M&GN Society Dray
An original Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway horse dray, believed to have been from Norwich City Station.
It was restored in 2025 by a team of volunteers and now lives under cover where it can be seen at Holt Station, just past the William Marriott Museum.
Grove Allen H404 Crane
The Society’s Grove Allen H404 crane dates from around 1971. Christened ‘Horace’, it came to the North Norfolk Railway when the line acquired steam boiler business, Chatham Steam Ltd, in 2013.
The crane, with a lifting capacity of up to 40 tons, is an invaluable piece of equipment for the Railway and saves a considerable amount of money for each lift it undertakes compared with the cost of hiring in a crane. The crane is operational and in regular use at Weybourne when lifts are required for engineering works.
Austin K2 Lorry, Dropside Model
The 2 1/2 ton model was produced in great numbers between 1939 and 1949, being used widely by coal, timber and builders’ merchants.
Although registered in Kent in 1946, the Society’s vehicle was manufactured for the War Department and according to the chassis number was actually manufactured in 1943, therefore seeing two years in wartime service.
Aside from the RAF, the vehicle only has only had 2 registered owners. The first being a Kentish timber merchant who had used it as his company lorry and on its “retirement” kept it in running order until it was purchased by the M&GN Society.
The design is very similar to the contemporary Bedford lorries, thought to be because Austin poached the Bedford designer and asked him to “build one like a Bedford.” Apart from the engine and cab interior the two are virtually identical – the designer even kept the loud gearbox whine of the Bedford! The power plant is a 3.5 litre petrol unit producing a whole 75 brake horsepower, however the engine has tremendous torque for getting started with heavy loads and will bumble along quite happily at 35 – 40 mph.
It has a four speed “crash” gearbox which takes a bit of getting used to. In the Society’s ownership it has received the repaint into M&GN livery, all brakes overhauled, new tyres, overhauled water pump, a bespoke exhaust system manufactured, quite an amount of welding around the cab area, the petrol pump converted to an electric powered one, a new bespoke petrol tank and most recently a new battery.
The lorry usually lives at Holt Station, between the main station building and the William Marriott Museum, and is still operational.
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