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East of England
East Kent Railway
The East Kent Railway (EKR) is a heritage railway in Kent, England. It is located at Shepherdswell station on the London to Dover Priory direct mainline. The line was constructed between 1911 and 1917 to serve the Kent Coalfields. See East Kent Light Railway for details of the original lines. The Kent Collieries were mostly a failure with only Tilmanstone on the line producing any viable commercial coal and commercial traffic over the line. The line is operated by heritage diesel locomotives. It is home to a collection of heritage diesel locomotives, Diesel Multiple Units DMU, DEMU and an electric multiple units including an in service British Rail Class 404 built in the 1930s.
At Shepherdswell, there is a cafe, a large 15-acre (6.1 ha) woodland area with walking routes, a 5 in (127 mm) gauge miniature railway, a 7 1⁄4 in (184 mm) gauge woodland miniature railway, a model railway and a small museum.
The railway holds special events throughout the year, ranging from railway enthusiast events to beer festivals along with family fun weekends.
On the line there is Golgotha Tunnel (situated between Shepherdswell and Eythorne), 477 yards (436 m) long, making it the eighth longest tunnel on a UK Heritage Railway in Preservation. The tunnel was built in typical Colonel Stephens style by building double track portals but only excavating a single track internally to save money
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Mid-Norfolk Railway
The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) is a 15-mile (24 km) preserved standard gauge heritage railway, one of the longest in Great Britain. Preservation efforts began in 1974, but the line re-opened to passengers only in the mid-1990s as part of the "New Generation" of heritage railways.
Regular steam and diesel services run 11 1⁄2 miles (18.5 km) through the centre of Norfolk between the market towns of Wymondham and Dereham via Yaxham, Thuxton and Kimberley Park, and occasional sightseer services continue north of Dereham passing the nearby village of Hoe, where there is no station, to the limit of the operational line at Worthing. The line is periodically used for commercial freight operations and staff instruction for mainline railway companies.
The MNR own and operate the majority of the former Wymondham-Fakenham branch line of the Norfolk Railway. The branch opened in 1847, was closed to passengers in stages from 1964 to 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts, and was finally fully closed to goods traffic in 1989. (The northern section of this line, to Wells, was built by the Wells and Fakenham Railway and part of this has been operated by the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway since 1982.)
The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway is a 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) gauge heritage railway in Norfolk, England running between the coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea and the inland village of Walsingham. The railway occupies a four-mile (6.4 km) section of the trackbed of the former Wymondham to Wells branch which was closed to passengers in stages from 1964 to 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts. Other parts of this line, further south, have also been preserved by the Mid-Norfolk Railway.
Despite its miniature dimensions, the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway is a "public railway", indicating that its operation is established by Act of Parliament. The original establishment of the preserved line was authorised by the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway Order 1982, the terms of which were altered under the subsequent Wells and Walsingham Light Railway (Amendment) Order 1994.[1] Prior to 1982 the 15 in (381 mm) gauge Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway had traded as "The World's smallest public railway", a phrase sometimes quoted by the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway since the 1982 Light Railway Order.
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Visit us
Address
The Mid-Norfolk Railway
Dereham Station
Station Road
Norfolk NR19 1DF
Contact
+44 (0)1362 851723
Nene Valley Railway
The Nene Valley Railway (NVR) is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is 7 1⁄2 miles (12.1 km) in length. There are stations at each terminus, and three stops en route: Orton Mere, Ferry Meadows and Wansford.
Between 1974 and 1977, the line was upgraded to passenger-carrying standard and the first passenger train ran on 1 June 1977, hauled by the 'Nord 3.628' - a French 4-6-0 locomotive and 'SJ 1178' - another Swedish tank engine, pulling a set of ex-BR electrical multiple unit coaches owned by the Southern Electric Group.
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North Norfolk Railway
The North Norfolk Railway (NNR) - also known as the "Poppy Line" - is a 5.25-mile (8.45 km) heritage steam railway in Norfolk, England, running between the towns of Sheringham and Holt. It cuts through the countryside to the east of Weybourne with views of its windmill and passes through the well preserved country station which also houses a locomotive shed together with a carriage maintenance and restoration centre. The Norfolk Orbital Railway, an independent organisation, has plans to join and link the NNR with the Mid-Norfolk Railway.
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Visit us
Address
Contact
Sheringham Station,
Station Approach,
Sheringham,
Norfolk,
NR26 8RA
+44 1263 820800
Mangapps Railway Museum
Mangapps Railway Museum is a privately owned working museum established on a farm at Burnham on Crouch, Essex. It features a ¾ mile standard gauge passenger carrying line, with restored stations, signal boxes and ancillary equipment removed from various sites throughout East Anglia.
To operate the line the Museum has 10 steam and diesel locomotives and over 80 carriages and wagons, some of considerable historic and technical interest.
To complement the working railway the Museum has a collection of smaller railway relics which is one of the largest of its kind in Britain.
This collection contains historic items connected with every aspect of railway operation and has a particular bias towards the railways of East Anglia and railway signalling - in fact the signalling collection is believed to be the largest on public display in Britain.
The Railway and Museum are owned and operated by the Jolly family assisted by a dedicated staff of volunteers
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