Chappel & Wakes Colne railway station is on the

Gainsborough Line The Gainsborough line is the current marketing name of the Sudbury branch line, a railway branch line off the Great Eastern Main Line in the east of England, that links in Essex with in Suffolk. It is in length and single-track throughou ...

, a branch to off the Great Eastern Main Line, in the East of England, serving the village of Wakes Colne and the neighbouring

Chappel Chappel is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Colchester, Essex which sits on the River Colne, Essex, River Colne. It is significant for its Victorian viaduct, which crosses the Colne valley. Name and history The present name of ''Ch ...

. It is down the line from and measured from

London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

. It is situated between Marks Tey and . Its three-letter station code is CWC. Platform 1 has an operational length for five-coach trains. Platforms 2 and 3 are used by the

East Anglian Railway Museum The East Anglian Railway Museum is located at Chappel and Wakes Colne railway station in Essex, England, which is situated on the former Great Eastern Railway branch line from Marks Tey to Sudbury. Services on the Sudbury Branch Line are ...

. The station is currently operated by Greater Anglia, who also operate all trains serving it, as part of the

East Anglia franchise The East Anglia franchise is a railway franchise for passenger trains on the Great Eastern Main Line and West Anglia Main Lines in England. It commenced operating in April 2004 when the Anglia and Great Eastern franchises, together with the ...

. It has one platform as the line is single-track. It is also home to the East Anglian Railway Museum which has the former London-bound platform, a running line, the original station buildings and all of the land and facilities on the east side of the line. Just to the south of the station the line runs over the Chappel viaduct. Chappel Viaduct and Green

Chappel & Wakes Colne is unstaffed but has a self-service ticket machine. The platform buildings, on the station's west side, are restored to 1950s style but are part of the museum, and entered from ground-floor level.

History

The station opened with the opening of the line from to as part of the

Stour Valley Railway The Stour Valley Railway is a partially closed railway line that ran between , near Cambridge and in Essex, England. The line opened in sections between 1849 and 1865. The route from Shelford to Sudbury closed on 6 March 1967 leaving only th ...

on 2 July 1849, with the name ''Chappel''; it was renamed ''Chappel and Wakes Colne'' on 1 October 1914. The 1861 census shows Samuel Hamblin as the resident station-master. He appears to have fallen foul of the railway authorities at some stage as he is shown working in Poplar as an engine driver in the 1871 census. The 1871 census records 29-year-old Alfred H. Bryant as the resident station-master. The 1881 census shows 45-year-old George William Grand as the station-master, a position he held until at least 1891.

Chappel Viaduct

Sitting just to the south of the station is the outstanding feature on the line, the long viaduct consisting of 32 arches each having a 30-foot span and standing 75 feet above the valley floor. Built at a cost of £32,000 it contains seven million bricks. The 1851 census records that a foreman bricklayer and several labourers were living in huts adjacent to the viaduct. The vast majority of the bricks had been manufactured on-site using local clay.

Services

The typical off-peak service is one train per hour in each direction, with frequency increased slightly during the peak. The last train of the day continues to Colchester.

In popular culture

This station was used as a filming location in two scenes for the 2013 film ''The Numbers Station'', starring

John Cusack John Paul Cusack (; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and political activist. He is a son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his ol ...

References

External links

History page at Subterranea BritannicaEast Anglian Railway Museum websiteChappel Parish Council websiteWebsite of the village and railway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chappel and Wakes Colne railway station Railway stations in Essex DfT Category F2 stations Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1849 Greater Anglia franchise railway stations 1849 establishments in England William Neville Ashbee railway stations