Overview | |
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Locale | England |
Dates of operation | 1869–1964 (passengers) |
Successor | Great Eastern Railway |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
Length | 18.75 miles (30.18 km) |
The Bury and Thetford (Swaffham Branch), also known as the Crab and Winkle Line, [1] was a railway line in England. It was formed of the Watton and Swaffham Railway, founded in 1866 as an independent venture by the Thetford and Watton Railway Company. Freight services commenced in January 1869, with passenger services in October 1869. The line ran from Thetford, via Watton to a junction with the Lynn and Dereham Railway at Swaffham and was completed in 1875. [2] The extension to Swaffham cost £72,000, [3]
On 21 July 1879 the line was leased to the Great Eastern Railway for 999 years, commencing 1 March 1880. It was vested into the GER in 1897, becoming part of the London and North Eastern Railway on 1 January 1923. [4]
The line was closed to passengers on 15 June 1964, with a two-car diesel multiple unit (DMU) driven by driver David Grant of Dereham operating the final service. There were only 70 passengers on the final stage of the journey. Roudham Junction to Watton was closed completely at this time, and the remainder was closed to freight on 19 April 1965, after transporting the final sugar beet and coal traffic. [5]
On opening, the railway was approached by Robert Fairlie, who wanted a line to test his "Fairlie Steam Carriage", [6] [ citation needed ] but the railway company were not interested in this proposal. [note 1] Instead locomotives were obtained from Manning Wardle & Co. These were 0-6-0 tank locomotives with 3-foot driving wheels and 11-inch cylinders. The railway also secured a rebuilt 3 ft 6 in saddle tank. [9] These locomotives were maintained at a shed at Watton. [10]
Two more Manning Wardle tanks, and two Sharp, Stewart and Company 0-4-2 tender locomotives were added by September 1876. The railway was taken over by the Great Eastern Railway in 1880, with the locomotives joining the GER stock list. The Sharp locomotives being scrapped in 1891 and the tank engines in the late 1880s. [11]
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The line was lifted after closure. The route either side of Stow Bedon station has been removed, and the station site levelled. The section of line between Stow Bedon and Wretham was intended to be used for a new road, and Stow Bedon station was demolished as part of this plan. The road was not, however, constructed.
Watton station has also been demolished and the site redeveloped, although a level crossing gate survived on Church Road as late as 1983. The line from the junction with the Dereham line at Swaffham remains unobstructed, although with some bridges removed. Holme Hale station remains as a private residence, complete with signal box and signal post - although heavily extended. [12]
One of the ballast quarries created during the construction of the railway through Watton was converted into a leisure park and bathing lake known as Loch Neaton. The area was named "Loch Neaton" in honour of the Scottish navvies who built the line, with Neaton being the local hamlet. The park remains today, bordered on one side by the abandoned railway embankment. [13]
Breckland is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Dereham, although the largest town is Thetford. The district also includes the towns of Attleborough, Swaffham and Watton, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas.
The Camden railway line is a closed railway line between Campbelltown and Camden in the southwestern outskirts of Sydney, Australia. The passenger service was also known as the 'Camden Tram' and affectionately as 'Pansy'.
The Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway (B&MR) was a railway company in Wales. It was originally intended to link the towns in its name. Finding its access to Merthyr difficult at first, it acquired the Rumney Railway, an old plateway, and this gave it access to Newport docks. This changed its emphasis from rural line to mineral artery.
Watton is a market town in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England, about 25 miles (40 km) west-southwest of Norwich and 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Thetford. The annual Wayland Agricultural Show in its west is one of the oldest one-day such shows in England.
Stow Bedon is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Stow Bedon and Breckles, in the Breckland district of the English county of Norfolk. Stow Bedon adjoins the hamlet of Lower Stow Bedon, although the two are often considered to be one village. In the south of the parish is the village of Breckles. In 2011 the merged parish had a population of 290.
The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway is a 10+1⁄4 in gauge heritage railway in Norfolk, England running between the coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea and the inland village of Walsingham. The railway occupies a four-mile (6.4 km) section of the trackbed of the former Wymondham to Wells branch which was closed to passengers in stages from 1964 to 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts. Other parts of this line, further south, have also been preserved by the Mid-Norfolk Railway.
Thetford railway station is on the Breckland line in the east of England, serving the market town of Thetford, Norfolk. The line runs between Cambridge in the west and Norwich in the east.
Swaffham railway station was located in Swaffham, Norfolk. It was the junction for lines to King's Lynn, Dereham, and Thetford. The Thetford branch closed on 15 June 1964, and the station closed to passengers on 9 September 1968.
Wells-next-the-Sea was railway station that served the port town of Wells-next-the-Sea in North Norfolk, England. It was opened in 1857 by the Wells & Fakenham Railway, later part of the Great Eastern Railway's Wymondham to Wells branch, and became a junction in 1866 with the arrival of the West Norfolk Junction Railway. It closed in 1964.
Holme Hale railway station was located in Holme Hale, Norfolk, near Swaffham. It was on the Great Eastern Railway line between Swaffham and Thetford, and closed in 1964.
Roudham Junction railway station was a station in Norfolk, England. It was located in a remote area east of Thetford, where the Main Line between Norwich and Thetford joined the branch line from Swaffham. Today a few remnants of the former station can be glimpsed from the passing trains.
Wretham and Hockham railway station was a station in Norfolk serving the villages of Wretham and Hockham. It was on the Great Eastern Railway branch line between Swaffham and Thetford. The station was opened for goods traffic on 28 January 1869 and for passengers on 18 October 1869. It closed in 1964.
Fransham railway station is a former station in Great Fransham, Norfolk. It was opened as part of the Lynn and Dereham Railway, becoming part of the East Anglian Railway from 1847, on the section of line between Dereham and Swaffham.
The Cambridge to Mildenhall railway is a closed railway between Cambridge and Mildenhall in England. It was built by the Great Eastern Railway, and opened in two stages, in 1884 and 1885.
Ingham railway station was a railway station in Ingham, Suffolk which was located was on the route between Thetford and Bury St Edmunds.
Barnham railway station is a former station in Barnham, Suffolk on a now closed line between Thetford and Bury St Edmunds. It was located close to the Norfolk border.
The Lynn and Dereham Railway was a standard gauge 26+1⁄2-mile (42.6 km) single track railway running between King's Lynn and Dereham in the English county of Norfolk. The Lynn to Dereham line opened in 1846 and closed in 1968, although the section between Middleton Towers and King's Lynn remains open to freight.
The Wymondham to Wells Branch was a railway built in stages by the Norfolk Railway, Eastern Counties Railway and Wells and Fakenham Company between 1847 and 1857. The railway ran from Wymondham in the south, through Dereham and Fakenham to the coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea; more specifically, the line ran from Wymondham South Junction, where it met the present-day Breckland Line. Passenger services along the line lasted until 1969; the railway continued to be used for freight until 1989. The southern section of the railway now forms the Mid-Norfolk Railway, with part of the northern section serving as the narrow gauge Wells and Walsingham Light Railway.
Loch Neaton is a freshwater lake near Watton in Norfolk, England. It was created after earth was excavated in 1875 to create a mile long embankment for the extension to Swaffham of the Thetford to Watton railway station. Local businessmen saw the potential of creating a leisure park in the area, with a tennis court, bowling green and bandstand. The excavated area was filled with water to create a lake for swimming, boating and fishing.