Steam Back to the Forties

Sat 21 & Sun 22 September 2024

Swing back in time!

  • Fabulous live music all day

  • Historic displays at each station

  • Live cooking displays at Sheringham

  • Beautiful vintage vehicles and full size replica Spitfire

  • Learn some 1940s dance moves at Weybourne

  • Find vintage treasures at the trade stands

  • Get a 1940s makeover at Holt

  • Intensive steam train service

Steam Back to the Forties

We’ll meet again… on September 21 and 22!

Our famous Forties weekend is back! Swing back in time for a weekend of all day live music, stunning classic vehicles, vintage trade stands, historical displays, and wartime fashions at all three of our stations, all accompanied by a frequent steam service.

Enjoy live cooking demonstrations at Sheringham and learn how the average civilian used their rations wisely. Hop off at Weybourne to join a dance class and practice some 40s moves, or undertake Royal Engineer Bomb Disposal training! Explore all that there is to do at Holt including military camps, land army displays and talks, pick up some gems at the trade stands, watch the wartime scouts compete in their games, get up close to a full-size replica Spitfire, and much more.

Get involved with everything the event has to offer and enjoy unlimited hop on hop off travel along our 5.5 mile line all day with event tickets, or simply experience the displays, music and trade stands at Holt with a Holt Exhibition ticket.

Parking and Public Transport

A variety of parking options are available for this year’s Steam Back to the Forties; please note that many of these locations have change and are new for 2024. For full parking information please see our Parking Guide.

Due to these changes we highly recommend boarding either a train or vintage bus at Sheringham and starting your day at this end of the line.

Alternatively you can travel by public transport, either by rail via Greater Anglia services or by bus with Sanders Coaches.

Timetable

Fares

Get involved with everything  and enjoy unlimited hop on hop off travel with event tickets, or simply experience the displays, music and trade stands at Holt with a Holt Exhibition ticket.

Ticket Type Price
Adult Day Rover  £ 28.00
Child Day Rover (3–15 yrs)  £ 14.00
Family of 4 (Max 2 Adults)  £ 75.00
Family of 5 (Max 2 Adults)  £ 80.00
Event Two Day Rover – Adult  £ 47.50
Dog/Bicycle  £ 3.00

Ticket Type Price
Adult Day Rover  £30.00
Child Day Rover (3–15 yrs)  £15.00
Family of 4 (Max 2 Adults)  £80.00
Family of 5 (Max 2 Adults)  £85.00
Event Two Day Rover – Adult  £50.00
Dog/Bicycle    £3.00
HOLT EXHIBITION FIELD ONLY

Does not include train travel or access to any of the stations

 £10.00

Explore

There’s so much to see at the stations and in the surrounding area . . .

HOLT

Holt is the western terminus of the railway and is around a mile from the town centre. The station is easy to reach by road,  just off the A148 at High Kelling, and has ample parking (for which we request a small donation) so is an ideal staring point for passengers wishing to travel to Sheringham and visit the town and seaside.

The What Three Words code for Holt Station’s main entrance is saturate.atlas.dumplings

The town’s original station closed in 1964 and was demolished and part of the trackbed used for the A148 Holt Bypass – discover more about the original station here. The current station is a faithful recreation of an Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway country station, using buildings recovered from various locations in East Anglia. The station decor and artefacts are presented to give a flavour of the period shortly after  1936 when the London & North Eastern Railway took over full ownership of the M&GN.

The station boasts a small buffet and gift shop and a painstakingly created model railway. The William Marriott Museum, which tells the story of the M&GN, and the Railway Cottage – a small home made shortly after World War I by reusing a redundant railway carriage – are open on most days that trains run Easter to October (subject to volunteer availabilty).

The town of Holt is well worth a visit. Energetic passengers can stroll into the town centre – the walk will take around 25 minutes – while many will prefer to hop on a one of the buses that stop on the road opposite the station entrance for a short five minute trip into town.  The town features many Georgian buildings and a wide Market Place.

Weybourne’s atmospheric station is a a real gem. There is very limited parking, so the best way to arrive is by train! If you are arriving by car the What Three Words code for the main entrance is huddling.rots.bound

Hop off and soak up the period atmosphere or take a walk to Weybourne village a mile or so away or to the nearby Sheringham Park. For those not wanting to venture too far, the footbridge affords panoramic views back towards Sheringham and down to the sea and is a good spot to watch trains approaching.

Originally built to capitalise on the “Poppyland” holiday boom, the station served a nearby hotel that was demolished in World War II . It oozes Edwardian charm and has been restored to close to it’s original condition sporting the tan and cream colour scheme used by the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway at the time. Discover more of about the history of Weybourne station and village.

The former parcels office has been converted into a small period style souvenir shop and buffet. Historic goods vehicles in the bay platform add to the atmosphere and one, a Southern Railway parcels van, houses a model railway.

Most trains will pass another here, so you make the most of your rover ticket by changing from one to another.

Kelling Heath

Kelling Heath Park is a small halt stop on the North Norfolk Railway, used mostly by hikers. It was not on the original British Rail line, but was opened after the line was preserved.

The station was opened in 1983 as part of the Railway’s extension to Kelling; a very short half coach-length halt was constructed principally to serve the nearby caravan park. Upon the completion of the extension to Holt in 1989, ‘Kelling Camp Halt’ was demolished and a new longer platform was constructed, ¼ of a mile further up the hill to the west; the station was also renamed “Kelling Heath Park”.

The Halt stop backs onto Kelling Park itself and also provides access to Kelling Heath Holiday Park, a popular campsite set amongst 300 acres of woodland and rare open heathland. The campsite has a wide variety of accommodation including luxury wooden lodges, holiday homes and camping & touring pitches, all available to book online or over the phone via 01263 588181.

Sheringham’s imposing station houses the booking office, waiting room and buffet. The Old Luggage Office buffet is in an area which was used to store the many suitcases and trunks that the Victorian tourists travelling to Sheringham required. Today, it offers the chance to relax over a drink or light lunch and watch the trains come and go.

The station has been restored to close to its 1955 appearance, when British Railways were responsible for the line. The distinctive blue station totems and matching enamel signs are evocative of that period. The footbridge provides an excellent vantage point from which to watch trains arrive, or the engine “run round” to the other end of its train ready for the next trip to Holt.

Passengers starting their journey here can arrive by Great Anglia trains from Cromer and Norwich (the mainline station is just across Station Road), by bus (they stop right outside) or by car (there is a large pay and display car park adjacent to the station). The What Three Words code for the car park entrance is stables.case.blip

For those arriving on one of our historic trains, there’s a chance to visit the town’s many independent shops, stroll to beach and promenade or take a slightly longer walk to join the Norfolk Coastal Path and enjoy a cliff top walk or climb Beeston Bump (a distinctively-shaped local hillock). The town museum includes a Windfarm Visitor Centre where you can discover more about the arrays that have been built offshore.

Find out more about Sheringham station and town.