February 13th 2012

"Extension of the Mid Norfolk Railway from Dereham to County School"

          John Hull, Vice Chairman and Director responsible for liason with Permanent Way/Infrastructure Department.
                  Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust.

(Pictures in this report are courtesy of the Mid-Norfolk Railway)

A large audience of Society Members and guests attended the meeting at which John Hull, supported by Leslie Dale, both members of the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust, described the history, development and current activities of the Mid-Norfolk Railway.

John started his talk by describing the southern section of the line starting from its connection to the Norwich- Ely mainline at Wymondham. A series of photographs, taken in the 70s, showed the mainline with the signal box, various loops and sidings and the branch to Dereham. Recent photographs illustrated the simplification that has been carried out at Wymondham, namely the reduction in sidings and more importantly, for the Mid-Norfolk railway, the elimination of the direct crossover from the up mainline into the Dereham branch, making it difficult to take trains directly from Norwich into Dereham.

Entering MNR at Wymondham South	Thuxton Today	Dereham in 1910

In 1997 the Preservation Trust built a temporary station close to Wymondham Abbey. Further along the line, closer to the junction, a run around loop was built some years ago allowing trains to terminate at Wymondham Abbey station before running around and returning to Dereham. It is planned eventually to build a more permanent station further down the line towards the Wymondham National Rail station.

John Hull then showed photographs, both present-day and from the 70s, of the stations along the line starting at Kimberley Park. When the line was originally built by the Norfolk Railway in 1847 it was single tracked, it was then doubled between Wymondham and Dereham by the Great Eastern Railway after it took over in 1862. The GER also extended most of the station buildings. Later in 1965 it was again singled by British Rail. All the stations are intact and in private ownership. At Thuxton a new loop has recently been completed at the cost of £70,000, while a new signal box is now under construction. The loop, allowing trains to cross over, facilitates more trains to be in operation at the same time. At this point, John Hull emphasised the high cost of materials required to maintain and extend the railway, for example, a point cost £20,000, a sleeper £30 and the rebuilding of the level crossing at Yaxham had cost £10,000. Moving further north the next station is at Yaxham where many of the station buildings are owned by John Hull's family members. Photographs of several of the level crossings were shown, all in different states of repair. The gates have suffered over the years from many collisions with motor vehicles and now prove very expensive to repair.

Dereham after restoration	Diesel passing restored Dereham signal box	Steam visitor coaling in Dereham yard

The major station on the line is at Dereham, this was a junction station where lines ran south and west to ` King's Lynn and north to Fakenham and Wells. When the Preservation Trust took over the line the station was complete, but derelict. It was restored in 2001 after receipt of a large grant, to represent its condition in the 1960s. Dereham was a source of much freight traffic with maltings and coal yards. A photograph of the original railway stables was shown which, it is believed, housed four horses and was complete with a hayloft. These horses would have been used primarily for shunting but also for delivering goods around the town.

Photographs of several of the railway’s current diesel locomotive fleet was shown stored at Dereham, as was the inspection pit and water tower, both of which had recently been completed. The railway’s connection to the mainline has proven very useful not only for the bringing in of special trains but for access for companies such as DRS who have carried out training on the line. Most recently when National Express wanted to offload a Class 156 DMU from a low loader after a repair they took advantage of the facilities at the station yard at Dereham as National Express’ Crown Point depot has no road access. These activities provide additional revenue for the railway.

There are two signal boxes at Dereham, the Central signal box, currently in operation, and the North signal box that was from Laundry Lane on the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway. This North signal box is not yet operational, but will eventually control the entry to the northern section of the track from Dereham. Another signal box, rescued from Soham, which is intended for Kimberley Park, is now lying dismantled in the Dereham car park.

King Edward II in Dereham Summer 2011	A B2 visiting Dereham recently	Steam Gala lineup in Dereham Yard in 2011

Regular train services are operated over the southern section of the line between Dereham and Wymondham Abbey while the North section from Dereham to County School is under restoration.

John Hull then continued his talk with a description of the northern section. The photographs shown from the 1970s illustrate the dramatic changes that have taken place since then. North of Dereham in the earlier photographs there were large cattle yards and fertiliser unloading facilities, all of which have now gone.

Typical state of track north of Dereham before restoration	An early works train near to Hoe	First steam visit with works wagons to Hoe

When the restoration of the track was started it was heavily overgrown and the Probation Service provided much needed labour to help in cutting away the heavy undergrowth. Also north of Dereham the track runs along a large embankment, which over the years has become unstable and will present a challenge to the permanent way gangs in stabilising it to enable trains to travel at any reasonable speed.

Northall Cutting prior to restoration	After restoration	Track level view of one of the Northall bridges after some restoration work has been done

At Worthing, the Whitewater river runs underneath the railway and the railway crosses via a bridge, which was constructed to carry double track although only single track was ever built. North Elham was the most important station on the length of track between Dereham and County School station. A large amount of freight traffic was originally generated by the granaries at North Elmham, but these are now closed.

North Elmham in its twilight BR days	North Elmham Station as it is now - note the upper storey added since BR days	Present day end of line prior to restoration

County School station is owned by the Preservation Trust and has been thoroughly renovated. It was built by the Great Eastern Railway in 1886 and still retains all the Great Eastern Railway features, including the GER cast iron supports for the canopy. County School station had four platform faces with an island platform, it was located at the head of a branch line with one track going north to Fakenham and Wells and the other east to Aylsham and Wroxham. It was originally built to serve the County School which has now been demolished.

End of line with underbrush removed - about a mile of track is needed to connect up with track at County School	County School prior to restoration proper	County School after its first phase of restoration

A photograph of Fakenham station after closure with the track removed was shown but this area is now under a supermarket. Some plans have been drawn up to connect the Mid-Norfolk Railway to the North Norfolk Railway, but for this to be facilitated the old Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway track bed would have to be used passing close to the preserved Fakenham gasworks.

In response to a question, John Hull explained that the Preservation Trust owns the track and track beds and had bought them from the Breckland and South Norfolk District Councils using a mortgage. He finished his talk by emphasising the fact that the Preservation Trust was run entirely by volunteers who contributed a large amount of their time and skills to maintain and improve the railway.

Peter Davies

February 2012