You will then be able to complete the cache location N
51° AJ.BNB' E 000° EC.KLH'. You can check if you have got
the right coordinates by going to
Geochecker.com.
The container is a small click-lock box painted black. Access is
straightforward and adjacent to a public road.
The "Gin and Toffee" Line
The Elsenham and Thaxted Light Railway was sanctioned in 1906, and
opened to traffic on 1 April 1913. In addition to a government
grant of £33,000 towards its construction, two major investors in
the line were Sir Walter Gilbey (head of the gin manufacturers), of
Elsenham, and George Lee, who owned a confectionery factory ('Lee's
of Thaxted', now the premises of Molecular Products, next to the
Town Sign). Their involvement gave the line its affectionate
nickname, the 'Gin and Toffee Line'.
It was the last railway line built in Essex until the
construction of Stansted Airport railway station in 1991.
The line ran through 5½ miles of deeply rural countryside.
Though no through services operated, it was connected to the
London–Cambridge main line at Elsenham. Its other end was on
a windswept, deserted plateau more than a mile from Thaxted,
because the intervening River Chelmer valley made it prohibitively
expensive to complete the line all the way to the town.
Apart from its termini, it boasted one other station —
Sibleys for Chickney and Broxted — and three halts. It
operated with a single engine and two six-wheel carriages. There
were no signals and no crossing gates. In order to minimise
construction costs, the line eschewed expensive earthworks, and so
followed a meandering course along the contours. The result was
that all of its stations were located some distance from the
settlements they supposedly served.
One, Cutlers Green Halt (right), had the dubious
distinction of having no road access whatsoever and could only be
reached via a path through the fields.
Unsurprisingly,the line was never much of a money maker, and it
led a quiet and unremarkable existence through GER, LNER and
finally early BR years, until revenues finally dwindled to the
point where it had to be axed in 1952, years before Beeching, and
replaced by a bus service.
Thaxted Station yard still exists; the engine shed is in use by
a local building merchant, and the little station building has
survived amidst piles of timber, coal and scrapheaps.
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| Thaxted Station in 1913 |
The same view in 2003 |
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| 1952 — shortly before closure |
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| Water tower & engine shed 1951 |
... and in 2010 |
The cache location is as close as you can get to Thaxted's
former station. It lies up the drive through the gate beside the
cache, but is now privately owned — please do not
trespass.