Wymondham to Wells Branch
The Wymondham to Wells Branch was a railway built in stages by the Norfolk Railway,
History
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Construction and development
The Lynn and Dereham Railway and the Norfolk Railway both obtained Parliament's permission to build lines to Dereham in 1845,[1] at the height of the so-called "Railway Mania", when railways were being built across the whole country. The Norfolk Railway, building its line from Wymondham, reached Dereham first, and opened its railway to passengers on 15 February 1847; the line from King's Lynn had to wait until 11 September 1848.[2]
The King's Lynn line was originally operated by the
At Dereham, many trains reversed and headed west to Swaffham and King's Lynn.[5] An avoiding double track line was built to the south of Dereham station, running between Dereham West and Dereham South signal boxes, in 1886. This allowed the Wymondham to King's Lynn line to operate as a cross-country route, with the avoiding line being used by freight, excursion and diverted main-line trains.[6] A further branch, to Wroxham, left the line at County School station,[7] while a branch from Heacham joined at Wells.[8]
One of the very few railway tunnels in East Anglia was located on the northern section of line at Barsham, but the tunnel was opened out into a cutting around 1912. Its remains may be seen today, and are accessible to walkers.
An accident took place at Wells station on 29 May 1879, when the 7:50 pm train from Norwich ran away on the steep gradient approaching the terminus, smashed through the buffers at the end of the line and entered the station building through the porter's room and toilets. No passengers were injured, but a young man named George Cooke was killed in the station toilets.[9]
Another occurred at Dereham on 18 January 1896, when the driver of engine 204, a GER Class T26 failed to notice that his train had been split into two sections before attempting to set back into sidings. The locomotive was slightly damaged, with its tender holed, a private-owner wagon belonging to Jas. Wood and Company was badly damaged a Midland Scotch Joint Stock dining car, along with a MSJS composite coach and two Glasgow and South Western Railway composite coaches.[10]
On 20 January 1915, at the County School junction with the line to Aylsham and Wroxham, there was an accident between a passenger train from Wells and a goods train from Foulsham. At 11.46 am, Y14 '629', hauling 12 empty and 4 loaded wagons, ran into the 6 coach passenger train, hauled by T26 locomotive '446' and consisting of 6-wheel stock on the scissor crossing close to the signal box. Nobody was injured in the crash, which took place at low speed, although both locomotives were damaged, along with other vehicles in both trains.
The responsibility for the crash was placed on the driver of the goods train, for failing to observe that his signals were at danger.[11]
GER T26 '446' survived the accident to become
On 14 March 1918 the horse pulling the North Elmham milk float bolted, jumped the level crossing gate at County School station and set off along the railway towards the village. A down train was approaching the station, but managed to stop close to the southern signal box before it was struck by the oncoming milk float, with the horse continuing towards Elmham.[14]
Grouping – the London & North Eastern Railway
On 27 May 1931, the 9.06 am. passenger train from Wells-on-Sea to Norwich, being worked by Class E4 7486 and which was standing at the bay platform at Fakenham Station, was hit head-on by the 8.17 a.m. passenger Norwich to Wells-on-Sea passenger train, being worked by Class E4 7457. One passenger on the stationary train was killed, with twelve passengers and three railway employees injured.[18]
The line was heavily used during World War I and World War II, with extra Air Ministry sidings provided at Dereham in 1943.
Nationalisation – British Railways
Following the war, the railways were in a very run-down state. The
The
By 1960 there was an hourly passenger service to Norwich taking between 32 and 40 minutes. Despite this, increased use of road transport led to a decline in passengers, causing the service to become one of many threatened by the "
Decline and closure
The passenger service between Dereham and Wells ended on 5 October 1964.[28] Dereham became an intermediate station for Norwich and King's Lynn services. In June 1965, the Wymondham to Dereham section was reduced to single track with a passing loop at Hardingham. The passenger service from King's Lynn ended on 9 September 1968,[29] with the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Society operating the 'East Anglian Branch Line Farewell' DMU special on the final Saturday.[29] The withdrawal of the remaining passenger services, between Wymondham and Dereham, followed in October 1969.[30]
Goods traffic continued after the passenger closure, with public delivery sidings remaining at Dereham and Fakenham and private sidings at
The route today
In 2010 the original station building at
Five railway schemes are based along the original formation. Work on rebuilding a section of the line as the narrow gauge Wells and Walsingham Light Railway between a point south of the former level crossing over the A149 Coast Road at Wells and a point just north of the original Walsingham station started in 1979. A section of the route, known locally as 'Barnard's Cutting', had been filled with refuse and had to be excavated before the track could be restored. The excavation of 3,000 tons of waste did not return the trackbed to its original level, resulting in a severe 1 in 29 gradient that had not existed when the line was originally in use.[32] Services over this section resumed on 6 April 1982, with purpose built steam locomotive Pilgrim, an 0-6-0T engine built at North Walsham, launching the public service.
The 1 in 29 gradient created during the restoration of the route was restored to the original 1 in 60 by engineers from the National Construction Training College removing 17,000 tons of material in 1999. The original station building at
The line between Walsingham and County School railway station is derelict, although the track bed is mostly intact from County School to Fakenham, and is reserved by the local council for railway use.[33]
A section of the line at Fakenham, from the station yard throat to the bridge over the River Wensum, has been purchased by the Norfolk Orbital Railway for eventual restoration.[34] The section of railway near Fakenham has been made available as a permissive footpath until needed as a railway.[35]
At Pensthorpe, the railway line runs along the rear boundary of the nature park,[36] with a section south of Great Ryburgh open as a permissive footpath.
The 11.5 miles (18.5 km) line between Dereham and Wymondham are owned and operated by the Mid-Norfolk Railway, and this Trust also owns the further 6 miles (10 km) of disused railway to County School station near North Elmham,[37] although there is a break of around a mile between North Elmham and County School where the track is no longer in situ. This makes the Mid-Norfolk Railway one of the longest heritage railways in the United Kingdom. At County School a section of the formation is shared by the North Norfolk Model Engineering Club's 3.5 and 5 inch line.[38] At Yaxham station, the standard gauge line passes the Yaxham Light Railway's 2 foot gauge tracks.
In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments).[39]
Locomotive sheds
- Dereham shed
By 1880 Dereham boasted a two road wooden
- Wells shed
Wells was provided with a combined engine and goods shed, with the locomotives having use of the whole shed when not required for goods. Wells also operated as an outstation of Norwich depot, and there were up to five locomotives based there. In 1929 the original 42-foot turntable was replaced by a second-hand 45-foot version. The shed officially closed in September 1955 and has since been demolished.[41]
Charter trains
Before the preservation of the line a number of special trains and demonstration services were operated over the line by the Wymondham & Dereham Rail Action Committee (WyDRAC) and the Railway Development Society (RDS) to help maintain pressure for the restoration of passenger services over the route. By the line's closure, twenty special trains and carried over 5,000 passengers.[42] The first of these was a 6-car DMU service between Dereham and Norwich, which operated on 8 April 1978. This special carried 330 passengers from the branch and into the city, while the outward journey to Dereham carried 200 people. This included a party of ramblers, who used the service as far as Thuxton. The majority of the passengers were local.
On 21 April 1979 the RDS, WyDRAC and the newly formed Fakenham and Dereham Railway Society chartered a four-car Class 105 DMU set to operate the 'Fakenham Flyer'. This train left Norwich carrying 200 people, picking up a further 40 at Dereham, before heading to Fakenham. The DMU then operated a shuttle service to Ryburgh, County School, North Elmham and Dereham for Fakenham residents before returning to Norwich. 440 people were carried, most of them local people. This was the first passenger train at Fakenham since the line closed, and proved to be the last such train as the line was closed the following year.
A special service, using a 4-car DMU, was operated from Dereham to Lowestoft on 22 July 1979 – with tickets being sold from the former bookstall at Dereham station. 260 people boarded the train at Dereham, with 70 more joining at the intermediate stations on the route. The stock movement to Dereham also carried 22 members of a local cycle club and their bicycles. On 1 December 1979 a Christmas Shopping special operated from Dereham to Norwich, followed, on 26 April 1980, by the 'Breckland Express', formed of a Class 37 and ten coaches, which carried 570 people to London. On 27 July, the 'Broadsman' carried 250 passengers between Dereham and Sheringham.
Three trains were operated in 1981. The first, on 30 May, was a 9 coach Class 37-hauled special to
In 1983 the Eastern Region of British Rail announced that they would ban all special services over freight lines. After a campaign by the RDS they agreed to allow a maximum of two excursion trains per year to use these routes. On 1 October 1983 400 people boarded a Class 31-hauled ten coach train bound for Portsmouth. Although the Class 31 broke down at Woking, the delayed service made the complete journey.[43] In 1984, due to stock shortages and economic factors, only one special was operated, when a four-car Class 101 DMU carried 200 people between Dereham and Clacton. In 1985 a Class 101 DMU carried 100 passengers from Dereham to Cambridge. While the Dereham passengers were in the city, the DMU ran a rail tour to North Elmham, carrying 100 people from Cambridge. In 1986 a 4-car DMU carried 220 people to Cromer and Sheringham as part of the Dereham Festival and on 21 June 1987 220 people boarded another 4-car DMU bound for Lowestoft, with the train starting from Seaman's grain siding in the goods yard at North Elmham as the station platform had been sold.[44]
References
- ^ Scrivenor, Harry (1849). The Railways of the United Kingdom Statistically Considered. Smith, Elder and Co. p. 334 – via Archive.org.
norfolk railway act of parliament.
- ^ a b Oppitz 1989, p. 41.
- ^ "History of the Line". The Mid-Norfolk Railway. 17 November 2001. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013.
- ^ Jenkins 1993, p. 50.
- ^ Oppitz 1989, p. 14.
- ^ Jenkins 1993, p. 51.
- ^ Oppitz 1989, p. 45.
- ^ Oppitz 1989, p. 13.
- ^ "Singular & fatal railway accident". Bury & Norwich Post. Norwich. 3 June 1879.
- ^ Board of Trade Accident Report, Dereham station, 1896
- ^ Von Donop, P.G. (1915). Report on Accident at County School station, 1915 (PDF). H.M.R.I.
- ^ BRDatabase E4 446
- ^ BRDatabase J15 7629
- ^ "Runaway horse on railway line". The Times. London. 15 March 1918.
- ^ Hawkins & Reeve 1986.
- ^ Jenkins 1993, p. 69.
- ^ Jenkins 1993, p. 70.
- ^ Accident Report 3 September 1931
- ^ Jenkins 1993, p. 87.
- ^ Jenkins 1993, p. 86.
- ^ Jenkins 1993, p. 88.
- ^ British Railways Atlas. 1947. p. 18.[full citation needed]
- ^ Joby 1975, p. 43.
- ^ British Transport Commission (1954). "Modernisation and Re-Equipment of British Rail". (Originally published by the British Transport Commission). Retrieved 25 November 2006 – via The Railways Archive.
- ^ Tuddenham 1965, p. 83.
- ^ "About the Railway: History of the Line: Grouping and Nationalisation". Mid Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust. 17 November 2001. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012.
- ^ Rackham, Albert (Autumn 2005). "Last steam to Dereham". Blastpipe (88): 18.
- ^ a b Tuddenham 1965, p. 87.
- ^ a b Railway Magazine, 1968, page 662
- ^ "Norfolk Rail News Archive 1980s Section". Norfolk By Rail. Archived from the original on 27 September 2010.
- ^ Hull, John (Spring 1991). "Traffic on the line". Blastpipe (33): 19.
- ^ WWLR, 1994, page 1
- ^ "Safeguarding Transport Routes" (PDF). Norfolk County Council. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 February 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
- ^ Scotter, Kate (15 December 2014). "Norfolk Orbital Railway project gets closer to reviving old link to Fakenham". Eastern Daily Press.
- ^ WATCH: Keeping plans to bring back the railway on track
- ^ All aboard the Pensthorpe Explorer
- ^ "From Jazz to Santa" (PDF). Dereham Times. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
The Trust currently owns 17.5 miles of track and trackbed, just over 11 miles of which is currently in use connecting Dereham Station with Wymondham Abbey Station
[dead link] - ^ Tiny trains will toot again! Model engineering club saved
- ^ "The case for expanding the rail network" (PDF). Campaign for Better Transport. January 2019. p. 42.
- ^ Hawkins & Reeve 1986, p. 213.
- ^ Hawkins & Reeve 1986, p. 205.
- ^ Garrod, Trevor. "The cycle of success". Railway Development Society. Archived from the original on 12 December 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
- ISBN 0-9509465-0-8.
- ^ Trains For Dereham. Wymondham and Dereham Rail Action Committee. 1849. pp. 9–21.
Bibliography
- Cooke, B.W.C., ed. (November 1968). "Kings Lynn Branches Last Day". Railway Magazine. Vol. 114, no. 811. Transport & Technical Publications Ltd.
- Garrod, Trevor (1984). East Anglia by Rail. Railway Development Society. ISBN 0-9509465-0-8.
- Hawkins, Chris; Reeve, George (1986). Great Eastern Railway Engine Sheds Part 1: Stratford, Peterborough and Norwich Districts. Wild Swan Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-906867-40-1.
- Jenkins, S. (1993). The Lynn and Dereham Railway. Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-443-1.
- Joby, R.S. (1975). The East Norfolk Railway. Klofron, Norwich.
- Oppitz, Leslie (Autumn 1989). East Anglia Railways Remembered. Countryside Books. ISBN 1-85306-040-2.
- Salveson, Paul (2000). Branching Out – Railways for Rural Communities. Research & Information Network. ISBN 1-900497-07-7.
- Scrivenor, Harry (1849). The Railways of the United Kingdom Statistically Considered. Smith, Elder and Co.
- Tuddenham, E. (March 1965). Railway World. Ian Allan.