156418 arrival at Colchester Station on 19th May 2011.

The 0902 from Bures is the only service during the day which travels direct (Sudbury) to Colchester North arriving at 0927.

Photo by authors mobile phone

London Midland 153354 and 153364 due to leave NXEA on May 18th

156417 which was involved in the Gt Cornard crash on 17th August 2010 has been not yet been repaired due to an insurance claim dispute.

1Q13 visited the branch line on 27th May
This was testing the radio reception for the new GSMR(Digital) radios that will be replacing the current NRN & CSR (Analogue) systems currently in use.

This was topped and tailed by 37603 and 37607
Documented timetable:-
Marks Tey dep 0039
Sudbury 01.14
Marks Tey 01.57
Sudbury 02.39
Marks Tey 03.22

( Photos courtesy of Flickr user "kingslynn47576")

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Top two images shows 1Q13 stabled at Colchester
The lower image, heading towards Ipswich at Belstead

Bures Station July 2011 with an explosion of Flowers

NEWS:-

24 March 2011 from the BBC.
East Anglia to get new rail operator

A new company is set to run rail services in East Anglia.
Existing operator National Express East Anglia was not shortlisted for the Greater Anglia franchise, which starts next year.

The three companies on the list are the Go-Ahead Group, Stagecoach and Nederlande Spoorwagen.

The Greater Anglia franchise will start on 5 February 2012 and run for 17 months with an option to extend by up to one year.

	153309 on the branch line September 30th   Photograph courtesy of Cooperail.

UPDATE - Lt Cornard Crash 2010 - 156417 one half of the Sprinter involved in the crash located at the MNR, Dereham on September 16th
The front half which sustained the impact is still at Wolverton being repaired. The delay may be due to insurance claim problems.

Update on Damaged Lt Cornard Sprinter:- 2nd Sept 2011
One half unit repaired and now at Crown Point.


The 57 car from 156417 was delivered by road from Wolverton to Dereham at the Mid Norfolk Railway on Thurs showing Stowmarket on its destination blind, then yesterday 153309 ran from Norwich - Dereham via Wymondham to collect 57417 and take it back to Crown Point.
The reason for this may have been that access to Crown Point is very limited for low loaders.

Consequently 57417 is now at Crown Point and is due to be paired up with 153306.

BBC NEWS 12th Oct 2011
Suffolk sewage tanker crash train still not repaired

A train badly damaged in a collision with a sewage tanker on a branch line in Suffolk more than a year ago has still not been fully repaired. National Express East Anglia said the two-carriage train suffered serious damage to the chassis in the crash on the Sudbury line in September 2010.

The operator subsequently ran out of local trains and drafted in two 50-year-old locomotives (Class 47) to haul carriages.
This month two replacement trains hired from Arriva Wales will be brought in.

Peter Meades, from National Express East Anglia, said the repairs to the damaged train have so far taken more than six months.~
"They've had to rebuild a lot of the underframe," he said.

"One of the vehicles is complete and finished, but the other is still being worked on."
Because of the shortage of the sprinter a 50-year-Class 47 is being used on the Norwich to Great Yarmouth line -

Bures Station Adopters' Report

Although nominated for 'Best small station', Bures failed to win the award at the National Express Station Adopter Awards ceremony held in Norwich on 14th October. Nevertheless, the station adopters at Bures (David and Anne Taylor) continue to do what they can at the station, and at the end of October the summer plants were replaced with winter/spring plants. This effort includes 4 wooden troughs which continue to be filled and supplied twice a year by Bourne Brook Nursery, Greenstead Green. £100 has been provided by the Community Rail Partnership for additional plants, which has just about been sufficient to sustain the (mainly) twice yearly planting. Watering the plants is a significant chore between April and October and about 15 gallons a day is carted over to the station for the purpose; sometimes more. In addition a significant amount of green waste is generated which some members of the parish council have been very helpful in removing. Discussions are taking place with the residents of No 21 Station Hill with a view to establishing a water supply from that property to assist with future watering.

Some refurbishment work has been done at the station this summer by National Express East Anglia (NXEA) contractors, which has made some aspects of it more attractive. However, the small waiting room has not been touched. The adopters have, however, persuaded NXEA to agree to paying for any materials on the proviso that work is provided free, particularly from within the village. The adopters consider that replacing two of the 'lost' windows in the waiting room would enhance it and make it look more attractive from the outside. Probably as a result of the station now being seen to be looked after, there have not been any significant problems of vandalism for a few years at least. Two windows were boarded up some years ago due to repeated vandalism, but it is considered that these could now be re-instated (the one remaining window has not had any attack taking place on it for many years now). In view of the NXEA position on materials and labour, the adopters ask, through the PC, whether any labour could be freely provided within the village to re-instate the windows, and possibly re-paint the waiting room.

The adopters have become concerned with the state of some of the trees at the station, which are leaning and look as if they could fall over (as one did do in the past). In addition, the trees have encroached on the lights and electric supply. NXEA have also looked at the trees and are endeavouring to make good the problems. The adopters have advised NXEA that some of these trees are within the conservation area (some of the station is within the area and some outside it).

The adopters have been trying to persuade NXEA to improve the car park for some time, particularly with a view to increasing the number of spaces, but NXEA have refused to pay for any work on the car park, as it is not revenue generating. However, the adopters have also been trying to persuade the Community Rail Partnership to fund the enhancement, and that is agreed in principle: any work would commence next summer, but in essence it would formally bring the car parking area forward to the pavement, thereby creating more spaces in the car park itself. In addition the CRP and NXEA are working on adopters' proposals to relax the parking restriction immediately outside the station so that two or three disabled car-parking bays be provided, as such parking is presently not catered for.

The adopters, with others, have been pushing NXEA to plug a gap in the morning service of an hour and a half between services. We are pleased to say that this has been agreed and a better timetable will be provided from December. The potential downside of this was that Bures would end up with a worse service to Sudbury (as trains would not have sufficient time to stop at Bures on route to Sudbury), but we are pleased to report that NXEA have agreed an alternative proposal of ours to re-time one of the affected services so that Bures will only have one non-stop train (as is the position currently).

The new station at Marks Tey is now well under way to completion. However, adopters at Marks Tey and Sudbury have recently been lost which means that only Bures and Chappel on the branch line are formally cared for. If anyone wishes to be an adopter at Marks Tey or Sudbury could they please let us know. The NXEA franchise will be replaced by one granted to Abellio, a subsidiary of the Dutch rail operator, for an interim two year period from February next year. The two year period could extend to 15 years beyond that. How this will impact on the adopters throughout East Anglia, and at Bures, is presently unknown.

David and Anne Taylor

Thu Nov 17, 2011
Reported on Anglia Train Forum

Class 57, 57004 leading the RHTT away from the Sudbury area at 11:42 heading back to Marks Tey with 57003 on the rear.

Editor:- A bus service covered this one hour extravaganza !

New Rail Franchise comes into operation on the 5th February 2012

ABELLIO takes over from National Express to run the East Anglia lines for a 29 month period