Pig's Bay

Not to be confused with Bay of Pigs.
Ex Gatwick Express British Railways Mark 2 coaches in a siding at Pig's Bay. Just visible at the extreme left is some former Northern line 1972 Stock.

Pig's Bay is a coastal area in East Shoebury, a small beachland area in Shoeburyness. The main entrance to the site is at Blackgate Road, Shoeburyness. This is also the gateway to the island of Foulness, the fourth largest island off the coast of England.

The bay is the site of MoD Shoeburyness, a military installation established in 1849 and which is still used as a firing range.[1]

One of the other uses of the site is the storage and scrapping of old railway vehicles. It has its own private railway network, stretching for around six miles, linked to one of the sidings at Network Rail's Shoeburyness c2c electrical multiple unit depot by means of two unmanned level crossings across Shoeburyness High Street and Blackgate Road, respectively. The site has also featured in a few episodes of the Channel 4 series Scrapheap Challenge.[2] The front locomotive of the passenger train involved in the 1997 Southall rail crash - when an inter-city train collided with a freight train, killing 7 people - was scrapped here, being cut up by Serco three years after the incident once the inquiry had been completed.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "MOD Shoeburyness". Qinetiq. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Scrapheap Challenge at TV.com
  3. ↑ "QXA DB 977144 - MTA Brake Force Runner". Departmentals.com. Retrieved 12 March 2016.

Coordinates: 51°32′21″N 0°48′38″E / 51.53921°N 0.81047°E / 51.53921; 0.81047

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