Thames Haven railway station
| Thames Haven | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | Thurrock |
| Area | Essex |
| Coordinates | 51°30′21″N 0°30′30″E / 51.5059°N 0.5082°ECoordinates: 51°30′21″N 0°30′30″E / 51.5059°N 0.5082°E |
| Operations | |
| Original company | Thames Haven Dock & Railway Co. |
| Pre-grouping | London, Tilbury and Southend Railway |
| Platforms | 2? |
| History | |
| 7th June 1855 | station opened |
| 1880 | closed to passengers |
| Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom | |
| Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z |
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Thames Haven Railway Station is a freight terminal (formerly a passenger station) on the coast of Essex, England. It is the terminus of the goods-only Thames Haven branch.
The Thames Haven Railway Company was incorporated in 1836 to build a railway from Romford to Shell Haven, which was then a lobster fishing village. The powers for construction were renewed in 1846, though in 1853, the scheme to Romford was abandoned in favour of a single, four-mile branch, which was to run from a junction with Tilbury-Pitsea line to a new port to be called Thames Haven. After this, the branch was to be transferred to the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway for £48,000. It was intended to develop Thames Haven as a continental port for fish and cattle, as well as passengers, though this ambitious plan proved hard to realise owing to political instability in Europe in 1870, and then a ban on the importation of foreign cattle due to disease concerns. The passenger service from Fenchurch Street ended in 1880. By the 1890s, the branch saw just one train a day.. Occasional passenger trains ran until 1909. A new service for workers from Tilbury and East Tilbury to Thames Haven began on 1 January 1923, which lasted until 9 June 1958, there were four intermediate halts at Mayes Crossing, Curry Marsh, London & Thames Haven Oil Wharves and Thames Haven.
The Corringham Light Railway, authorised in 1899, connected to the Thames Haven branch on its opening in 1901. It was initially intended to enter into an agreement with the LT&SR to run passenger trains onto the CLR, either by changing at a new platform or reversing at Thames Haven station. Even though the line had been re-signaled in 1889 to passenger standards, this service was never instated- there was never any way that the public could enter onto the CLR from the wider railway network, although one special did run over the branch in 1903, with the passengers changing at the old Thames Haven island platform. During the First World War, with the explosives factory at Kynochtown, some workers appealed for through-trains to Thames Haven from London, as problems had arisen with the motor transport which carried workers from Stanford-le-Hope to Corringham station. This request was never granted.
Although no regular passenger trains ran after 1880, the station building was still standing in 1938.
The principal use of the Thames Haven Branch (Engineer's Line Reference THN) is for freight. The branch formerly served the Shell Haven refinery and the Coryton oil refinery transporting petroleum products from the refineries in rail tank wagons. Liquefied ammonia was also transported from the Shell Haven site, and to the Fisons Ltd works at Stanford-le-Hope for the manufacture of nitric acid and ammonium nitrate fertiliser (since closed). The export of ammonia from Shell Haven ceased in 1980, Shell Haven refinery closed in 1999, and Coryton refinery closed in 2012. The branch formerly had a siding, at 28 miles 9 chains (45.24 km) from the datum, used by British Dredging, this was out of use by 1997.
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