Day 676

Let me preface this story by telling you about the old train bridge that leads to the skate park on Hilly Fields. It was built around the early 1800s when the old steam trains were the fastest means of transport between us and London.

It's officially been out of use since the National Rail decided this line wasn't used enough to warrant the upkeep and shut it down around 1926. Ever since then it's been a public footpath, what with the whole track from here to Kelvedon being out of use and left to the plants.

Nowadays while the bridge is in use to get to the nearby park, nobody likes to linger on it for long and it's never used at night. People will tell you it's because there are dug users under the bridge, it moves when it's windy, there's a bad smell sometimes but they won't tell you their real reasons or what they've seen to put them off the area.

The last train to pass through was called the Golden Hind and had lovely gilt along every carriage - an original feature from its heyday. Something must have happened on that train in 1926 to cause the line's closure and it sure as hell wasn't lack of public use. The fact that the Golden Hind vanished that year alongside its 185 passengers doesn't exactly support their case.

It's still seen along the bridge you know. If you're at the right distance and angle it's there bold as brass waiting to offload the travellers inside. They sit with their faces crammed against the glass, eyes wide and bulging staring you down. The only hints as to where the train ended up are the words Silverend and Parish 186.