Wells and Walsingham Light Railway

The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway is a 10 ¹⁄₄ in (260 mm) gauge heritage railway in Norfolk, England running between the coastal town of Wells and Walsingham which is further inland. The railway occupies a part of the trackbed of the Wymondham to Wells branch also used by the Mid-Norfolk Railway.

Overview

The line, which is 4 miles (6.44 km) long, once formed part of the Great Eastern Railway and is now the longest 10 ¹⁄₄ in (260 mm) gauge railway in the world. It runs from the coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea to the pilgrimage centre at Walsingham. It is the northern section of the former Wymondham, Dereham, Fakenham and Wells-next-the-Sea line which was closed to passengers in stages from 1964 to 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts.

The railway operates from a new-build station located on the A149 approximately half a mile south of the original terminus at Wells. The terminus at Walsingham is situated a short distance north of the original GER station.

Trains run daily between March and November.^[1] Trains are mostly steam-operated; however in some cases diesel is used.

History

Construction and development

The Lynn and Dereham Railway and the Norfolk Railway both obtained Parliament's permission to build lines to Dereham in 1845,^[2] at the height of the so-called "Railway Mania", when railways were being frantically 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; with the line being extended to Fakenham and Wells-next-the-Sea by 1 December 1857.^[3]

Whilst the line between Wymondham and East Dereham was later provided with double track, the line north of there remained single line. A branch to Heacham, and a short spur to the harbour, also ran from Wells.^[3]

Grouping – the London & North Eastern Railway

As part of the Great Eastern Railway, the branch became part of the Southern Area of the London and North Eastern Railway at The Grouping in 1923.^[5] At this time the coaches used on the Wells line were still ex-GER 6 wheelers, although these were gradually replaced with bogie stock. Arguably the most evident change was that the GER Royal blue locomotives and crimson coaches were replaced by LNER black locomotives and brown carriages.^[6]

The line was heavily used during World War I and World War II, with extra Air Ministry sidings provided at Dereham in 1943.^[7] The line was also defended by an armoured train, reporting as Train G, based at Heacham and using F4 2-4-2 tank locomotive 7189 as motive power. The armoured train was frequently used on the Wells line, and once collided with some empty coaches at Wells.^[8]

Nationalisation – British Railways

Following the war, the railways were in a very run-down state. The 1947 Transport Act nationalised the "Big Four" railway companies, and the branch line became part of the Eastern Region of British Railways on 1 January 1948.

The 1955 Modernisation Plan resulted in the line's last steam passenger services. The final regular steam journey ran on 17 September 1955. Diesel units took over next day, with faster trains and a more frequent service. For the first few weeks, some extra Saturday services continued to be steam-operated.^[9] Steam-hauled freight continued into the early 1960s.^[10]

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 became one of many threatened by the "Beeching Report" in 1963.^[11] Beeching intended to retain the Kings Lynn - Dereham - Norwich line for express trains and freight: the local stations (that is all but Dereham and Swaffham) however, were recommended for closure.

Passenger closure

The passenger service between Dereham and Wells ended on 5 October 1964,^[11] with the branch to Heacham having closed on 5 October 1954.^[3]

Preservation

Work on rebuilding the line 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.^[12]

On 6 April 1982, purpose built steam locomotive Pilgrim, an 0-6-0T engine built for use on the line by David King Engineering at North Walsham, launched the public service.

Pilgrim hauled the train until 1987 when the new unique 2-6-0+0-6-2 Garratt locomotive Norfolk Hero came into service. Two extra coaches were added to the train increasing the seating capacity to 76. A redundant signal box was moved from Swainsthorpe to Wells, where the ground floor was converted to provide a shop and tearoom.

On 2 September 2008 vandals blocked the flangeways of Barnard's crossing, near Walsingham and used a level crossing gate to derail Norfolk Hero. The passengers and train crew were not injured in this attack, and a diesel locomotive was sent from Wells to recover the stranded passenger train - although some passengers chose to ignore advice from train crew and walked to Walsingham. Norfolk Hero was restored to service by the end of the month.^[13]

Locomotives

Steam locomotives

Diesel locomotives

Route description

The current line starts at Wells Station, on the A149 coast road just south of the town. After leaving the station trains begin to climb the 1 in 80 gradient to Warham, passing the remains of the Leicester Lime Works before passing under a road bridge carrying the Wells to Walsingham road.

At Warham the line starts to descend, and passes over a level crossing before reaching the request halt. Leaving the halt the line passes through a cutting, then over an embankment close to the Warham Camp hill fort, before reaching Wighton Halt.

After three level crossings, 'Barnard's Cutting' is reached. The 1 in 29 gradient created during the restoration of the route has been restored to the original 1 in 60 by engineers from the National Construction Training College removing 17,000 tons of material in 1999.

After passing over a high embankment and a brick underbridge the line enters the outskirts of Little Walsingham, before arriving at Walsingham station.

See also

• Bressingham Steam and Gardens
• Bure Valley Railway
• Mid-Norfolk Railway
• North Norfolk Railway
• Whitwell & Reepham railway station
• Yaxham Light Railway
• List of closed railway stations in Norfolk

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Oppitz, Leslie (Autumn 1989). East Anglia Railways Remembered. Countryside Books. 

• Jenkins, S. (1993). The Lynn and Dereham Railway. Middleton Press. 

• Tuddenham, E. (March, 1965). Railway World. Ian Allan. 

External links

• Railway Website.