Marks Tey with Ex- GE 2-4-0 geograph-2865397-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Marks Tey railway station is on the

Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...

(GEML) in the East of England, serving the village of

Marks Tey Marks Tey is a large village and electoral ward in Essex, England; it is located six miles west of Colchester. Facilities Marks Tey is one of a group of villages called the Teys, also including Great Tey and Little Tey. Its main features includ ...

, Essex. It is down the line from

London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

and on the GEML is situated between to the west and to the east. Marks Tey is also the southern terminus of the

Gainsborough Line The Gainsborough line is the current marketing name of the Sudbury branch line, a railway branch line off the Great Eastern Main Line in the east of England, that links in Essex with in Suffolk. It is in length and single-track throughou ...

to . Its three-letter station code is MKT. The "up" (London-bound) platform 1 has an operational length for nine-coach trains, the "down" (Colchester-bound) platform 2 can accommodate 11-coach trains and platform 3 (for the Sudbury branch) has an operational length for two-coach trains. The station was opened in 1843 by the

Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on the first nine miles at the Lond ...

. It is located on Station Road, just off the A120 road that runs through the village, parallel to the railway. The station is currently operated by Greater Anglia, who also operate all trains serving it, as part of the

East Anglia franchise The East Anglia franchise is a railway franchise for passenger trains on the Great Eastern Main Line and West Anglia Main Lines in England. It commenced operating in April 2004 when the Anglia and Great Eastern franchises, together with the ...

History

The station opened in 1843 for services on the

, and the Sudbury branch line followed in 1849. From that date until 1889 the station was known as Marks Tey Junction. The branch line is only accessible to trains travelling from "up" towards London. The opening of the

Colne Valley and Halstead Railway The Colne Valley and Halstead Railway (CVHR) is a closed railway between Haverhill, Suffolk and Chappel and Wakes Colne, Essex, in England. History A railway in the Colne Valley was first proposed in 1846 when the Colchester, Stour Valle ...

off the Sudbury branch in 1860 and the extension of the branch beyond Sudbury via the

Stour Valley Railway The Stour Valley Railway is a partially closed railway line that ran between , near Cambridge and in Essex, England. The line opened in sections between 1849 and 1865. The route from Shelford to Sudbury closed on 6 March 1967 leaving only th ...

in 1865 to added importance to Marks Tey as a junction, allowing through-trains from Colchester. These passenger services were gradually cut back and the closure of the Sudbury to Cambridge link in March 1967 saw the end of through running. An 1897 survey shows sidings on the "up" side at the Colchester end of the main line platform but the main concentration of sidings including a goods shed and a turntable are on the "down" side at the Colchester end primarily servicing the branch line.

Accidents and incidents

*On 29 December 1906, 34 people sustained minor injuries in a collision between two portions of a split passenger train at Marks Tey. As the main portion of the 5:30 pm service from

to came to an unscheduled stop at the station, the rear portion had been erroneously detached from the front section and crashed into the rear of it at low speed. *On 12 June 2008, a freight train was partially derailed at Marks Tey due to a track defect, causing minor injury to its two crew members. As it passed through the station at 2:05 pm two wheelsets on one of the wagons were derailed, also causing damage to the rolling stock and to infrastructure.

Services

The typical off-peak service along the

is two trains per hour to

, one to and one to . There is an hourly service along the branch line to . During peak times service frequencies may be increased and calling patterns varied including direct trains to . All services are operated by Greater Anglia.

References

External links

Station pictures and facilities
from Marks Tey Rail Users' Association {{Railway stations served by Abellio Greater Anglia Railway stations in Essex DfT Category D stations Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1843 Greater Anglia franchise railway stations 1843 establishments in England