Alex Coomber
Blackwater Rail Trail. Opened in 1848. Closed in 1964. Witham to Maldon East & Heybridge. Witham, Wickham Bishops, Langford & Ulting and Maldon East. Built to transport grain from Braintree to Maldon Harbour. The line from Witham to Maldon opened in 1848. The grain traffic never materialised. But the line kept busy carrying agricultural produce and day trippers in the Summer Months. Although the line worked to capacity during the Second World War. The post war years brought decline. The introduction of Diesel Railbuses and an improved service failed to arrest this and the line closed to passengers in 1964. Today much of the route is a footpath known as the Blackwater Rail Trail.
