KING’S LYNN TO DEREHAM RAILWAY

The Lynn Dereham Railway

The Lynn and Dereham railway ran from the West to the East across the heart of rural Norfolk along a cross-country line linking the towns of King's Lynn, Swaffham and Dereham, also linking smaller villages like East Winch, Pentney Narbrough, Fransham & Wendling.
Some services continued towards Norwich, reversing at Dereham, using the Wymondham, Fakenham, wells line, and going onto Norwich Thorpe station.

At first, there were plans to have the line from the Lynn & Dereham railway extended from King's Lynn to Great Yarmouth.
This never happened.
Parliament stated that a railway would be Built by the Norfolk railway company to Wymondham from Dereham and onto Norwich, stopping the need for the extension to Yarmouth.
By 1862 The Lynn & Dereham railway company and the Wymondham line companies had both been brought by the newly formed Great Eastern Railway.
With control of both Lines, the Great Eastern Railway could extend services from Dereham to Norwich during busy times and have an alternative freight route keeping the busy Norwich to Ely line less congested.
At Swaffham, a junction took services off on the Bury and Thetford (Swaffham Branch) line at 18 1/4 miles long.
calling at
Holme Hale
Watton
Stow Bedon
Wretham and Hockham
Roudham Junction railway station
Where the line joined up onto the Norwich Breckland line.

Work started from King's Lynn to Narborough, roughly 9 miles away, supervised by civil engineer John Sutherland Valentine who was already constructing the Lynn Ely railway and would later build the King's Lynn to Hunstanton railway.
The Dereham branch was expected to be a simpler railway than the Lynn Ely railway, with the land between here and Swaffham being level and few river crossings compared to the Lynn Ely line. Both lines were built simultaneously, with a yard holding the sleeper's rails and ballast said to have been made at King's Lynn.
The first section of the Lynn Dereham railway was opened from King's Lynn to Narborough in October 1846, with part of the Lynn-Ely railway opened as far as Downham Market simultaneously.
By June 1847, the line was expected to be opened as far as Swaffham, as the line had already been completed one mile past Narborough when the first part had been constructed and opened.
On the 25th of October 1847, the Lynn Ely railway had been completed linking Kings Lynn up at Ely junction to Cambridge and London.
The line Between Narborough and Swaffham was more challenging to build than expected, with Cuttings 40 feet deep and considerable levelling at Swaffham, but on the 10th of August 1847, the line opened as far as Swaffham with a temporary railhead at Sporle in 1847

In 1848 the Line From King's Lynn Reached its destination
Dereham
1862 -1923
The Great Eastern railway company took over the line, which was also to take over the Hunstanton Branch that also started from King's Lynn.
In 1866 there were said to be only four trains in each direction.
In 1911 there are said to have been seven up-and-down services.
Down services
Kings Lynn-Dep AM  8.06, 8.51, PM 12.30, 3.11, 4.53, 5.43, 8.18
Dereham-Arr AM 8.55, 9.52, PM 1.33, 4.07, 5.46, 6.40, 9.13
Up services
Dereham-Dep AM 7.08, 9.03, 10.14, 11.30, PM 1.52, 4.21, 4.41, 7.47
King's Lynn-Arr AM 8.03, 9.52, 11.15, 12.30, 2.48, 5.17, 5.30, 8.45
1923-1947
The London & North Eastern Railway took over the running of the line.
With the end of the war, a new Labour government pledging to nationalise the railway network, the four leading companies, LNER, LMS, GWR, and SR, all became
British Railways.
British railways continued to use the identical steam locomotives as Lner until 1955
Before diesel, most services were hauled by D16s and Freight by J17s units in the steam days.
During the steam days, there were 5 to 6 services a day.
With services taking 65 to 70 minutes.
 In 1955 Diesel units took over steam use. These diesel units were to be based at Dereham, and one stabled overnight at King's Lynn for the first-morning service. Comprising of two car Derby Units and Metro Cammell units, later to be class 101s
These units also served the Wells to Wymondham line and also the Swaffham to Thetford route.
In June 1956, British railways changed the timetable to make use of the new diesel units.
Diesel units increased the services to 12 daily and reduced journey times varying between 50 to 60 minutes along the 26 1/2 mile trip between King's Lynn and Dereham.
One train ran from King's Lynn to Norwich, and two ran from Norwich Thorpe to King's Lynn.
These services averaged 1 1/2 hours apart from the morning service that missed several stops after Dereham and reached Norwich in 85 minutes.
This service left King's Lynn at 9.03 am.
Ten daily Diesel services also served Dereham to Wells services.
The first-morning diesel service left King's Lynn at 6.48 and Dereham at
6.47 and passed at the passing loop at Swaffham.
On Sundays, though there were no King's Lynn to Dereham services even in the summer months, Dereham to Wells had a railway service through on a Sunday.
Sadly though, in the 1950s, the Government seemed to see the railway network as a drain on the state resources and injected more and more of the government funds into the road network than the cash-starved railway network.
Other lines, like the West Norfolk branch between Heacham and Wells, closed in 1952. Also, the M&gn network closed in 1959, giving the King's Lynn Norwich line all the Holiday traffic to Norwich and onto Great Yarmouth, boosting the Lynn Dereham line; railway closures were common at this time.
This line was thought to have been under the British railway's knife.

Not just yet.

In March 1963, the Government brought in Dr Richand Beeching to look at the railway network, and he produced the reshaping of British railways report.
The report recommended the closure of 5000 miles of track and also 2,363 stations on the railway network.
Two of the first victims were the Dereham to wells Branch and the Swaffham to Thetford branch that closed in 1964.
Goods services between Wells and Fakenham East stayed open for a short while. Still, they were to be closed soon after passenger services stopped leaving the part between Dereham and Wymondham junction for Norwich services open for passengers and the short part between Fakenham and Dereham open for freight use.
After the closures, the King's Lynn to Dereham line had a new revised timetable on the line.
In 1964 a new, less anti-railway government was elected, and it was thought that this government would be less harsh on the now nationalised railway network.
In 1967 Transport Manager Barbara Castle presented a new plan for the railway network called the 
Basic Railway.
The King's Lynn to Hunstanton railway was to have the same fate.
In 1966 all stations between King's Lynn, Dereham, and Wymondham became unstaffed.
Freight use only remained in between Middleton Towers and King's Lynn for sand traffic.

Once passengers started to use the more regular and cheaper bus and road services, the railway could not tempt them back, and the railways grew quieter and quieter.
On the railways, stations started to lose passing loops, sidings and connections by 1968, leaving stations at Wendling Dunham Narborough all now single-platform stations. Most of the signal boxes were taken out of use, and the sidings lifted. Some signals were removed, platforms were falling victim to vandalism, platforms became covered in weeds and old buildings became damaged.
British railways removed a few buildings along the line to deter vandals.
Swaffham and East Winch were the only stations to keep their passing loops and signal boxes. 
Even after these cut back, the line was still not classed as a basic railway as there were still signal boxes and passing loops, though this was far from the state the railway was once in.
In the late 1960s, British railways stated that the line was making no money and would close between King's Lynn and Dereham on the 9th of September 1968.
This was a Monday, and with no Sunday services, the last train ran on Saturday, the 7th of September after
 
120 years of service

The last train ran with an M&GN railway society special East Anglian special.
In September 1968, the line from King's Lynn to Wisbech and March via a junction at Magdalen road also closed in the same month as the King's Lynn Dereham line.
In 1969 the passenger services stopped between Dereham and Wymondham.
Freight services carried on for many years from Wymondham junction to Fakenham East.
The Hunstanton line was also closed the following year in May 1969
A Bank holiday weekend.
Most of the railway between Middleton towers and Dereham was removed; some of the station buildings remained.
At Swaffham, the track bed has been blocked off by new building developments.  
Between Wendling and Dereham, the track bed has completely gone and has been replaced by the A47, which partly takes the exact route the railway once ran over.
Wendling station was also demolished during the construction of the A47 bypass; all that remains is a residential road with the name. 
Station road 
The only remaining memory of a railway was once present in this village.
King's Lynn station is still in daily use for Ely Cambridge London services, and the station at Dereham is still in use as a heritage railway. A newly built station called Wymondham Abbey is just outside of Wymondham junction, connecting to the Norwich Cambridge line, which is also in daily use.
The section between Kings Lynn and Middleton Towers remains open as a freight line for silica sand trains from Sibelco, UK, to various places, mainly in the northern parts of the UK.
For use in the glass industry.

The King's Lynn to Dereham line ran before closure.
Calling at
Middleton Towers 
 East winch 
 Bilney | closed in 1866
 Narborough and Pentney
Swaffham
 Sporle | closed 1850
 Dunham 
 Fransham 
 Wendling
 Scarning | closed 1850
 East Dereham
 
East Dereham station is still in use as a private Heritage line.
The Mid Norfolk Railway

Time Line

1845

 Lynn & Dereham railway company gained the power to build a railway between King's Lynn to Dereham on the 21st of July.

Norfolk railway company gained the power to construct a railway between Dereham and Wymondham on the 31st of July.

1846

The Lynn Dereham railway line between King's Lynn and Narborough opened.

26th October

1847

The Norfolk railway branch between Wymondham to Dereham opened. 

15th February 

Lynn to Dereham line opened between Narborough and Swaffham.

10th August

Lynn to Dereham line opened to Sporle on 26th of October

1848

Lynn to Dereham line reached Dereham. 

11th September

1862

The Great Eastern company is created.

7th August

1871

The new station opened at King's Lynn.

1943 

New sidings at Dereham were made for the air ministry.

1948

British Railways nationalised.

1st January

1955

Introduction of the diesel dmu fleet.

Dereham steam sheds closed.

1959

King's Lynn steam sheds closed. 

1963

Beeching report released

1965

Wymondham to Dereham line was reduced to a single line.

1966

Stations between King's Lynn and Wymondham were made unstaffed.

August

1968

Lynn to Dereham line closed.

7th September

1969 

Passenger services stopped between Wymondham and Dereham.

1978

Closure of the narrow gauge railway at Middleton towers.

1980 

A government grant was offered to British Sand for improved sand loading facilities at Middleton Towers for freight use that's still in use.

2020

Improvements at King's Lynn junction on the old Dereham line upgraded for new stabling points added for 8 Car units for use on the King's Lynn to Cambridge line.

Length of the Line.

King's Lynn to Dereham 26 Miles 43 Chains

Dereham to Wymondham 11 Miles 33 Chains

Wymondham to Norwich Thorpe 10 Miles 18 Chains

King's Lynn to Norwich Thorpe 48 Miles 14 Chains