page_title: Witham to Maldon branch line
section_title: Maldon to Woodham Ferris
hierarchical_section_title: Witham to Maldon branch line / Maldon to Woodham Ferris
caption_attribution_description: English: System map of the Maldon railway lines, Essex, England, in 1889
context_page_description: The Witham to Maldon branch line is a closed railway line joining Maldon to the British railway network at Witham in Essex, England. It was opened in 1848; and it was 5.75 miles long. It was extended to Woodham Ferris to give direct access to Southend-on-Sea, but that extension was not commercially successful.
  The Woodham Ferrers extension was closed to passenger traffic in 1939 and completely in 1953. The original main line from Maldon to Witham also declined in passenger carryings; efforts to stimulate business included the introduction of low-cost diesel railbuses and a more intensive passenger service. This proved to be in vain and the passenger service was withdrawn in 1964. A residual goods service continued but from 1980 the line was completely closed.
context_section_description: On 16 July 1883 the Great Eastern Railway received Parliamentary authorisation for the "New Essex Lines" project. This included a new line from Shenfield to Southend, which opened on 1 October 1889. A branch from that line, from Wickford to Southminster, preceded it, being opened on 1 June 1889. There was a station on that line called Woodham Ferris, later named Woodham Ferrers (from 1 October 1913). A branch from Woodham Ferris to Maldon was opened as part of the New Essex Lines project, to goods on 19 November 1888 and to passengers on 1 October 1889. There were stations at Cold Norton and Maldon West. Maldon station was renamed Maldon East on 1 October 1889.
  The Woodham Ferris to Maldon line was intended to form a through passenger route between Colchester and Southend. Triangular junctions were made at Wickford and Maldon, and also at Witham, to enable this routing. Part of the rationale of the New Essex Lines scheme was the encouragement of passenger traffic between Colchester and Southend direct, but when the Southend line was complete, in fact only one Saturday-only train each way was put on, from March 1890. The train called at Maldon West. Usage of that was disappointing, and on 1 March 1895 the service was withdrawn and the spurs closed.
  Indeed the whole of the passenger operation on the Maldon to Woodham Ferrers section was poor. In an attempt to control costs, Conductor-Guard operation was brought into use from 2 October 1922. Maldon curve was singled in 1924, and Woodham Ferrers to Maldon was made a single signalling section by 1933. The losses were nevertheless unsustainable and the final passenger service ran from Woodham Ferrers to Maldon on 10 September 1939.
  During World War II a bomb fell on the main line near Ingatestone and the crater made the line there temporarily impassable. For two weeks main line passenger trains ran via Woodham Ferrers and Maldon, reversing there. It was therefore said that the busiest passenger carryings on that part of the line were after closure to local passenger trains.
  Nevertheless the regular traffic on the line between Maldon and Woodham Ferrers was only a basic goods service, and the poor financial results caused the line to be completely closed on 1 April 1953.
caption: The Maldon lines in 1889
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