This image was described in the newspaper as “the last steam train approaching the station”. However, Martin Weeks has written to me that “At the time I believe the train was billed as ‘the last Great Eastern Steam’ but I have to point out that this was not actually the last steam train. Steam continued to come through Witham sporadically throughout 1962, mainly on Saturday holiday trains to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. I certainly saw steam trains much later than the one in picture M369, they were all B1 class engines based at March in Cambridgeshire. There is some debate in railway circles as to when the actual last steam train ran, as when it did, no one recognised that it was the last, there being an assumption it would be steam again the week after! Network Rail state in their description of Liverpool Street station ‘all steam had been replaced by diesel locomotives by the end of 1962’. The link is below.
I hope this information is useful, may I congratulate you on such an informative collection.
Martin Weeks
Shows part of Moat Farm estate under construction,(probably just Armond Road, the rest still a field)
.
See also M370, probably taken on the same occasion.This image was described as “the last steam train approaching the station”. However, Martin Weeks has written to me that “At the time I believe the train was billed as ‘the last Great Eastern Steam’ but I have to point out that this was not actually the last steam train. Steam continued to come through Witham sporadically throughout 1962, mainly on Saturday holiday trains to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. I certainly saw steam trains much later than the one in picture M369, they were all B1 class engines based at March in Cambridgeshire. There is some debate in railway circles as to when the actual last steam train ran, as when it did, no one recognised that it was the last, there being an assumption it would be steam again the week after! Network Rail state in their description of Liverpool Street station ‘all steam had been replaced by diesel locomotives by the end of 1962’. The link is below.
I hope this information is useful, may I congratulate you on such an informative collection.
Martin Weeks
Shows part of Moat Farm estate under construction,(probably just Armond Road, the rest still a field)
.
See also M370, probably taken on the same occasion.
| Ref | M369 |
| Photographer | Braintree and Witham Times |
| Date taken | 31 March 1962 (from Martin Weeks) |
| Source | Braintree and Witham Times |