Wells and Fakenham Railway

Wells & Fakenham Railway
Legend Wells Harbour Wells-on-Sea WNJnR(to Holkham) Wells-on-Sea(W&WLR) The Midden(W&WLR) Warham(W&WLR) Wighton Halt(W&WLR) (1982-2005) Wighton (Seton's Halt) Walsingham(W&WLR) Walsingham Fakenham East closed line to Dereham

The Wells & Fakenham Railway, was the northern part of the Wymondham to Wells branch in Norfolk, England. It connected the market town of Fakenham to the coast at Wells-next-the-Sea. It closed in 1964.

Construction

The Norfolk Railway Company opened a line from Wymondham to Dereham, on the Norwich to Thetford mainline, in 1847, and a line from Dereham to Fakenham in 1849. The Wells and Fakenham Company was formed by local landowners and some of the directors of the Norfolk Railway Company and incorporated in 1854. The 9.5 mile Fakenham to Wells line opened in 1857 and a short branch to Wells Harbour was added in 1859. The line became part of the Great Eastern Railway in 1862. ^{[1] [2]}

The route today

Railway

Part of the route has been reopened as the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway.

Footpath

The section of trackbed from Walsingham railway station southwards to the village of Houghton St Giles is in use as a public footpath called the Pilgrim's Way.

See also

• Wymondham to Wells branch

References

1. "Julian Holland" (2013). "Dr Beeching's Axe: 50 Years on : Illustrated Memories of Britain's Lost Railways". p. 70.
2. Susanna Wade Martins (1980). A Great Estate at Work: The Holkham Estate and Its Inhabitants in the Nineteenth Century. p. 62.