LT&SR Pitsea Station

[grumpyxch]

I have been doing a lot of reading about the history of the LT&SR, from construction thorough to present days, and I understand from my reading that Pitsea station was originally built on one site when the line only came from the Tilbury direction on its way to Southend-on-Sea and Shoeburyness. However, when they built the direct line from Barking through Upminster to Pitsea, apparently the station was moved to the junction of the old and new lines.

I cannot find any information about just where the original position was, so don't know whether it moved inches, yards or miles. Is there someone on the forum who could provide details, please.

Thankyou

 

[edwin_m]

Have you tried maps.nls.uk?

 

[Gloster]

Having had a look at some of the 25” maps on the National Library of Scotland site, all of which seem to show the new station, I would suspect that it was a short way to the west near where the goods yard was. However, this is opinion based on very little. I will check Peter Kay’s book on the signalling.

EDIT: Peter Kay’s book says that until 1888 Pitsea Hall Crossing was adjacent to the station entrance (there is a map on page 66 of Volume 1 of his history). There is a (partial) map in the report on the accident of 30 July 1961 at the crossing: it is on the Railways Archive website.

 

[grumpyxch]

To Edwin_m and Gloster,

I have tried nls. The oldest map I can find there still shows the new line and therefore only the new station.

I haven't got Peter Kays book on the signalling, though I have just bought a pdf copy of his LT&SR History Vols 1 & 2. In that form they are not easy to read because they appear to be scans of a hard copy (at least Vol 1 does - I haven't got to Vol 2 yet), but they are easier reading than having no book at all so I'll have to put up with it. The problem with saying the station entrance was adjacent to Pitsea Hall Crossing is that the entrance is still adjacent to Pitsea Hall Crossing. Its just a matter of how adjacent then compared to now. Also, its possible that the original station was on the other side of Pitsea Hall Crossing, where the main part of the goods yard was, just pre-electrification - it would still be adjacent to the crossing in that position. Therefore a circa 1870 map with the detail they used on circa 1900 maps would nail the answer. However, I will try to read map on History Vol 1.

My thanks to both of you for your help

I have just found an 1868 OS map on the web. It shows (not clearly) that the western end of both the Up and Down platforms are just at the edge of Pitsea Hall Crossing, so the road (probably a rough track then) just misses them. There is a third line (a loop) round the northern side of Down platform, across the road, then connects to at least the Down line at both ends. Not sure what that was used for back then, but the western end of it was where the goods yard was in the 1960s. This means that when the new station was built for the junction, it would have been built at the eastern end of this loop, and the old platforms then demolished. I seem to remember 60 years ago that the goods yard extended into where the old Down platform had been, though my memory isn't reliable.