Manningtree railway station

Manningtree railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) in the East of England, serving the town of Manningtree, Essex. It is 59 miles 35 chains (95.66 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Colchester to the west and Ipswich to the east.[1] The three-letter station code is MNG. It is also the western terminus of the Mayflower Line, a branch line to Harwich Town. The following station on the branch is Mistley.

Manningtree
National Rail
General information
LocationLawford, Tendring
England
Grid referenceTM093322
Managed byGreater Anglia
Platforms3
Other information
Station codeMNG
ClassificationDfT category C2
History
Opened1846
Passengers
2018/19Increase 1.106 million
2019/20Decrease 1.069 million
 Interchange 0.276 million
2020/21Decrease 0.200 million
 Interchange Decrease 68,030
2021/22Increase 0.635 million
 Interchange Increase 0.165 million
2022/23Increase 0.783 million
 Interchange Increase 0.261 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

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

History edit

The station was opened by the Eastern Union Railway in 1846[2] but rebuilt by the Great Eastern Railway in 1899–1901; this building survives. It was designed by W. N. Ashbee.

Description edit

 
A train approaching platform 2 in 2013
 
Aerial view

Immediately east of the station there is a triangle of junctions, known as the Manningtree South, North and East junctions and originally each double-track junction was controlled by an individual signal box. In 1926 the London and North Eastern Railway installed a new power box at Manningtree South which controlled all three junctions.[3] Today, the north to east curve connecting Ipswich with Harwich Town is a single track, having been reduced from double-track.[4] All three sides of the triangle are electrified.

A second peculiar feature just east of the station is a combination of a road underpass and a level crossing. The underpass has limited height and the parallel level crossing is needed to permit higher vehicles to cross the railway.

Platform 1 is a bay platform accessible only from the Mayflower Line.[5] It has an operational length for five-coach trains. Platform 2 (London-bound) and platform 3 (country-bound) each have an operational length for twelve-coach trains.[6] There is a fourth platform on the outer side of the "down" (country-bound) platform which is electrified, but its use would be confined to emergency situations. It can only be used to access the main line to or from Ipswich . The station has (on the London-bound platform) a staffed booking office and a self-service ticket machine. There is a side-gate west of the station building for use outside of office hours and a self-service ticket machine is also available here. There is a station buffet at the eastern end of the building.

The installation of lifts started in December 2015 and they are due to be in operation in Autumn 2016.[7][8]

Accidents edit

  • On 20 August 1898, five people were slightly injured in a collision between a train and two carriages it was moving to attach to at Manningtree. The stationary carriages contained around 50 passengers and had just been detached from a main line train; they were due to be attached to the branch line train for Harwich Town but it reversed back to them at too great a speed and shunted into them with sufficient force to propel them backward by five or six yards. A Board of Trade investigation reported the driver misjudged the position of the carriages and the speed of his train, and the shunter failed to timely signal to the driver that he was too close to the coaches and moving too fast.[9]

Services edit

The following services typically called at Manningtree in 2016:[10]

Operator Route Rolling stock Frequency
Greater Anglia London Liverpool Street - Colchester - Manningtree - Ipswich - Diss - Norwich Class 745 1x per hour
Greater Anglia London Liverpool Street - Stratford - Chelmsford - Colchester - Manningtree - Ipswich - Stowmarket - Diss - Norwich Class 745 1x per hour
Greater Anglia London Liverpool Street - Stratford - Shenfield - Chelmsford - Hatfield Peverel - Witham - Kelvedon - Marks Tey - Colchester - Manningtree - Ipswich Class 321, Class 720 1x per hour
Greater Anglia Manningtree - Mistley - Wrabness - Harwich International - Dovercourt - Harwich Town Class 321 1x per hour
 
Two trains at Manningtree station

References edit

  1. ^ Yonge, John (September 2006) [1994]. Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 2: Eastern (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 5C. ISBN 0-9549866-2-8.
  2. ^ Moffat, Hugh (1987). East Anglia's First Railways. Lavenham: Terence Dalton. ISBN 0-86138-038-X.
  3. ^ Bonavia, Michael R. (1985) [1982]. A History of the LNER, Vol. 1, The First Years 1923-33. London: Guild Publishing. p. 60. CN 4143.
  4. ^ Mitchell, Vic (June 2011). Branch lines to Harwich and Hadleigh. Midhurst: Middleton Press. plates 3 and 4. ISBN 978-1-908174-02-4.
  5. ^ Mitchell 2011, plate 10
  6. ^ Brailsford, Martyn (2016). Railway Track Diagrams Volume 2 Eastern. Frome: Trackmaps. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-9549866-8-1.
  7. ^ End of Year 2015
  8. ^ Manningtree station update
  9. ^ http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BoT_Manningtree1898.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  10. ^ Table 11 National Rail timetable, May 2016

External links edit

Preceding station   National Rail Following station
Greater Anglia
Greater Anglia
Limited service
TerminusGreater Anglia
Historical railways
Great Eastern Railway

51°56′56″N 1°02′42″E / 51.949°N 1.045°E / 51.949; 1.045