Maldon East and Heybridge railway station

The branch from Witham was part of a scheme to link Braintree with its traditional port at Maldon. The scheme started in 1845, as a direct link from Braintree rather than the two branches that were actually built. It soon ran into financial trouble and was taken over by the Eastern Counties Railway keen to ensure there was no competition for its own interests. Construction started in March 1847 and the first goods trains ran in August 1848, followed by the opening to passenger trains on 2 October of the same year. In 1862, the Eastern Counties Railway was taken over by the Great Eastern Railway (GER). The station was originally named Maldon but, after the opening of the Maldon West line on…

The station building at Maldon is an impressive example of Victorian railway architecture, although built in an unnecessarily extravagant style. In 1847, David Waddington was seeking re-election to the Maldon parliamentary constituency and was a vice-chair of the Eastern Counties Railway. Paye suggests that he appears to have enhanced the specification of the building in order to encourage employment locally, but Gairns provides a more prosaic reason, that of appealing to civic pride among the middle classes. The station building was built in the Jacobean style, with a large booking hall, waiting rooms and ticket office on the ground floor. The upper floor contained the station master's…