Forward Ammunition Depot 1942 - 1945 Bures Ordnance Ammunition Depot AAF526

Ammunition destined for the Bures storage area was transported by train to Earls Colne & White Colne railway stations. These were located on the Colne Valley line which traversed the countryside from Haverhill to Chapel & Wakes Colne Stn, where it linked up with the Stour Valley line.

By May 1943, Earls Colne station & White Colne had become the bomb and ammunition supply depots for some 30 airfields in Essex and Suffolk.

The obvious question seems to be, "Why didn`t they off-load the ammunition trains at Bures?".
There could have been more than one reason such as
(a) The risk was too high with the bomb storage site within such close proximity. It was essential to keep the Luftwaffe away from Bures and not attract to much attention.
(b) The station was to close to the village centre.
(c) Lack of suitable sidings.

To make use of all the available space, the road between White Colne and Bures was also used for bomb storage.
The road was widened by the USAAF in order to facilitate the large amount of truck movements and to provide road side storage bays.

Dumps were also positioned at the top of Boley Road, up to Catleys Farm and around Countess Cross.

Along the White Colne to Bures road there was a Guard Post located on the corner,marked with GP The american guards used the local church tower (to the right) as target practice, trying to hit the weather vane. There was also a Nissen hut just to the North of White Colne station (now Hill Farm). This was not a Guard Post but was used by USAAF Officers, presumably for admin purposes. Key:- Main delivery route to Bures indicated red with arrows. The return journey to the A604 from Bures seems to have been via Daws Cross, Countess Cross and White Colne to the main road. Bombs were stored along both routes. Other supply and dispersal roads within White & Wakes Colne coloured `green` Colne Valley railway shown as black dotted line. Earls Colne Station to the left.

To give some idea of the size of these trains arriving in the area, this text describes a typical ammunition train formation arriving from Grimsby.

On 31st May 1944 a consignment of bombs and components for the United States Air Force was taken off ship and on to sixty-one railway wagons at Immingham on the Humber, destined for White Colne in Essex. This long train left Immingham Sidings at 2. 55am. On 1st June 1944, travelling so slowly that it took seven hours to cover the eighty-nine miles to March in Cambridgeshire.
It arrived at March Yard, which was subsidiary to the nearby marshaling yard at Whitemoor (where today stands the high security prison), where the wagons were, as always, carefully inspected. The ten leading wagons were then detached to be worked forward by convenient services later, leaving the fifty-one wagons and the guard's van in Number One Siding Coal Yard. These remained in the yard for fourteen-and-a-half hours unaltered in formation until they left at 12.15am. On Friday 2nd June 1944 as the delayed 11.40pm (1st June 1944) train from Whitemoor to White Colne.
Forty-four of those wagons were laden with 250-pound and 500-pound bombs, un-fused, amounting to approximately four hundred tons in all and another six with detonators and primers, fuses, wire release gear and bomb tail fins, all firmly stacked under tarpaulin sheets of low combustibility with the care that had prevented any major crisis in the transportation of weaponry on British railways throughout the war, one wagon remained empty.
(Acknowledgment to www.soham.org.uk)

Powerful main line (Gresley 2-8-0)trains, could pull 60-70 trucks weighing in at some 1000 tons. These would normally arrive from Liverpool at Whitemoor marshalling yard near March in Cambridgeshire. Here they were then reduced in length too no more that 50 trucks. This enabled the train to shunt into passing sidings on the more local lines, enabling faster passenger trains to pass.
Ammunition trains were classed as "Specials" and had no priority over the normal day to day traffice.
The top speed would have only been in the region of 30mph and so it took a full 8 hour shift to convey the train from Whitemoor to Chappel or Marks Tey.

On arrival they were split yet again in order for the smaller branch line (J15`s)locomotives to take them along the Colne Valley line. The line could only take about 20 trucks due to the limitations of the track bed and bridges. The trucks were placed into sidings at Chappel and Marks Tey, ready for onward transmission to either Earls or White Colne.

The main line Gresley would turn around at Marks Tey ready for its empty journey back to Whitemoor, Marks Tey was the only station capable of turning around this size of locomotive.

Harry Gilbert (dec) Station Master at Earls Colne recalls one morning thirty to forty trucks waiting to be loaded, the queue stretched right up to the Earls Colne High St. The main task of unloading and loading the ammunition fell to the black servicemen, who were despised by their white comrades.

Photo of ammunition train. Photographs of war time trains are extremely rare, it was not advisable during the offensive to be seen wandering around with a camera. The picture above is the only reference so far found.

 

Normally, the main line locomotives were dealt with at Marks Tey yard, as it was the only place the main line train could run/turnaround and return back up the Stour Valley line.

It was not unusual to find Chappel and Marks Tey yards choked to capacity with bombs. On rare occasions when both yards were full to overflowing, Colchester had to be used, although this was frowned upon, owing to the possible danger to the town.
Also, when Earls Colne,White Colne and other yards were full to capacity, other dropping off points were used such as:-
Halstead
Hedingham
Felstead
Stansted
Bishops Stortford
Clare
Rayne
Munitions were then transported to the airfields direct and the surplus to the Bures dispersal site.

Earls Colne Sidings, circa 1945 It was the length of the yard and the loop at Earls Colne that limited train length on the branch line. Those wagons which were dropped off at White Colne had to go to Earls Colne first to run round as White Colne could only be easily accessed from a train in the Chappel bound direction, as it had no loop just a trailing siding.(see map below)

Chappel > Earls Colne direction

The yard at Earls Colne could take up to 50 trucks, but remember this included the White Colne portion which had to be turned around. Consequently the train was shunted into the yard, the Earls Colne section uncoupled and the White Colne wagons pushed back into the main line, ready to return towards Chappel.

Usually the train (0-6-0, J15`s) were restricted to about 18 - 20 trucks, approx 300/400 tons.

This invariably meant three local trips per main line delivery.
Records indicate the number of wagons delivered during the three Summer months of 1944 as:
White Colne    2971
Earls Colne    3959
 
This equates to 38 wagons a day at White Colne & 51 a day at Earls Colne (based on a six day week, 13 week period). That suggests three or four trains a day to Earls Colne (Run round and drop off/pick up just over half) and White Colne (drop off/pick up rest).

In the second quarter of 1943 the two stations handled something like 100,000 tons of bombs.

On occasions a larger `WD` engine complete with servicemen crew would take 24 -26 trucks along the line. Instructions were then issued, to leave this train on the main loop, until a smaller engine shunted the trucks into the yard. It was hazardous to allow this larger locomotive to enter the yard due to the tight curves and terrible state of the track.

There is one incident mentioned, where the `WD` loco was allowed into the White Colne yard and subsequently derailed. With the help of the USAAF servicemen, muscle and manpower the loco was eventually slewed back onto the track. No report was ever made of this incident, but it did highlight the need to keep heavy and long wheel base loco`s out of the sidings.

Haverhill > Halstead > Earls Colne direction

Although the larger `WD` loco`s worked the Chappel section they were not allowed beyond Earls Colne towards Halstead
Only J15, 0-6-0`s were allowed the Halstead side because of a weight restriction on a wooden trestle bridge.
Ammunition trains occasionally came in from the Haverhill/Halstead direction but their load was limited because of this crossing.

Although White Colne was extremely busy, it didn't boast much creature comfort. From the photograph above, the waiting room consisted of a dilapidated coach body. The Booking Hall today now functions as the Village hall. The sidings would have been behind the level crossing.

The bombs were offloaded in the sidings and packed into USAAF trucks, the rear being packed with straw to stabilise the load.
Gilbert Brackley from White Colne recalls one incident, where the straw caught fire on one of the lorries. With a lot of shouting and gesticulating, the truck was stopped and the bombs hastily offloaded with a reasonable degree of panic !

Arriving at the storage site, the bombs were offloaded with the aid of a tracked crawler (caterpillar tractor) with an attached crane on the front.
With no detonators installed, safety didn`t seem to be to much of an issue.
There doesn`t appear to be any record of any accidental explosions along the roadsides.

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