VISIT TO RAILWAYS IN NORTH NORFOLK JUNE 2025

MTheStrong

MTheStrong

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I have just returned from a break to North Norfolk. I was based at Narborough, between Kings Lynn and Swaffham. I visited a number of Railways including the North Norfolk at Holt/Sheringham, The Bure Valley at Aylsham and The Wells Railway. I decided not to visit the Mid Norfolk as they were running Pacer DMUs on the day I could have visited. I also visited various National Trust properties including Peckover House in Wisbech (yes I know it is not in Norfolk, but it was on the way to Narborough), Oxborugh Hall, Fellbrig and Blickling.
 
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So on to the first railway visited - North Norfolk. I parked the car at Holt and took the Heritage Railcar to Weybourne. Along with the Railcar there were 2 steam engines in operation. The first was Hercules the ex GWR Tank 4277 and the ex NCB Saddle tank which was used on the lunchtime dining service.

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Finally the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway. The longest 10 1/4 inch gauge in the world! No steam was in operation - there is an appeal for boiler repairs to the Garrett Norfolk Hero. Instead a diesel ran the service. It takes approximately half an hour to travel from Wells to Walsingham.

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MTheStrong said:
Finally the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway. The longest 10 1/4 inch gauge in the world! No steam was in operation - there is an appeal for boiler repairs to the Garrett Norfolk Hero. Instead a diesel ran the service. It takes approximately half an hour to travel from Wells to Walsingham.

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That coach is very interesting being 1 of 4 pre-grouping ones the lone that are former SG ones. Difficult to work out if it was a 5 or 6 compartment vehicle which would have narrowed it down to 2. The 5 compartment ones being Holden which I think makes them former GE ones, though a search specifying GER shows them all as being GE origin.
 
MTheStrong said:
Now on to the Bure Valley Railway at Aylesford. There were 3 steam engines in service. Spitfire ran a special.

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I rather like the Aylesford (EDIT AYLESHAM, big big typo error!) line running as it does on a former GE line with pretty well all the former infrastructure in place excepting the station platforms. Another line to add to our list of Garden Railways if I could find the post!,,,,,
 
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dunnyrail said:
I rather like the Aylesford line running as it does on a former GE line with pretty well all the former infrastructure in place exceping the station platforms. Another line to add to our list of Garden Railways if I could find the post!,,,,,
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Yep - Aylsham .................... your sat nav won't take you to a railway at Aylesford :p

............. and yes, the old BR trackbed to Wroxham - nice trip
 
MTheStrong said:
Finally the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway. The longest 10 1/4 inch gauge in the world! No steam was in operation - there is an appeal for boiler repairs to the Garrett Norfolk Hero. Instead a diesel ran the service. It takes approximately half an hour to travel from Wells to Walsingham.

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The Wells-on-Sea sign is interesting as the town is Wells-next-the-sea. As you probably found out, the lifeboat station is a long way from the town. It was re-built after the floods just over ten years ago when the sea came in the front door and went out the back o_O
 
Rhinochugger said:
Yep - Aylsham .................... your sat nav won't take you to a railway at Aylesford :p

............. and yes, the old BR trackbed to Wroxham - nice trip
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Oops sorry, big big typo!
 
Rhinochugger said:
The Wells-on-Sea sign is interesting as the town is Wells-next-the-sea. As you probably found out, the lifeboat station is a long way from the town. It was re-built after the floods just over ten years ago when the sea came in the front door and went out the back o_O
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Sadly, the miniature railway whch ran from the harbour to the beach is no more.
 
We are off to Hunstanton for a few days, so I hope we will have a day on the NNR, parking at Holt, riding to Sheringham for lunch and then (if sunny) spending time sitting in the sun at Weybourne (although this is best done on a steam event weekend with trains running in fairly frequently, carriage doors slamming, guards' whistles being blown and other nostalgic sounds).
 
playmofire said:
Sadly, the miniature railway whch ran from the harbour to the beach is no more.
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Yes, there was a bizarre statement from Holkham Hall which left the operators with no option but to sell the equipment when the first opportunity arose.

What on earth Holkham think they could ever do with that strip of land is beyond me - and beyond many local people :(:(:(
 
Rhinochugger said:
Yes, there was a bizarre statement from Holkham Hall which left the operators with no option but to sell the equipment when the first opportunity arose.

What on earth Holkham think they could ever do with that strip of land is beyond me - and beyond many local people :(:(:(
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They were supposedly going to replace the railway with some sort of solar-powered minibus service. Whether they did or not I don't know.
 
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