East Dereham Station

Dereham station was opened by the Norfolk Railway in 1847. Three years later an agreement was made to allow the Lynn & Dereham Railway to start to use the Norfolk Railway's station, meaning that they could close their own terminus in the town. In 1857, the line northwards to Well-next-the-Sea was completed – with all the lines becoming part of the Great Eastern Railway in 1862.  The station grew and evolved over the decades, with the Great Eastern Railway expanding the original Norfolk Railway 'Tudoresque' buildings as traffic grew, and the platforms being raised and extended to accommodate longer and more modern trains. Eventually, the station boasted a licensed buffet and four platforms with extensive canopies. Platform 1 is on the up line, with platforms 2 and 3 being set back to back (making one long platform face) and platform 4 being a short bay originally connected only to the King's Lynn line.

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In addition to the passenger facilities, Dereham had extensive goods facilities. Three goods sheds were provided (the surviving shed, one north of Norwich Road and another on the Lynn line), a large cattle yard, a coal yard, sidings for the town's maltings trade, the Hobbies' works, gas works and, during the Second World War, additional War Department sidings were provided on a new site to the east of the line. A triangle was provided for the Lynn line, allowing some trains (including the Royal Train) to avoid having to reverse in the station and a locomotive depot was built inside this triangle – where the town swimming pool now stands. This complex site was controlled by four signal boxes and stables were provided to house the horses used to operate delivery carts and shunt the yards.

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In 1963, Richard Beeching recommended that the line from Dereham to Fakenham and Wells be closed and, in 1964, the last passenger train ran over this section. He also recommended that the railway from Norwich to Dereham and then to King's Lynn be retained for express trains and freight. However, in 1968, the connection to King's Lynn was cut, as part of the formation was wanted for improvements to the A47, and the remaining passenger services between Dereham and Norwich ended in 1969. Concerns had been made in Parliament about the the local roads being inadequate for local business needs, specifically the large maltings at Great Ryburgh, so tracks through the station remained in regular use as a goods-only line until the 1980s. An interesting bit of trivia is that the newsagents on the station platform continued to trade for a considerable time after the last passenger trains had left, although, sadly, it sadly burnt down soon after closure.

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The station building suffered a disastrous fire in 1988, and was almost demolished. Although the interior of the station was gutted, and the original roof lost, the Station Master's house survived unscathed, albeit near-derelict.  Since purchasing the line, the Mid-Norfolk Railway has carefully restored the structure and replicated the lost interior, adapted slightly to meet today's requirements. We reopened the station to passengers in 1997.

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Two of the station's signal boxes have been replaced. The original Dereham Central site is occupied by the former Stratford Southern box, which controls the station site and the line southwards. Dereham North is occupied by the former Laundry Lane box from Lowestoft, and controls the level crossing and line northwards. The original Dereham North box also survives, as holiday accommodation near Melton Constable.  With the original locomotive depot site being lost, our new maintenance shed has been built in the former goods yard. The surviving goods shed, stables and one of the station's original LNER yard cranes feature in exciting future plans for a heritage attraction at the site.

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Written by R Cullen