Wherry Lines

Wherry Lines

Berney Arms, on the Wherry Lines, is one of the remotest and least-used stations in the country
Overview
Type Heavy rail
System National Rail
Status Operational
Locale East of England
Termini Norwich
Great Yarmouth / Lowestoft
Stations 14
Services 3
Operation
Owner Network Rail
Operator(s) Abellio Greater Anglia
Character Rural line
Rolling stock Class 37
Class 68
Class 153 "Super Sprinter"
Class 156 "Super Sprinter"
Class 170 "Turbostar"
Technical
Track length Norwich to Great Yarmouth via Acle: 18 miles 29 chains (29.6 km)
Norwich to Great Yarmouth via Reedham: 20 miles 45 chains (33.1 km)
Norwich to Lowestoft: 23 miles 41 chains (37.8 km)
Number of tracks 1-2
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed 60 miles per hour (97 km/h)
Wherry Lines
 miles-chains
0-00 Norwich

Great Eastern Main Line
to London Liverpool Street
 
River Yare
(original course)
 
 Whitlingham
Bittern Line
to Cromer and Sheringham
 3-57 Brundall Gardens
 4-53 Brundall
Brundall Junction
6-54 Buckenham
6-69 Lingwood
8-70 Cantley
9-25 Acle
11-04 Reedham
Reedham Junction
14-62 Berney Arms
Breydon Junction
A12 road
Up arrow 16-37
UpperLeft arrow 17-20
 Great Yarmouth
River Yare
 Haddiscoe(1847–1904)

 15-07 Haddiscoe

Haddiscoe Junction
Yarmouth–Beccles line
River Waveney
 16-71 Somerleyton
 20-77 Oulton Broad North
East Suffolk line
to Ipswich
Yarmouth–Lowestoft line
 22-32 Lowestoft

The Wherry Lines are railway branch lines in the East of England, linking Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. There are 14 stations including the three termini. They form part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 7, SRS 07.11 and are classified as a rural line.[1]

The lines pass through the Broads of Norfolk and Suffolk. The name is taken from the Norfolk wherries, which played an important role in the transport of goods and people around the Broads before road and rail transport became widespread.

Passenger services on the Wherry Lines are currently operated by Abellio Greater Anglia.

History

The line was opened from Norwich to Great Yarmouth by the Norwich and Yarmouth Railway in 1844, running via Reedham. The route from Reedham to Lowestoft was added in 1847 by Samuel Morton Peto as part of the Norfolk Railway. Finally, the northern route from Norwich to Great Yarmouth via Acle was added in 1882 by the Great Eastern Railway.

Community rail

In 2007 the services operating on the line were designated as community rail services as part of the Community Rail Development Strategy aiming to increase patronage and income, improve cost control and develop a greater sense of community involvement.[2][3]

Infrastructure

The line from Norwich to Lowestoft is double-track throughout, but the two Great Yarmouth branches that diverge from Brundall via Acle and from Reedham via Berney Arms are single-track.

The Wherry Lines are not electrified, hence services are formed by diesel multiple units. The route has a loading gauge of W8, except between Lowestoft and Oulton Broad North where it is W6, and a maximum line speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).

Of the 14 stations, two are request stops: Berney Arms, which typically sees four trains call per day (eight on Sundays), and Buckenham, which has no weekday service but sees three trains call each Saturday and six trains each Sunday. At most of the stations on the Wherry Lines, service frequencies are increased during the summer months.

Rolling stock

Passenger services are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia, typically using Class 153 "Super Sprinter", Class 156 "Super Sprinter" or Class 170 "Turbostar" diesel trains. In 2015 the train operator introduced DRS Class 37 locomotive-hauled services due to a shortage of rolling stock as the route is not electrified.

Nearly all services on the line run to and from Norwich. Some summer Saturday services were extended to and from London Liverpool Street via Norwich which ran to and from Great Yarmouth. These services were formed of British Rail Class 90 electric locomotives with Mark 3 Coaching Stock, which were dragged from Norwich by a British Rail Class 47 diesel locomotive. The services have now ceased favouring connections with existing local services, due to the complexity of the coupling and uncoupling and other issues which led to poor reliability of the mainline drags.

References

  1. ↑ "Route 7 – Great Eastern" (PDF). Network Rail. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
  2. ↑ "Community rail – new life for local lines". Department for Transport.
  3. ↑ "Community Rail Development Strategy". Department for Transport.

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