Great Bentley railway station
{{Short description|Railway station in Essex, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox station
| name = Great Bentley
| symbol_location = gb
| symbol = rail
| image = Great Bentley 319.jpg
| caption = Great Bentley railway station
| borough = Great Bentley, Tendring
| country = England
| coordinates = {{coord|51.852|1.065|type:railwaystation_region:GB_scale:10000|display=inline,title}}
| grid_name = Grid reference
| grid_position = {{gbmapscaled|TM112214|25|TM112214}}
| manager = Greater Anglia
| platforms = 2
| code = GRB
| classification = DfT category E
| years = 8 January 1866
| events = Opened as Bentley Green
| years1 = 1877
| events1 = Renamed Great Bentley
| mpassengers =
{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2019/20 |passengers={{decrease}} 78,634}}
{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2020/21 |passengers={{decrease}} 18,728}}
{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2021/22 |passengers={{increase}} 50,764}}
{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2022/23 |passengers={{increase}} 64,860}}
{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2023/24 |passengers={{increase}} 85,784}}
| footnotes = Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
}}
Great Bentley railway station is on the Sunshine Coast Line, a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line, in the East of England, serving the village of Great Bentley as well as the nearby settlements of Brightlingsea, Frating, Thorrington and St Osyth. It is {{convert|60|mi|66|chain|km}} down the line from London Liverpool Street{{cite web |url=http://www.s-r-s.org.uk/railref/ref-ge.html |title=RailRef GE Great Eastern |website=www.s-r-s.org.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106083635/http://www.s-r-s.org.uk/railref/ref-ge.html |archive-date=2013-01-06}} and is situated between Alresford to the west and {{rws|Weeley}} to the east. Its three-letter station code is GRB.
The station was opened by the Tendring Hundred Railway, a subsidiary of the Great Eastern Railway, in 1866 with the name Bentley Green. It was renamed Great Bentley in 1877. It is currently managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains serving the station.
History
File:Great Bentley station geograph-3890553-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
In 1859 the Tendring Hundred Railway was formed to extend the branch line from Hythe to {{rws|Wivenhoe}}, which opened on 8 May 1863 for both passenger and goods services from {{rws|Colchester}}. By the time the Wivenhoe extension opened, the line was operated by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) which bought the line from the Tendring Hundred Railway in 1883.{{clarify|Previous sentence says line opened 1863 but this sentence effectively says it opened 1883|date=August 2015}}
The line was then extended to {{rws|Weeley}} on 8 January 1866. Bentley Green station opened on the same day. It adopted its current name of Great Bentley in 1877.
Initially the station was served by a single track but the line was doubled between Great Bentley and {{rws|Thorpe-le-Soken}} by the GER in 1891. The Wivenhoe to Great Bentley section was doubled in 1898.Great Eastern Railway Society Journal 111 page 24 S Jenkins
Operation of the station passed to the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923. In 1948 the station became part of the Eastern Region of British Railways. The 1955 modernisation plan proposed the electrification of the line through Great Bentley and electric services commenced on 13 April 1959.
There was once a small goods yard to the east of the station which had cattle pens, coal wharves and an end loading ramp. In later years the main traffic was coal, agricultural fertilisers and sugar beet.Great Eastern Railway Society Journal 111 page 27 S Jenkins The yard was closed in the 1950s.
Network Rail replaced the manually-controlled level crossing gates at Great Bentley with barriers in 2008 as part of a £104 million resignalling project between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea. The former signal box was located at the eastern end of the "up" (London-bound) platform and had 25 levers for the signals and points.Great Eastern Railway Society Journal 111 page 28 S Jenkins
Great Bentley has two platforms. Platform 1 is used for westbound services towards {{rws|Colchester}} and London Liverpool Street. Platform 2 is for eastbound services towards {{rws|Clacton-on-Sea}} and {{rws|Walton-on-the-Naze}}. When built, the two platforms were linked with a lattice footbridge. This was removed in the 1950s when the line was being prepared for electrification.
Services
=Current timetable=
The typical service pattern is:
| class="wikitable vatop"
! Operator ! Route ! Rolling stock ! Frequency ! Notes |
| Greater Anglia
| Colchester - Colchester Town - Hythe - Wivenhoe - Alresford - Great Bentley - Weeley - Thorpe-le-Soken - Kirby Cross - Frinton-on-Sea - Walton-on-the-Naze | 1x per hour | Monday-Saturday |
| Greater Anglia
| London Liverpool Street - Stratford - Shenfield - Chelmsford - Witham - Colchester - Wivenhoe - Alresford - Great Bentley - Thorpe-le-Soken - Clacton-on-Sea | 1x per hour | Sundays only |
=Historical timetables=
The following services called in July 1922 (the last year of operation by the Great Eastern Railway):
- 8 up services (Monday-Saturday)
- 9 down services (Monday-Saturday)
- 4 up services (Sundays)
- 3 down services (Sundays)Bradshaws July 1922 Railway Guide (reprint) DAVID AND CHARLES 1985
In June 1956 the timetable showed:
- 17 up services to Colchester (Monday-Saturday)
- 15 down services to Clacton (Monday-Saturday)Great Eastern Railway Society Journal 111 page 27 S Jenkins July 2002 ISSN 0143-0866
During the summer of 1972 the timetable showed:
- 17 up services to Colchester (Monday-Friday)
- 18 down services to Clacton (Monday-Friday)
Some services worked through to Liverpool Street. On summer Saturdays, 24 down and 21 up trains called.Great Eastern Railway Society Journal 111 page 27 S Jenkins
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{stn art lrnk|GRB|CO78LH}}
{{Commons category}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071012230128/http://website.lineone.net/~greatbentley/ Great Bentley village website] with a picture of two steam locomotives at this station
- [http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/GRB/plan.html Great Bentley station interactive plan]
- [http://www.nationalexpresseastanglia.com/destinations/stations_route_map/great_bentley Live departures from Great Bentley]
{{rail start}}
{{s-rail-national |toc=Greater Anglia |route=Sunshine Coast Line|next=Weeley|previous=Alresford|county1=Essex}}
{{s-rail-next|title=Historical}}
{{s-rail-national|previous=Thorington|next=Weeley|toc=GER|route=Tendring Hundred Extension Railway|status=Historical|note=Line open, station closed|note2=Line and station open}}
{{s-end}}
{{Railway stations served by Abellio Greater Anglia}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Bentley Railway Station}}
Category:Railway stations in Essex
Category:DfT Category E stations
Category:Former Great Eastern Railway stations
Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1866
Category:Railway stations served by Greater Anglia