[A Goldeneye Ducks view of the flooded gravel pit!] The Story
Behind the MPLR Like much of East Anglia, Essex is rich in
glacial and fluvial deposits of sands and gravel. Moreton like
many Essex hamlets had its own gravel pit. There is evidence
that sand and gravel have been extracted for many hundreds of
years in this area, indeed many local place-names reflect this.
The Moreton Sand and Gravel Company was established as a
commercial concern in 1889 or thereabouts. In real life the
workings in Moreton closed about ten years ago. Unlike its real
life counterpart, the 16mm Moreton Pit had its own narrow gauge
railway. This railway was built around 1905 and was used to
extract gravel from the pit and transport it to nearby Ongar
(2.5 miles or so), where it was transferred to the standard
gauge railway (later to become the end of the Central line,
closed and reopened as a preserved railway). Management of the
Moreton Pit was transferred from the Moreton Sand and Gravel
Co., on a very long lease, to the 16mm bran