1963, British Railways published plans to close the whole line between Shelford and Marks Tey in April, 1965.

There was strong opposition and a hearing was held in Sudbury. The final decision doomed the line north of the town, through Haverhill to Shelford, though the stretch from Marks Tey to Sudbury was reprieved.

The sting in the tail for local authorities that had fought closure was British Rail demanding a subsidy of �26,000 to keep the line open for another year. That sum was later raised to �52,000.

“As this was not forthcoming, the line north of Sudbury closed completely on 6 March 1967,” writes Andy, who is a volunteer on the Colne Valley Railway (a heritage railway near Halstead) and runs a website providing new copies of old signalbox diagrams for stations in East Anglia.

“The last trains ran on Saturday 4 March and freight had already been finally withdrawn from the line in October 1966.”

n Stour Valley Railway Through Time is published by Amberley Publishing at � 14.99