Southend Victoria railway station

Southend Victoria railway station is the eastern terminus of the Shenfield to Southend Line, a branch off the Great Eastern Main Line, in the East of England. It is one of two primary stations that serve the resort city of Southend-on-Sea, Essex; the other is Southend Central on the London, Tilbury and Southend line. It is located 41 miles 42 chains (66.83 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street; the preceding station on the line is Prittlewell. The Engineer's Line Reference for the line is SSV; the station's three-letter station code is SOV. The station has four platforms, each with an operational length for 10-car Class 720 electric multiple units.

Services from Southend Victoria join the Great Eastern Main Line for London at Shenfield and have limited stops into Liverpool Street.

The city's other main station is Southend Central, which provides services westbound to London Fenchurch Street and eastbound to Shoeburyness, operated by c2c.^[2]

The act of Parliament that enabled the Shenfield to Southend Victoria was the Great Eastern Railway (General Powers) Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. cvii) which was passed by the UK parliament on 16 July 1883. Since the opening of the LT&SR route in 1856 Southend had grown considerably and the GER was attracted by the growth was accelerating throughout the 1870s and early 1880s.

The line from Wickford to Southend Victoria, including this station, was opened on 1 October 1889.^[3] Victoria had four platforms. Platforms 1 and 4 had run-round loops whilst an engine release road was located between platforms 2 and 3. The station building was built by GER arcitect W. N. Ashbee and were in his "New Essex" style characterised by red brick, tiled gables and elaborate timber canopies.^[4]

There was a goods yard to the east of the station, which closed on 5 June 1967.^[3]

An engine shed was located north and east of the station.

Following the Railways Act 1921 the station became the responsibility of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) from 1 January 1923.

Between 1933 and 1949 the station was named Southend for Westcliffe & Thorpe Bay. This was an attempt to win traffic from the LMS stations located on the former LT&SR Fenchurch Street line.

During World War II services were reduced to 28 weekday and 12 Sunday trains.

Following nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1948, the station became part of the Eastern Region of British Rail.

The station was renamed Southend-on-Sea Victoria on 1 May 1949 and the name was further changed to Southend Victoria on 20 February 1969.^[3]

Electrification of the Shenfield to Southend Victoria line using 1.5 kV DC overhead line electrification (OLE) was completed on 31 December 1956. This was changed to 6.25 kV AC in November 1960 and to 25 kV AC on 25 January 1979.^[3]

To work the newly electrified line British Railways built 32 Class AM7 4-car EMU units at Eastleigh Works. These were later reclassified as Class 307 units and continued in service until a final commemoration run from Southend Victoria on 30 June 1990.^[5] Electrification certainly attracted the travelling public with patronage doubling from the branch in the first year of electric operations.^[6]

The late 1960s saw a downturn in leisure traffic and Sunday trains were withdrawn in 1969 and although summer Sunday trains were run in 1973/4. It was not until May 1979 that these services were reintroduced. Primarily the route remained a commuter route.

Other Great Eastern section EMUs have been deployed on Liverpool Street services including Class 305 and class 321 units.

The line and Southend Victoria became part of the London and South Eastern sector of British Rail in 1982, and in June 1986 this was rebranded as Network South East (NSE). With the Conservative government of the early 1990s looking to privatise the railways, the operation of the NSE passenger train service was put under the control of a Train Operating Unit.

In April 1994 Railtrack became responsible for the maintenance of the infrastructure. Railtrack was succeeded by Network Rail in 2002.

Between privatisation on 1 April 1994 and 4 January 1997 the station was operated by a non-privatised business unit. Since then passenger services calling at the station have been operated by the following franchises:

• First Great Eastern between 5 January 1997 and 31 May 2004
• National Express between 1 April 2004 and 4 February 2012
• Greater Anglia between 5 February 2012 and 11 October 2025

In December 2024, it was announced that Greater Anglia's contract would be terminated after the Department for Transport activated a break clause, with DfT Operator taking over services on 12 October 2025.^[7][8][9]

There were seven weekday services from Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria in the opening year. Two additional trains operated on Saturday but only two on a Sunday. One of the two Saturday trains operated via Wickford East curve, Maldon West curve and a north facing curve at Witham. This lasted until 1895.

In 1896 the weekday service was 10 up trains with 2 extra on Saturday (which seemed to have operated in the down (from Liverpool Street direction) only. The Sunday service four trains per day.

In 1911 an effort to compete with the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, faster services were introduced to Southend Victoria. The most notable service being the 8.15 a.m. departure from Southend which served refreshements at very low prices. The return 5.03 in the evening peak offered a tea service. The train then worked back to Liverpool Street and worked a midnight supper train for theatre goers arriving back at Southend at 1.10 a.m.

By 1912 eight Southend expresses were making the journey to Liverpool Street in under 61 minutes. Author (and former GER employee) C J Allen had the opinion that this timetable led to the development of some of the intermediate locations such as Wickford and Rochford.^[10]

By July 1922, the last months of operation by the Great Eastern Railway, there were 34 weekday trains and 15 Sunday trains.

In 1938 Southend enjoyed 48 trains on weekdays and 41 on Sundays but as mentioned above services were slashed during World War II.^[11]

The station is managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains serving it. The typical Monday to Saturday off-peak service is of three trains per hour to Liverpool Street. On Sundays, there are typically two trains per hour to Liverpool Street.^[12]

The goods yard was located east of the station.

In the 1950s there was about 80 wagons a day spread over 5 trains that mostly operated from Goodmayes Goods Yard. ^[13]

The goods yard was closed on 5 June 1967 and replaced by a coal concentration depot operated by the National Coal Board. This was originally shunted by a John Fowler locomotive and later by a former British Rail Class 03 shunter. The depot closed in 1986^[14]

An engine shed with coaling and watering facilities was opened in 1888 but the accommodation was a very basic two-road shed capable of holding 4-6 engines. This was provided north of the station on the down side of the line A review in 1913 saw recommendations for more generous provision but it was not until 1930 that the LNER took any action remodelling the depot. This included provision of a new larger turntable.

The depot was an outstation of Stratford engine shed and employed 90 staff operating under a foreman. As an outstation, it did not have any locomotives specifically allocated as all locomotives were officially allocated to Stratford engine shed.

Locomotives that worked from the shed included E4 2-4-0, D13/DI5/16 4-4-0 and GER B12 4-6-0s in GER days with B17 4-6-0 and K2 2-6-0s amongst others during the LNER years. After 1948 B1 4-6-0s were regulars on Liverpool Street upto electrification on 31 December 1956.

Mainline steam working ceased in 1956 although steam worked worked goods and additional charter trains up until 1961. After closure withdrawn steam engines were stored on the site before they were moved to the scrapyard.^[15]

The station area still has (in 2025) extensive stabling sidings:

• Down Carriage Sidings (North) 10 roads (known as the Klondyke sidings);^[16]
• Down Carriage Sidings (South) three roads plus a disused Royal Mail Terminal;
• Up Carriage Sidings (North) three roads (known as The Shute);^[16] Up Carriage Sidings (South) two roads.^[17]

The signalling is controlled by Liverpool Street Integrated Electronic Control Centre (IECC) but the former box still stands in 2025 boarded up.

• Train times and station information for Southend Victoria railway station from National Rail

51°32′30″N 0°42′40″E / 51.54167°N 0.71111°E / 51.54167; 0.71111