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The Mid-Norfolk Railway is pleased to announce the arrival of a Edwardian steam locomotive, GWR 813 Saddle Tank, for the 2021 running season. The steam locomotive was originally built for the Port Talbot Railway & Docks Company and entered service in 1901. This means it is one of the oldest preserved steam engines still running in the UK. The locomotive was originally one of nine 0-6-0 saddle tanks that was built for the Port Talbot Railway company in Wales and originally was numbered 26, it is however the sole survivor of the nine engines and is therefore unique in steam locomotive preservation. In 1922, the Port Talbot Railway & Docks Company was taken over by the Great Western Railway and the engine was re numbered 813, the number that is still used to this day. Today the engine is owned by ‘ The GWR 813 Preservation Fund ’, which is an organisation that was founded in 1966 to buy and then restore the engine. It is usually based at the Severn Valley Railway . “The railway is delighted to welcome this historic engine to East Anglia, it will join our resident Standard BR Class 4 MT steam engine on our steam timetable and will be a unique opportunity to see an important and rare survivor of the early 20th Century British railway industry.” George Saville, General Manager Mid-Norfolk Railway 813 was originally built to haul coal trains and carry out shunt duties at colliery sidings in South Wales, before being sold in 1933 to to Robert Stephenson & Company, who sold steam engine to Backworth Collieries Limited in Northumberland. In 1947 following the nationalisation of the coal industry 813 passed into the ownership of the National Coal Board before being sold into preservation in 1967. Today 813 runs in the livery of the Great Western Railway. The railway plans to run 813 on passengers services beginning on Saturday 17 July [Update 16th July: unfortunately 813 will not be running on 17th & 18th July, 80078 will be running instead]. Tickets are available from the Mid-Norfolk Railway website . 813, replaces the privately-owned War Department Austerity 0-6-0 Saddle tank engine, Swiftsure, that has been resident on the railway for some years but has now moved to the Forest of Dean Railway.

Unfortunately due to the ongoing Coronavirus restrictions, we felt that we are unable to hold the Craft Fair, planned to take place on 17th July, with a variety of restrictions to make it a successful event. The stall holders have been contacted directly about this news. We are now investigating a future date to hold this event. We would like to thank Kathy Lloyd for their tireless efforts and working with the stallholders.

Owing to a technical issue discovered with the steam locomotive scheduled for today's trains, it will not be available to work the 10.30 service this morning. The issue is recieving attention at the present time and we are hoping to have it in service on the 1.15pm departure from Dereham. We are pleased to announce that recently refurbished class 47 D1933 will be making its first passenger service since its refurbishment on the 10.30 from Dereham as a substitute for the steam locomotive.

As the Mid-Norfolk Railway prepares to reopen for public passenger services on 3 July , the railway has received a £200,900 grant from Government’s £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage. This grant is the first tranche of the £401,800 funding for the Mid Norfolk Railway that was announced on the 2 April by Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, as part of the second round of grants awarded by the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage. The grant is designed to help the railway rebuild its finances. The MNR understands the second tranche of money allocated to the railway could be transferred at some point next month. “On behalf of the railway we are extremely grateful to receive this Government funding. Our allocation is based on loss of income from the period of time we have been closed due to Covid. The income we normally generate is essential for the ongoing maintenance of the railway and as such these funds will go some way to replacing that lost income and will therefore in turn allow the railway to conduct the essential works that we need to carry out to ensure we can operate a safe railway for our passengers.” Charlie Robinson Chairman of the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust “Our record breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they’ve ever faced. Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors, helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead.” Oliver Dowden Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport “As one of the longest heritage railways in the country and the longest in East Anglia, we have a very real challenge to maintain our track and all the associated infrastructure to the safe standards our passengers and other rail users quite rightly expect and we do achieve. “We must do this before we even think about expanding and developing the railway. This government grant is therefore essential, as it is helping to replace part of our lost income and so we can fund the essential work we need to do to be able to reopen to the public at the start of July.” George Saville General Manager of the Mid-Norfolk Railway The MNR’s grant is part of £44 million that The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England have allocate to historic sites across England. The funding has gone to over 470 organisations and is designed to support heritage organisations recover from the impacts of coronavirus. “Spring is definitely here, bringing not only sunshine but that sense of optimism and hope for the future. "We are all looking forward to heritage organisations and other visitor attractions reopening. I am very pleased that we have been able to support DCMS in delivering this vital funding to ensure the UK’s heritage sector can rebuild and thrive, boosting local economies, creating jobs and supporting personal wellbeing.” Ros Kerslake CEO of The National Lottery Heritage Fund

The Trust Council has agreed that, as restrictions will now still be in place on the 3rd July, the date of the Annual General Meeting has been moved to Saturday 11th September 2021 at the Memorial Hall, Dereham, at 2pm. Please note that the last day for sending in questions and any correspondence in relation to the AGM to the Trust Secretary will now be 6th September 2021 and not the date shown in the booklet.

e reopened the railway on 3rd July 2021. 18th June 2021 The Mid-Norfolk Railway has announced that as a result of the latest Government Covid-19 announcement that the reopening of the railway for public passenger service will now be delayed till 3 July. “The Trust Council has sadly decided that the railway must postpone our reopening until 3 July. This was not a decision we have made lightly and we understand it is disappointing for our passenger and indeed our members and working volunteers and staff who have worked so hard to reopen. The Trust Council however recognises that we want to be able to put on a service that meets the expectations of our passengers and is also safe for them and our own staff. All Heritage railways are different and at this current time we will find it extremely difficult to deliver the level of service that we would want to provide to our customers due to the nature of our stations and our rolling stock.” Charlie Robinson Chairman, Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust The railway will now be completing some additional Covid-19 precautions in line with Government requirements before reopening on the 3 July. The initial service will be a steam hauled trained using the newly refurbished Maroon liveried heritage coaching stock.   Tickets will initially only be available via the Mid-Norfolk Railway website at www.midnorfolkrailway.co.uk . Further announcements about the full reopening will follow in due course and will be dependant of future Government announcements.

The Mid-Norfolk Railway is pleased to announce the work to refurbish the Mid-Norfolk Railway’s level crossing on the B1108 at Kimberley Park Station has been completed after a week of work. This refurbishment has used the same technology as the railway’s Yaxham Road level crossing in Dereham and again uses a system developed by the Dutch railway infrastructure company Edilon Sedra. Images thanks to volunteers including Nigel Howes and Bernie Bland. The work was conducted once again by a mix of MNR staff, volunteers, and contractors from Sonic Rail Services, together with a team of technicians from Track Engineering Construction Ltd. The next stage of the refurbishment will see the installation of signalling to this station in due course, as part of the overall resignalling plan for the railway. This next stage of work however will have no impact on local residents or the road travelling public. The work on the crossing has seen specially prefabricated concrete slabs installed, before new special hard wearing high manganese content steel rails were fitted. The rails were then encased in a special resin, developed by Edilon Sedra, by the TECS technicians. The finished crossing is therefore expected to have a maintenance-free life of at least 50 years. The crossing rails were also laid onto a special bedding layer that acts as a noise dampener and so the crossing will also be quieter. “I would, on behalf of the railway, like to thank local residents and the travelling public for their patience while this important work has been carried out. It is our hope and expectation that by investing in this 21st Century technology they will see the benefit and have a quieter level crossing for road traffic. I would also like to thank those who have made donations towards this work, it is much appreciated and means every pound donated is a pound saved for other work. The appeal will remain open  to help towards the installation of the signalling. Finally, a huge thank you for our volunteers and our commercial partners from Sonic Rail Services, TECS Ltd and of course Norfolk County Council for the work that has been done to successfully deliver the new crossing on time and in budget." Charlie Robinson, Chairman Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust The refurbished level crossing is another step forward for the railway as it continues to invest and develop so that the MNR can once again celebrate the heritage of Norfolk railways by running trains for the benefit of everyone starting on the 23 June 2021.

The Mid-Norfolk Railway has begun the work to refurbish the Kimberley Park Station level crossing on the B1108. The work at Kimberley will mean that from the 11 May to the 17 May the B1108 at Kimberley Park Station will be closed to all traffic to allow for the crossing to be replaced and a new road surface laid. The work will be taking place following consultation and permission from Norfolk County Council. During the work diversions will be signposted. “On behalf of the railway, I would like to apologise for any disruption this essential refurbishment of our level crossing will cause. I can however also say that once the work is completed the residents of the area and all road users will have a new modern level level crossing that will be to the highest railway standards." "Once this work is complete and with the refurbishment of the Yaxham Road crossing in Dereham, last year, the two crossings on major roads that are the responsibility of the railway will now have been renewed and should not therefore require any further work for many years to come.” Charlie Robinson, Chairman Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust In addition to the refurbishment of the level crossing, the railway will also take the opportunity to renew the track from just south of Kimberley Park station to the point where new track was laid in 2019 at the foot of Danemoor Bank. This work is part of the long planned gradual refurbishment of the entire running line from Wymondham to Dereham that is ongoing. The work has is being partly funded by public donations. The appeal is still open and donations can be made online via the MNR website  or directly by bank transfer to MNRPT at NatWest Bank, Sortcode: 60-07-47, Account Number: 52109003 using the reference ‘Kimberley Appeal’ or by cheque made payable to MNRPT to: Mid-Norfolk Railway Kimberley Appeal, The Railway Station, Station Road, Dereham, NR19 1DF. Those who donate over £200 will receive a complimentary pair of tickets for a standard operating day. The tickets will allow the donor to book a travel day of their choice.

We reopened the railway on 3rd July 2021. 2nd May 2021 The Mid-Norfolk Railway has announced that the railway is planning to reopen on Wednesday 23 June followed by a grand reopening on 26 and 27 June. The reopening assumes the conditions of the Government's Covid-19 roadmap have been met. The Reopening Weekend will feature the debut, in passenger service of the refurbished Maroon Mk1 and 2 coaches hauled by steam engine Standard 4 Tank 80078 and also the first use of the ex Greater Anglia Mk3 coaches. These will be hauled by the newly refurbished class 47, 47596 Aldeburgh Festival in its new guise of D1933 in BR Two Tone Green livery. It is currently expected that initially trains will leave from Dereham and will run non-stop to Wymondham Abbey Halt where passengers can leave the train to observe the engine run around but must then rejoin for the journey back to Dereham. Following the reopening the railway will also offer a reduced programme of special events. The highlight of which will be the visit of the world famous steam engine the Flying Scotsman from 2-17 October. The engine will haul passenger trains each weekend during the visit and be open for visits during the week. A separate announcement will be made at a later date for details on ticket prices, bookings and the timetable for the event. The first special event for this year will be the return to the railway of the popular 1940s weekend on the 7-8 August . This will be followed over the August Bank Holiday weekend by the return of MNR’s Ales by Rails festival. The 25-26 September weekend will see the diesel engines based at the railway out in force and this will include a special Gin tasting train on the Sunday. Following the visit of the Flying Scotsman the Mid-Norfolk Railway will be hosting the Rail Car Association's annual meeting on the 23-24 October. This will be followed by a special Halloween train event running on the 30 October only to round off the month. The 2021 running season will end with the return of a new and improved Polar Express where passengers will travel to the North Pole in style aboard the railway’s Mk3 coaches. Throughout the year in addition to the special events the MNR will be running a regular programme of Cream Tea trains, the Breckland Fryer fish and chips trains, Jazz evenings and the buffet at Dereham station will also open on the first Wednesday of the month for the return of the popular Biker's evenings. We will also be hosting the Craft Fair on 17th July and Wedding Fair on 12th September. Full details of all events and ticketing arrangements plus the seasons timetables will appear on the Mid-Norfolk Railway website soon. Due to Covid-19 restrictions all tickets for Mid-Norfolk Railway services will initially only be available through pre-booking using the Mid-Norfolk Railway’s brand new website at   midnorfolkrailway.co.uk The railway will re introduce a full service when it is appropriate to do so in line with Government Covid-19 restrictions. The Covid-19 service or the full regular services will then run weekly till the end of October. Timetables will be published on the railway website. “Everyone at the railway is looking forward to running our passengers services again, it has obviously been a difficult time for everyone, but the railway has survived and we think our varied programme of events will appeal to all and the best way to support the railway is to come along and enjoy a trip through the beautiful Norfolk countryside. Donations to support our ongoing development would also be extremely welcome!” Charlie Robinson, Chairman Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust Details on how to make a donation can be found on the Donations  page.

A small piece of Railway history has been made at the Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) as a Pacer Class 142 conducted a test run at the railway as part of the preparation for the reopening this year. The run by the Class 142 unit, 142061 is believed to be the first ever running of a Class 142 in East Anglia, as the class did not see service on the mainline in the region. 142061 is one of the two members of the class that were acquired by the MNR last year for future service on the line. Photos courtesy of Ian MacDonald and Peter Singlehurst. Running from Dereham to Wymondham Abbey and back was both a test of the unit’s systems following routine maintenance and servicing and also the opportunity for MNR Drivers and Guards to become qualified to operate this new class of unit on the railway. The test run was carried out on Friday 16th April and the call for working members to support the test run by 142061 was met with an enthusiastic response, with the required slots to operate the signalling and level crossings being filled very quickly. “This was an important day for the railway as we work towards reopening and I would like to thank all our working members who made the day possible. The Pacer performed extremely well and our staff passed their assessments with flying colours.” “These Pacer units are a valuable addition to the railway’s fleet as they provide us with units that are renowned for their low operating costs which is ideal for our mid week low season timetable.” George Saville, MNR General Manger Both the Class 142 and the Class 144 Pacer that the MNR also owns have very large windows that provide excellent panoramic views of the Norfolk countryside and make for a light airy interior for passengers. The MNR will be making a full announcement of the planned reopening for public passenger service soon. This will include ticketing arrangements and the programme of this year’s special events, including the visit of Flying Scotsman. The announcement will be published following further test running, training and the completion of some routine track maintenance work.

The new technology pioneered by Interflon UK Ltd   which has been developed with Network Rail will speed up the production rate for lubricating the railways 3000+ fishplates. The innovation means that only 1 member is required to carry out the maintenance with another in a support vehicle as opposed to the traditional 4-6 members of P-Way and 2-3 Traincrew to facilitate the maintenance trains. The railway is currently focusing on the Dereham-Wymondham Permanent Way section which is anticipated will only take two weeks. A massive improvement for the members working environment as the physical endurance is expected to be much less. https://interflon.com/industries/rail

The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) has launched a public appeal to raise funds to contribute to the rebuilding of the Kimberley Level crossing, which crosses the B1108 Norwich-Watton road. The essential work follows on from the successful rebuilding of the Yaxham Road level crossing at Dereham last year. The appeal is to raise £25,000 towards the total cost. “This work is essential to maintain and upgrade our operating line and must be done this year. As a result of Covid-19, the MNR like every other heritage railway, has had to deal with the financial impact of not operating last year. We have therefore launched this public appeal to help finance the work. Donations however small will be gratefully received”. Charlie Robinson Chairman of The Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust Donations can be made by the following methods: online via the MNR website directly by bank transfer  to MNRPT at NatWest Bank, Sortcode: 60-07-47, Account Number: 52109003 using the reference ‘Kimberley Appeal’ by cheque  made payable to MNRPT to: Mid-Norfolk Railway Kimberley Appeal, The Railway Station, Station Road, Dereham, NR19 1DF. Those who donate over £200 will receive a complimentary pair of tickets for a standard operating day. The tickets will allow the donor to book a travel day of their choice. Refurbishing the level crossing is the next stage of the essential refurbishment of the running line from Wymondham to Dereham and in addition to the level crossing itself the line through Kimberley Park station will be replaced, as will the short section from the level crossing to the end of the recently relaid running line over Danemoor Bank that was relaid as part of the contract with Greater Anglia. The newly laid line will therefore continue the gradual process of replacing the wooden sleepers with concrete for the running line, with the objective of ensuring easy maintenance for the long term. The crossing itself will remain a gated crossing, being operated by a MNR volunteer crossing keeper. The work will however see the rails and road deck renewed utilising the new state of the art technology that was installed at Dereham. This will be to the benefit of the local residents as it will reduce the noise from road traffic as it crosses the level crossing.