Hethersett railway station

Hethersett
Location
Place	Hethersett
Area	South Norfolk
Grid reference	TG170041
Operations
Pre-grouping	Norfolk Railway Great Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway Eastern Region of British Railways
Platforms	2
History
30 July 1845	Opened
September 1847	Closed
February 1852	Reopened
28 December 1964	Closed to freight
31 January 1966	Closed to passengers
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Hethersett was a railway station near Hethersett, Norfolk.

History

The Bill for the Norwich & Brandon Railway (N&BR) received Royal Assent on 10 May 1844. Work started on the line in 1844 and the line and its stations were opened on 30 July 1845. Hethersett station opened with the line and was situated east of Spink's Lane station and west of Trowse station. The line ran from Ely to Trowse, in Norwich. The link into Norwich was delayed due to the need to build a bridge over the River Wensum that kept the river navigable. One month before the N&BR opened a Bill authorising the amalgamation of the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway with the N&BR came into effect and so Hethersett station became a Norfolk Railway asset.

Spink's Lane was closed in November 1845, for good, so the next station west of Hethersett was Wymondham.^[1]

The NR closed Hethersett station in September 1847.^[2]

Five years later and four years after the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) took over the NR the new owners reopened Hethersett Station.^[3]

A decade after Hethersett reopened, the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the ECR, 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, Hethersett 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 5 decades. Trowse station, the next station east of Hethersett, was closed on 22 May 1916. This meant the first station east of Hethersett was Norwich-Thorpe. One year after the First World War finished the GER reopened Trowse on 1 April 1919. Because of 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). Hethersett became a LNER station on 1 January 1923.

16 years after the LNER took over World War 2 started on 1 September 1939 with the UK declaring war on Germany 2 days later on 3 September 1939. 2 days later, 05 September 1939 Trowse station was closed.^[4]

8 years later, the War over, 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 Hethersett became a BR station.^[5]

14 years after BR was created steam had gone and Hethersett Station was now served by Diesel trains. British Transport Commission (1954).^[6]

4 years after steam had gone BR, as part of the Beeching rationalisation, closed Hethersett station on 31 January 1966.^[7]

Hethersett was located some distance from the village it took its name from. It was located on the Great Eastern Railway Main Line between Norwich and Thetford. It was served by between ten and twelve trains a day each way during the early sixties. Following closure, the platforms were removed and the station building stood derelict for many years, though it has now been restored and converted into a private residence.

References

External links

• Hethersett station on navigable 1946 O. S. map

Coordinates: 52°35′30″N 1°12′11″E / 52.5917°N 1.2031°E / 52.5917; 1.2031