Berney Arms railway station

Berney Arms National Rail

Berney Arms railway station
Location
Place Berney Arms
Local authority Broadland
Grid reference TG460053
Operations
Station code BYA
Managed by Abellio Greater Anglia
Number of platforms 1
DfT category F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2009/10 Increase 1,628
2010/11 Increase 1,686
2011/12 Decrease 1,436
2012/13 Decrease 1,054
2013/14 Increase 1,510
History
Original company Yarmouth and Norwich Railway[1]
Eastern Counties Railway
Pre-grouping Great Eastern Railway
Post-grouping London and North Eastern Railway
1 May 1844 Opened[1]
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Berney Arms from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Berney Arms railway station is a halt serving the remote settlement of Berney Arms on the Halvergate Marshes in the English county of Norfolk. As of 2013 the station is operated by Abellio Greater Anglia with a limited number of trains stopping on the Wherry Lines service between Norwich and Great Yarmouth.[2]

The station, which is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from the nearest road, is the most remote station in Norfolk. It is accessible only by rail or on foot:[2][3] the station is a 650 metres (0.40 mi) walk from the River Yare where private boats can moor. The station was adopted in 2010 as part of the Station Adoption Scheme.[4]

History

Berney Arms station in the 1970s
The station on a busier day; 64 passengers embark on a class 156 diesel multiple unit for Norwich as part of a Rail Ale Ramble organised by Crookham Travel
The former Berney Arms Signal Box, as preserved at Mangapps Railway Museum

The Bill for the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway (Y&NR) received Royal Assent on 18 June 1842. Work started on the line in April 1843 and the line and its stations were opened on 1 May 1844. Berney Arms station opened with the line and was, as it is now, situated east of Reedham station and west of Yarmouth (Vauxhall) station. The Y&NR was the first public railway line in Norfolk. Local landowner Thomas Trench Berney sold the land to the railway company on condition that a station be built.[5] A few years later, the railway company stopped serving the station, saying that there had been no agreement to actually serve the railway station that they agreed to build. After lengthy legal proceedings, it was agreed to serve the station in perpetuity.[6]

The Y&NR was the first public railway line in Norfolk. On 30 June 1845 a Bill authorising the amalgamation of the Y&NR with the Norwich & Brandon Railway came into effect and Berney Arms station became a Norfolk Railway asset.[3][1][7][1]

The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) and its rival the Eastern Union Railway (EUR) were both sizing up the NR to acquire and expand their railway empire. The ECR trumped the EUR by taking over the NR, including Berney Arms Station on 8 May 1848.

By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway, which wished to amalgamate formally but could not obtain government agreement for this until an Act of Parliament on 7 August 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by the amalgamation. Actually, Berney Arms became a GER station on 1 July 1862 when the GER took over the ECR and the EUR before the Bill received the Royal Assent.[4]<CJ Allen - Great Eastern - page46>

The system settled down for the next 6 decades, apart from the disruption of First World War. The difficult economic circumstances that existed after World War 1 led the Government to pass the Railways Act 1921 which led to the creation of the Big Four. The GER was absorbed into the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER). Berney Arms became a LNER station on 1 January 1923.

A generation later, in 1947, the Government of the day passed the Transport Act which nationalised the Big Four and created British Railways (BR). On 1 January 1948 Berney Arms became a BR station.

Following privatisation of the railways, Railtrack became responsible for infrastructure maintenance in 1994. Following Railtrack's financial problems Network Rail took over operation of the infrastructure in 2002.

The operation of the line was privatised in 1997 when the franchise was awarded to Anglia Railways, which operated it until April 2004 when National Express East Anglia won the replacement franchise, operating under the brand name 'one' until February 2008. From February 2012 Abellio Greater Anglia took over operating the franchise.

During the 1980s British Rail wanted to close the line between Reedham and Great Yarmouth, with the associated closure of the station. Local opposition resulted in the plan being withdrawn.

A post office at Berney Arms Station opened in 1898 but closed in 1967. The former Berney Arms signal box is preserved at Mangapps Railway Museum in Burnham on Crouch in Essex.

Services

The line is promoted as part of the Wherry Lines service operated by Abellio Greater Anglia. Services use Class 153, Class 156 or Class 170 diesel multiple units. As of February 2014, two trains stop to Norwich and two to Great Yarmouth each day apart from on Sundays when the station is served by four trains in each direction. Service frequencies generally increase slightly during the summer period to three trains in each direction each day and five in each direction on a weekend.[8]

As of 2015, Berney Arms is operated as a request stop.[9]

Locality

The station is located around 600 metres (0.37 mi) from the River Yare in an area of exposed grazing marsh. The surrounding marshland is managed as the RSPB Berney Marshes reserve and is adjacent to Breydon Water, a major site for wildfowl. Berney Arms Windmill, owned by English Heritage, is located on the Yare near to the station as is the Berney Arms, a public house open during the summer period.

The Weavers' Way and Wherryman's Way long distance footpaths both pass near the station.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
  2. 1 2 Berney Arms (BYA), National Rail Enquiries. Retrieved 2013-09-01.
  3. ↑ Getting to Berney Arms, Berney Arms Station adopter website, 2010. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
  4. ↑ Berney Arms Station, Berney Arms Station adopter website, 2010. retrieved 2011-04-17.
  5. ↑ Berney Arms Railway Station, Berney Arms Web. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
  6. ↑ McKie.D (2010) The rail to nowhere, The Guardian, 2010-07-11. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
  7. ↑ C.J. Allen
  8. ↑ 'Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft', Greater Anglia, December 2013.
  9. ↑ Route Details for any journey from or to Berney Arms, accessible through http://www.nationalrail.co.uk - National Rail Enquiries,

Further reading

External links

Coordinates: 52°35′24″N 1°37′51″E / 52.59000°N 1.63083°E / 52.59000; 1.63083

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Reedham   Abellio Greater Anglia
Wherry Lines		   Great Yarmouth
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