Southminster railway station

Southminster railway station is the eastern terminus of the Crouch Valley Line in Essex, England, serving the town of Southminster and other settlements on the Dengie Peninsula. It is 45 miles 42 chains (73.27 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street. The station is managed by Greater Anglia who operate all services. The Engineer's Line Reference for the line is WIS, the station's three-letter station code is SMN. The platform has an operational length for 8 carriages. The preceding station to the west is Burnham-on-Crouch.

Southminster
The terminus in 2011
Location	Southminster, Maldon England
Coordinates	51.66006°N 0.83386°E
Grid reference	TQ961995
Managed by	Greater Anglia
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	SMN
Classification	DfT category F1
History
Opened	1 July 1889
Passengers
2014/15	0.148 million
2015/16	0.152 million
2016/17	0.148 million
2017/18	0.137 million
2018/19	0.129 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The line and station were opened on 1 June 1889 for goods and on 1 October 1889 for passengers by the Great Eastern Railway in 1889. The station had a single platform and station buildings.[1] There were extensive sidings including a line to gravel pits which operated until 3 November 1979. The sidings included a goods shed, cattle pens and a locomotive turntable.[1]

The station was host to a LNER camping coach from 1935 to 1939 and possibly one for some of 1934.[2] The goods yard closed on 4 October 1965. There was a 36-lever signal box which closed on 19 January 1986.[1] The line and station were passed to the London and North Eastern Railway following the Grouping of 1923. It then passed to the Eastern Region of British Railways upon nationalisation in 1948. The Wickford to Southminster line was electrified using 25 kV overhead line electrification (OLE) on 12 May 1986. When sectorisation was introduced, Southminster was served by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Rail.

Services

The typical off-peak service is of one train every 40 minutes to Wickford, with additional services at peak times. Some peak services continue to or from Shenfield and/or London Liverpool Street via the Great Eastern Main Line. On Sundays, the service is reduced is to hourly. Services are typically formed of Class 321 rolling stock, built by BREL York and introduced in 1988.

References

1. Mitchell, Vic (2010). Branch Lines to Southend and Southminster. Midhurst Sussex: Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-906008-76-5.
2. McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. p. 10. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.

External links

• Map sources for Southminster railway station

• Train times and station information for Southminster railway station from National Rail
• History of the Crouch Valley Line
• Local information about Crouch Valley Line