Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 5:11 pm Post subject: Laindon
My birthplace and also that of the late actress Joan Sims. For some years when I was a child, the Station Master who in those days was well respected, was none other than Joan's Father who remained at Laindon for some time from what I can understand and will verify via Joan's book of her life and called 'High Spirits' which I have a copy of.
There is a very small blue plaque on the wall beyond the bus shelter in this photo, but regretably, it can be difficult to read. _________________ Once the misery line, but now passed on to another.
See www.bramleyline.org.uk where one day we just might see an Ex-LT&SR Standard 4 steaming along as a Guest loco.
Below is a picture of the bridge I spent many a day running over if I heard a train approaching. Since this picture was taken, this bridge has sadly been replaced. This picture is taken from the Laindon side and looking towards Langdon Hills.
_________________ Once the misery line, but now passed on to another.
See www.bramleyline.org.uk where one day we just might see an Ex-LT&SR Standard 4 steaming along as a Guest loco.
The picture below was taken from the bridge above and looking down on to platform number 1, before the new road was put in on the right. I spent very many hours on this bridge watching the steam hauled trains either stopping or on the very odd occasion, passing through and giving me that delicious smell of the smoke as it came up and into my face.
_________________ Once the misery line, but now passed on to another.
See www.bramleyline.org.uk where one day we just might see an Ex-LT&SR Standard 4 steaming along as a Guest loco.
ESTATE agents based in the station house where Carry On star Joan Sims was raised have been interviewed for a BBC documentary. The famous actress's father was stationmaster at Laindon and she was raised in a house, off Station Approach, backing onto the platform.
There is a plaque outside, stating she lived there from birth in 1930 until 1952. The house is now occupied by Let It B letting agents and Quirk Deakin estate agents. Yesterday, the BBC documentary makers interviewed staff for the next television series of Comedy Map of Britain.
Russell Bennett, 34, from Let It B, said: "We always have a picture of Joan Sims on our wall because of the historical link. Apparently she used to entertain train passengers, dancing and singing on the platform, and got the acting bug from there." (Perhaps he should read Joans book High Spirits?) She made her London stage deput in 1952.
Her Carry On roles included suspicious wives of many kinds, most famously perhaps as a nagging Calpurnia in Carry On Cleo. She appeared in 25 Carry On Films, beginning with Carry On Nurse in 1959 and ending with Carry On Emmannuelle in 1978.
In her last years, from 1994, she had a continuing role in TV's As Time Goes By, as Geoffrey Palmer's lively stepmother.
She died after suffering a long illness, in 2001. _________________ Once the misery line, but now passed on to another.
See www.bramleyline.org.uk where one day we just might see an Ex-LT&SR Standard 4 steaming along as a Guest loco.
Taken on Saturday 5 July with NO hassle about being a suspected terrorist, I got this photo of a Class 357 as it approached Laindon on an 'Up' service.
_________________ Once the misery line, but now passed on to another.
See www.bramleyline.org.uk where one day we just might see an Ex-LT&SR Standard 4 steaming along as a Guest loco.
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