Unidentified GER station

[lazonbytunnel]

This faded photo has caused some head scratching on a Facebook group. Blake Hall was initially favoured but some commenters don’t think it ever had two platforms. North Weald was then suggested but some weren’t convinced by that suggestion either.

 

[pdeaves]

Might be Felstead (later Felsted). Can anyone confirm or prove otherwise?

 

[Gloster]

Could it be North Weald?

 

[lazonbytunnel]

Could it be North Weald?

Some are saying North Weald didn’t have a second platform pre electrification

 

[JB_B]

I'd say it's a very good match for Felsted (formerly Felstead)

From 1920

The story behind the Essex home that used to be a busy railway station

The Bishop's Stortford to Braintree branch line ran for almost 100 years before closing in the 1960s

www.essexlive.news

From 1968

Disused Stations: Felsted Station

 

[Gloster]

Some are saying North Weald didn’t have a second platform pre electrification

Well, it did have a lengthy siding, so could this have been the remnants of a removed loop. However, there wasn’t a platform shown on either the 1895 or 1915 25” maps.

If not, then you are probably looking for a line opened around the mid-1880s. That is presuming that there was a standard style for the era.

Unfortunately, Felsted doesn’t appear to have had a second platform. None of the other stations on the Braintree lines seem to fit.

 

[John Webb]

It looks like North Weald:
North Weald Station

© Copyright David Hillas and
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

And Alan Jackson's "London's local railways" (2nd Ed, Capital Transport, 1999) does say that the loop was added by BR in 1949, prior to electrification. The first Tube trains reached Ongar in 1957; the exact date the line was electrified and the oil lamps replaced isn't mentioned.
So perhaps it is North Weald just prior to electrification but after the loop and platform were installed?

 

[eldomtom2]

Were North Weald's platforms shortened at any point? They look too long otherwise.

 

[Gloster]

It looks like North Weald:
North Weald Station

© Copyright David Hillas and
licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

And Alan Jackson's "London's local railways" (2nd Ed, Capital Transport, 1999) does say that the loop was added by BR in 1949, prior to electrification. The first Tube trains reached Ongar in 1957; the exact date the line was electrified and the oil lamps replaced isn't mentioned.
So perhaps it is North Weald just prior to electrification but after the loop and platform were installed?

Neither the half-hidden advert nor the style of lamp, or even the bit of awning visible, suggest late 1940s to me.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Any help with the contrast increased?

 

[Gloster]

Pampisford looks a possibility.

 

[Royston Vasey]

Pampisford looks a possibility.

Station furniture certainly seems quite a close match on both sides.

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/ne...shire-railway-station-demolished-28407366.amp

 

[lazonbytunnel]

Pampisford looks a possibility.

That’s a good suggestion!

 

[Rescars]

That’s a good suggestion!

Even down to the slightly shorter right hand chimney pot. Unhelpfully, Blake Hall would appear to have had chimneys very similar to those in the OP. The second platform does narrow the search quite a bit.

 

[stuving]

One feature matching the photo at Pampisford (and North Weald, but not Felstead) is the small outbuilding to the right of the main station building. It's about the same outline and orientation, though already half derelict in the photo.

And what about the canopy (or what looks like one) jutting into the picture on the left? Pamipsford did have one, though not I think at the start. But the picture I found shows dagger boards not in the photo.

So I guess that, given GER's habit of putting identical buildings at so many stations, we can never rule out it being "somewhere else not yet discovered in the record".

 

[Royston Vasey]

One feature matching the photo at Pampisford (and North Weald, but not Felstead) is the small outbuilding to the right of the main station building. It's about the same outline and orientation, though already half derelict in the photo.

And what about the canopy (or what looks like one) jutting into the picture on the left? Pamipsford did have one, though not I think at the start. But the picture I found shows dagger boards not in the photo.

So I guess that, given GER's habit of putting identical buildings at so many stations, we can never rule out it being "somewhere else not yet discovered in the record".

It's hard to tell but I think I can make out the hint of dagger boards in the image!

 

[David Burrows]

Even down to the slightly shorter right hand chimney pot. Unhelpfully, Blake Hall would appear to have had chimneys very similar to those in the OP. The second platform does narrow the search quite a bit.

Definately not Blake Hall as was never other than single track and platform.

 

[StephenHunter]

Might be an idea to share this with the EOR?