Chappel Viaduct
The greatest obstacle between Marks Tey and Sudbury was crossing the Colne Valley at Chappel and the Mount Bures ridge,
Construction work here began in 1847 at a cost of £32,000. The original plan was to span the valley with a timber arch on brick piers, but this was changed when workmen found brickearth on site. With brick making material at hand, the design was changed in favour of a brick arch.
Building this viaduct proved extremely difficult, to the extent, gunpowder had to be used in places to move soil. The structure was completed in 1849, some two years later.
It is 1066 feet long, with 32 arches of 30 ft span each at a height of 75ft. The workforce consisted of 606 men with a team of 106 horses. Some 7,000,000 bricks were used in its construction.

The chief engineer was Mr P Bruff who later addressed the Institute of Civil Engineers. Listening to this presentation was Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the renowned Great Western Railway engineer.

Mount Bures Ridge

The line from Chappel towards Bures traverses over 2 miles of deep cutting. Once the Mount Bures summit is reached it then falls steeply away with a 1:90 gradient towards Mount Bures crossing and finally into Bures itself.
This proved to be major obstacle. There was little comfort or shelter along this stretch of line, and the men desperately needed sustenance whilst excavating the line. It was bleak to say the very least.

After a hard days work the workmen would walk to Bures to have a drink at the local pubs. However, it was not so easy to return having to climb the ridge back to Mount Bures after devouring many pints of strong ale.

Consequently the "Thatchers Arms" Public House was specifically opened for the workmen. This immediately raised moral and provided refreshment on-site with the added benefit of increasing the work rate.
The "Thatchers" still stands to this day and is in regular use.

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Bures Station 1950 - Signal box can clearly be seen.

Bures Goods Traffic

Timber
One villager can recall in the mid 1930`s, timber being hauled from Assington, through the village to the railway sidings. This contract lasted for at least 12 months. Typically, during 1938, 597 tons of timber departed from Bures.

Farm Produce
Butlers Farm during the second World War used to transport Blackberries and Mushrooms to "Robertons Wholesalers" at Covent Garden. Butlers used to employ local villages to pick these wild on the farm, as they were so prolific.
Butlers in the 1930`s also sent "SheepFleeces" by rail to Otterburn in Northumberland for processing into wool. They were then returned as Skeins which were unrolled into smaller balls of wool for knitting. (Busky Laurie)

Livestock
The main goods traffic was the transportation of cattle. Back as far as 1913 on a Wednesday, an Express cattle train would leave Colchester at 6.40am, destination Bury. This called at Chappel, Bures and Cockfield attaching additional cattle trucks, finally arriving at Bury in time for the morning market.
Cattle would often arrive back in Bures on the return journey, unloaded and then driven through the village to their final destination, the abattoir on Cuckoo Hill.
Various stations on the line had cattle pens, allowing the transportation of livestock to and from the Bury market.
This facility was axed during April 1961
The sidings can clearly be seen in the layout diagram above left. "Cattle pen" is clearly marked at the sidings.
Outward goods traffic in 1938 amounted to 130 tons of meat.

Grain.
Grain destined for the Maltings opposite and to a lesser extent the "Mill", were shipped through the goods yard.
Outward goods traffic in 1938 amounted to 2,308 tons of grain.

Accident1. (as reported in the 1858 Bury Free Press)
On Tuesday evening of the November 25th 1858, as the goods train was leaving Bures station for Marks Tey, the engine burst with a terrible explosion, scattering portions a considerable distance, some weighing above one cwt were thrown through the air up to 100 yards away.
Both the driver and stoker were uninjured, the explosion shook Bures with doors being blown open.

Accident2 (July 12th 1887)
There was a fatal accident at Bures railway station late on Thursday night when Edward Smith a married man aged 50 years an engine driver from Bergholt road in Colchester and a native of Sudbury was killed. A pilot or additional engine was attached to a heavy excursion train travelling from Clacton to Mildenhall to assist in the gradients between Sudbury and Colchester. The engine was detached at Sudbury and was making it's way back to Colchester, when approaching Bures level crossing, the gates of which were closed, the engine stopped and the fireman got down to help the gatekeeper to open the gates, when the engine got through the driver got down and the three men were engaged in conversation when for some reason the brakes became released, seeing this Smith ran to the gates to throw them open, he opened one gate but was caught between the buffers and the gate while attempting to open the second gate, he was severely crushed and died instantaneously. Accidental death.

Miscellaneous
Other goods to numerous to mention would have passed through the goods yard, such as newspapers, bricks, coal, milk etc.

Track North to Sudbury - 2005 Track South to Marks Tey - 2005

updated 01/03/05
Technical data taken from Branches & Byways of East Anglia by John Brodribb