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Colne Valley And Halstead Railway
All photographs of this railway in date order.
![Derelict and ruined stations evoke a variety of sentiments, but in January 1976, the remains of White Colne station had the chilling feel of a forgotten grave. In life, the station had served passenger trains on the highly individual Colne Valley and Halstead line between Chappel & Wakes Colne and Haverhill. The waiting room was an old carriage body and the booking office was at the opposite end on the other side of a level crossing. The passenger service ended in December 1961 and the last freight train ran through from Halstead in 1965.<br><br>[Mark Dufton 10/01/1976]](/images/33000/33189.jpg "White Colne")
![The former station at White Colne in June 1976, looking towards Earls Colne. Tickets used to be issued from the porch, but latterly the platform was behind the camera across a minor road. The rubble in the foreground marks the site of the crossing keeper's hut, which had recently been taken away for rebuilding on the Colne Valley Railway. The main building has survived in good order as the village hall. [Ref Query 6617]<br><br>[Mark Dufton 06/06/1976]](/images/45000/45674.jpg "White Colne")
![The location given inside this telephone kiosk was 'Halstead Railway Station'. The kiosk stood close to the front entrance of the station, but by 12th February 1978, only the entrance steps (to the left of the kiosk) remained. The steps were a poignant memorial to over a century's worth of rail travelers that had made use of them, the last in December 1961. Time was eventually called on the kiosk and steps too and a block of flats now occupies this site.<br><br>[Mark Dufton 12/02/1978]](/images/43000/43618.jpg "Halstead")
![Something different on the motive power front - a 4-wheel mechanical shunter based on a Fordson tractor at the Colne Valley Railway centre in July 2013. The name <I>Henry</I> seems appropriate somehow.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/43000/43942.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![Unusually, the sole station on the Colne Valley Railway has different names on its two opposed station buildings. That on the North-East platform is realistically called Sible and Castle Hedingham; that on the South-West platform is called Halstead (some 4 miles away by road). The latter contains this wonderful old payphone, which is in working order; so if you press button B, you might get some unused coins back. In a surreal touch, instructions remind users that despite the age of the 'phone, the person on the other end will be in the present day.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/44000/44123.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![First class and not quite - something of a contrast between a Pullman coach and a parcels van on the Halstead platform at Castle Hedingham on the Colne Valley Railway in July 2013.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/44000/44448.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![My notes say: D2700 has works number 27426 from 1955 and contrasts nicely with the red coach behind it. Other platform must be near France: has sign Toulouse. If only I could remember who made the engine.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/44000/44573.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![Aha! So this side is Sible and Castle Hedingham - it must be the other side that is Halstead. [see image 44123] Station sign and bench framed in a 'bubble car' window during a BLS visit. <br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/44000/44707.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![An interesting display of rail chairs, clips, and fishplates at the Colne Valley Railway in July 2013. There's a candidate for 'world's shortest monorail' there. [see image 30642]<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/44000/44842.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![Artistry in cast iron at Sible and Castle Hedingham in July 2013. This is the 'Halstead' side of the station. [see image 44707]<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/45000/45005.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![Scandal on the Colne Valley Railway: this chap can bearly drive! Good job he's in the second man's seat.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/45000/45265.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![This signal box was formerly located at Kennett. As it is currently sitting on a low loader wagon, it could well move again soon - at least to the end of the siding!<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/45000/45293.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![He'll never make senior management - he's thinking inside the box. View looks South-West - vaguely towards London.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/45000/45362.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![An AC railcar looking rather dour at the Colne Valley Railway in July 2013. The destination blind - reading Nunnery Halt - is apposite.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/45000/45373.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![What a glorious clutter! It truly boggles the mind to think that every structure in this view at Sible and Castle Hedingham was built or re-erected by volunteers. Prior to preservation, this was a bare trackbed in a field. View looks North-West, in the general direction of Haverhill.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/45000/45438.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![Life is a bed of roses - so watch out for the sharp bits. A successful passage of the stock loading line into the car park on a recent BLS visit to the CVR was slightly marred by this vegetation intrusion. Notice the absence of puns about Branch Lines. Oops.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/45000/45498.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![This grounded coach body (I believe CVMR stands for Colne Valley Miniature Railway) serves as a compact waiting shelter at Sible and Castle Hedingham. Notice the platform support construction in the left background.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/45000/45511.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![Ignore the modern plasticky stuff and Disabled Parking sign. Just look at that corrugated iron roof, and the partly-refinished paintwork, and imagine the occupant drying his face on the curtains - like Dan Taylor in <I>The Titfield Thunderbolt</I>.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/45000/45532.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![The stock loading point [see image 45498] in the old car park at the CVR on 20th July. Relocation of the car park allowed safer road vehicle access - and averted potential clashes with rail vehicle arrivals and departures.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/45000/45684.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![All we need now is an ergonomist and an interior trim engineer. Even in 1962, car interiors looked better than this. A cab view of shunting engine D2184 on the Colne Valley Railway in July 2013.<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/46000/46198.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![You shunt your way, and I'll shunt mine. D2700 [see image 44573] and D2184 give an impression of great busyness at the Colne Valley Railway in July 2013. It's a complete illusion - the station site was formerly a field - but convincing... and enjoyable!<br><br>[Ken Strachan 20/07/2013]](/images/50000/50762.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
![The authentic image of an early 1960s country branch line, as lovingly re-created on the Colne Valley Railway in April 2015. Unfortunately, that feeling of authenticity had just grown to include impending closure, tracklifting and demolition of the buildings. The previous month, the society had learned that they had to leave this site and find another. Closure was set for 1st January 2016, the 54th anniversary of the cessation of the original Colne Valley passenger service<br><br>[Mark Dufton 11/04/2015]](/images/51000/51585.jpg "Sible and Castle Hedingham")
