Corringham Light Railway

The Corringham Light Railway (CLR) in Corringham, Essex, England was incorporated on 10 July 1899 and opened to freight on 1 January 1901, to passengers on 22 June 1901.[1] It closed to passengers on 1 March 1952 and was absorbed into the Mobil Oil Company on 20 September 1971. The railway itself went from an end on junction with the London Tilbury and Southend Railway at Thames Haven to both Corringham and Kynochtown (later Coryton).

Overview

The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR) had a branch from Thames Haven Junction, near Stanford-le-Hope, to Thames Haven on the Thames Estuary. It was some 2+3/4 mi long. There was a passenger station at Thames Haven but it closed before the CLR opened.

The CLR ran from a junction with the LTSR near Thames Haven to the Kynoch explosives works at Shell Haven, with branches east to Kynochtown (later Coryton) and west to Corringham.

Corringham Station on the Fobbing Road was a substantial brick-built structure providing both male and female toilets, a bicycle shed and a small loading platform. Although the light railway order included a siding this was never laid. From the station the line headed down hill past two sidings, The first branched off towards a small brickworks and the second to a sewage works.

Closure and remains

After the refinery transferred to Vacuum Oil Company, later Mobil, improvements were made to the branch that entered the refinery. The last passenger train ran from Corringham station on Saturday 1 March 1952 at 12.20pm. By 12 April of that year, Corringham station and branch were noted as having been demolished.

The site of the station on Fobbing Road is apparent from the satellite view of postcode SS17 9DB. The trees that lined the track as it ran north and curved westward into the station are still present. The top end of the trackbed up to public footpath 22 including the platform and loop was sold to a housing developer in 1986 The rear of the station site (behind the platform) became The Hawthorns estate: the rear of the brick platform is visible from The Hawthorns, behind "Station House" on the right. A series of fishponds now lie on the trackbed through the station site. The gate post on Fobbing Road at the entrance to the station is still there, just across the road from Kynoch Villas and Digby Road.

Along the track bed there are various earth works and remaining structures, the first of which is the sewage works that once served the works colony (originally served by its own siding), The second of which are the large ponds in the grounds of the Pegasus club, these are the remains of the once rail served brick works. Finally there are the remains of Brickfield Bridge over Fobbing Creek.

At the site of Coryton Station the 1919 brick platform extension survives within the refinery and was restored cosmetically by BP in 1985 however the wooden waiting shelter/toilets have long since disappeared. Coryton station is an anomaly as usually a station is demolished when its railway closes, however the whole village of Coryton was demolished in the 1970s while leaving the station as intact as it was when the last trains ran.

Various items have survived in private hands, mainly tickets and photographs. A brick from Corringham station was rescued by an enthusiast and was subsequently incorporated into the wall of his home office. A fishplate was discovered in June 2013 after recent ploughing had uncovered it. One piece of rolling stock was also almost preserved: the final LTSR carriage was donated in the 1970s to Railway Vehicle Preservations, who are now based on the Great Central Railway. Unfortunately it was later destroyed by fire, though one door survived in a private collection. The door was restored as far as was practical and in 2012 was donated to the East Anglian Railway Museum where it now features in the Carriage and Wagon display.

railroad name	Corringham Light Railway
locale	Corringham, Essex
start year	10 July 1899
end year	20 September 1971
successor line	Mobil Oil
length	3 1/2 Miles

Corringham Light Railway

Overview

Closure and remains

Locomotives

Rolling stock

Staff

Corringham Light Railway Society

External links

References