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The Wells & Fakenham Railway, was the northern part of the Wymondham to Wells branch in Norfolk, England. It connected the market town of Fakenham to the coast at Wells-next-the-Sea. It closed to passenger traffic in 1964 and to goods traffic in the 1980s.
The Norfolk Railway opened a line from Wymondham to Dereham, on the Norwich to Thetford mainline, in 1847, and a line from Dereham to Fakenham in 1849. The Wells and Fakenham Railway, incorporated in 1854, was formed by local landowners and some directors of the Norfolk Railway. The 9.5 miles (15.3 km) Fakenham to Wells line opened in 1857 and a short branch to Wells Harbour was built in 1859. The line became part of the Great Eastern Railway in 1862. [1] [2]
The line used diesel multiple units for passenger traffic from 1955. It was listed for closure in the Beeching Report and closed to passengers on 5 October 1964. Goods services continued until the 1980s. [1]
Part of the route has been reopened as the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway. [1] A section of trackbed from Walsingham railway station southwards to the village of Houghton Saint Giles is used as a public footpath called the Pilgrims' Way.
Wells-next-the-Sea is a small town and port on the North Norfolk coast of England.
Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about 25 miles north west of Norwich. The town is the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to Norwich and the A1065 to Swaffham.
The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) is a 15-mile (24 km) preserved standard gauge heritage railway, one of the longest in Great Britain. Preservation efforts began in 1974, but the line re-opened to passengers only in the mid-1990s as part of the "New Generation" of heritage railways.
County School railway station is on the Mid-Norfolk Railway in Norfolk, England, and will serve the villages of North Elmham and Guist once services resume. It is 17 miles 40 chains (28 km) down the line from Wymondham and is the northernmost station owned by the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust.
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 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.
Dereham railway station is a railway station in the town of Dereham in the English county of Norfolk. The station is served by heritage services on the Mid-Norfolk Railway from Dereham to Wymondham.
North Elmham railway station is a railway station in the village of North Elmham in the English county of Norfolk. The station was part of the Wymondham to Wells Branch, and is part of a section of the line being restored by the Mid-Norfolk Railway from Dereham to County School railway station.
Ashwellthorpe was a railway station that existed in the village of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, on a cutoff line between Forncett and Wymondham. This entry covers the history of the line and the station.
Wells-next-the-Sea railway station served the small seaside port 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.
The Norfolk Orbital Railway — as the Holt, Melton Constable and Fakenham Railway Company — is a proposed rail project in Norfolk, England, which is proposed to look at bringing a new rail connection to North and Mid Norfolk.
Ryburgh railway station was a railway station in the village of Great Ryburgh in the English county of Norfolk.
Forncett railway station was a railway station in Forncett, South Norfolk located 104 miles from London Liverpool Street. It was opened in 1849 when Norwich and Ipswich were connected by the Eastern Union Railway in 1849. Between 1881 and 1951 it was a junction for a short route to Wymondham and was closed as a result of the Beeching Axe with other smaller stations between Norwich and Ipswich.
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.
Railways have played an important part in the history and development of the English county of Norfolk. It currently has thirty open National Rail stations, though there were once well over a hundred.
The West Norfolk Junction Railway was a standard gauge eighteen and a half-mile single-track railway running between Wells-next-the-Sea railway station and Heacham in the English county of Norfolk. It opened in 1866 and closed in 1953.
The East Norfolk Railway was a pre-grouping railway company operating a standard gauge 25 mile, mostly single track, railway running between Norwich Thorpe railway station and Cromer in the English county of Norfolk. It opened in 1874, reaching Cromer three years later, and remains mostly operational. The company also operated a branch between Wroxham and County School, which closed to passengers in 1952, and had proposed a branch to Blakeney in 1878, which was never constructed.
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.
The Norfolk Railway was an early railway company that controlled a network of 94 miles around Norwich, England. It was formed in 1845 by the amalgamation of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway opened in 1844, and the Norwich and Brandon Railway, not yet opened. These lines were built out of frustration that the Eastern Counties Railway line that was expected to connect Norwich to London failed to be completed. The Norfolk Railway also leased the Lowestoft Railway and Harbour company, and built a branch to Dereham and Fakenham, opened in 1846 and 1849 respectively.
The Lynn and Hunstanton Railway was a line in Norfolk, England that opened in 1862. The railway was a major factor in developing Hunstanton as a seaside resort and residential community. The company was allied to the West Norfolk Junction Railway which built a line connecting Heacham, south of Hunstanton, to Wells-next-the-Sea that was not a financial success. The companies amalgamated in 1874 to form the Hunstanton and West Norfolk Railway, and in 1890 the company was sold to the Great Eastern Railway.
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