Part 2 looks at the buildings and people that once made Laindon Station a small working railway community of its own.
The early station had its principal buildings on the eastbound side, including the booking facilities and Station Master's House. Both platforms had weather protection, and an ornate footbridge connected passengers with the London-bound side.
The Station Master's House became one of Laindon's best-known railway buildings. Station masters and their families lived directly beside the railway, making the station both a workplace and a home.
One of the best-known station masters was John Harry Sims, who served at Laindon from the 1920s until his retirement in 1952. His daughter was actress Joan Sims, born in 1930 and later famous for her many appearances in the Carry On films.
Joan grew up around the station and later remembered the railway environment as a world full of characters. As a child she used the goods-yard loading area as an improvised stage for performances, an appropriate beginning for someone who would later build a long acting career.
A terrace of eight Railway Cottages was built near the station for railway workers. The cottages stood near the line and signal box and formed a small residential community tied directly to the railway. They survived until the early 1970s.
Laindon also had a working goods yard with sidings and a covered goods shed. The yard handled freight rather than passengers and was important to local businesses before road haulage became dominant.
Coal merchants operated from the yard, including firms remembered as Hall's, Hayes Fuels and Morris and Farmer. The yard also handled other goods and materials needed by the rapidly expanding settlement.
The station developed its own small retail life. Tobacco and newspaper kiosks served passengers, including a Finlay's kiosk and later a W. H. Smith kiosk on the island platform. These were familiar features of the station during the steam and early electric eras.
During the Second World War the railway had strategic importance. Aircraft could use railway lines as navigational guides towards London, and an anti-aircraft gun was installed in the Laindon Station goods yard.
The station once employed and supported far more people than are visible to passengers today: station masters, signalmen, porters, clerks, goods staff, kiosk workers and maintenance employees all formed part of daily railway life.