North Norfolk Railway

The North Norfolk Railway is a 5-mile long "steam heritage railway" located between the villages of Sheringham and Holt with a mid-point station at Weybourne.  Two miles beyond the upper station at Holt is the small village of Letheringsett where the Moore family came from.  The railway was once part of the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway (a rare beast in British railway organization) but with the "rationalization" of the British Railway system in the late 1950`s, the first part of the M&GN was closed in 1959.

A number of railway enthusiasts formed the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Preservation Society in October 1959, just a few weeks after most of the M&GN network had closed. However, the section that is now the North Norfolk Railway survived the initial closure, but was finally chopped by the infamous Beeching axe in April of 1964.

At first the Society focused on trying to re-open other parts of the M&GN line but ultimately had success in 1973 with the opening of the line between Sheringham and Weybourne when they were granted a light railway order.  Efforts continued to expand the line between Weybourne and Holt but faced the challenge of having to relay track up a 1-in-80 grade.  While it was impossible to reach the town of Holt as the right-of-way now had a highway on it, the line was relaid by Society volunteers along the original trackbed to a point about a mile from Holt town and saw its first train on March 19, 1989.  The story of the development of the North Norfolk is a most interesting one which has become a major tourist attraction in the northern part of Norfolk. The line covers a very scenic 5.25 miles (10.5 mile round trip) between Sheringham and Holt station with a view of the shores of the North Sea.

As the weeks go by, we`ll bring you up to speed on the North Norfolk Railway.