The fourth in a regional series of books examining the industrial
locomotives and railways of England, Wales and Scotland, this volume
covers the counties of Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk,
Lincolnshire and East Nottinghamshire. It may be assumed that this
region was not industrialised on a particularly broad scale, but, on the
contrary, there are many surprises to be found hidden within these page.
Certainly the broadening Thames Estuary stretching east from Purfleet,
the point of the crossing of the Queen Elizabeth Bridge over the River
Thames, saw much industrial development along its banks. The chalk
deposits exploited in Kent were also to be found in a large area to the
north of the Thames and the railways once to be found in the Thurrock
and Barrington areas will be covered. The significance of the Barrington
Cement Works in Cambridgeshire having been the last industrial quarry
railway system to survive in the country, with its own independent light
railway, is explored here in great detail, as is gypsum quarrying near
Newark and steel production in Scunthorpe. Extensive quality silica sand
extraction took place, and still does today, in an area east of King's
Lynn. The seasonal sugar beet crop fed several strategically located
sugar mills dotted about the region and narrow gauge railways served
gravel pits, numerous brickworks around Peterborough, sea and land
drainage defence work, and even a borstal. Additionally, while the
expected railway interfaces supporting oil, coal and petroleum
distribution, and small engineering establishments, were to be found, a
railway sleeper creosoting plant was an exception. Here, Gordon offers
an insight into a region whose rich railway history is often
underappreciated.
