Steam Galore as Poppy Line Celebrates 50th Anniversary

 

From Saturday 23 August, the North Norfolk Railway is set to stage a nine-day Festival on Rails featuring eight steam locomotives. The event will culminate with a spectacular Steam Gala on 29, 30 and 31 as part of this year’s celebrations to mark the line’s 50th Anniversary.   The popular heritage railway re-opened in 1975 and activities will include a recreation of the first train operated by pioneering volunteers five decades ago.

 

It is hoped that one of the locomotives that worked trains half a century ago, Ashington No 5, will return to once again haul trains from Sheringham. The engine is at present undergoing test runs following a seven-year long overhaul at her current home,  the North Tyneside Steam Railway. Providing they are successful she will move by road to visit the North Norfolk Railway for a week to rekindle memories of the 1970s when she was a regular performer on the line.

 

NNR General Manager, Graham Hukins said, “We very much hope that ‘Ashington No 5’ is able to join the party – she spent most of her life hauling humble coal wagons but was one of very few working locomotives when the line reopened. If she is fit, we plan to use her for the full nine-days of the Festival on Rails and our Steam Gala”.

 

The spirit of 1975 will be firmly in evidence over the August Bank Holiday weekend with four ex-industrial locomotives, similar to those used in the early years of preservation, planned to be in action. These include recently-restored “Newstead” which entered service just last month after an astonishing gap of 53 years. She will haul a recreation of the reopening train which featured 3 carriages and a goods brake van as no coaches with a guard’s compartment had been restored!

 

The line’s smallest engine “Wissington”, which worked for British Sugar until 1977, will be pulling the unique LNER teak bodied “Quad” set of four carriages dating from 1924. They too, were used on the line in 1975 but were almost worn out and have since been restored to their original splendour. National Coal Board locomotive No 18 will complete the bank holiday line-up – the engine worked on the line for much of the 1980s and ’90s and is currently enjoying a second spell in Norfolk.

 

A second visiting locomotive, Great Western express engine 6880 ‘Betton Grange’ will star between 26 and 31 August. The engine entered service last year after a thirty-year project to build a ‘Grange’ – all 80 original members of the class having been scrapped in the 1960s. She will be amongst four engines in action on 26, 27 and 28 August before six locomotives take to the tracks each day for the 50th Anniversary Gala on 29,30 and 31 August.

 

Marketing Manager, Hannah Drury, said “The week promises to be a spectacular celebration of what has been achieved in the half-century since the first train steamed from Sheringham to Weybourne in 1975. The line extended to Holt in 1989 and now attracts 150,000 visitors every year so we’re determined to put on a great show”

 

Full details of the two events can be found on the railway’s website https://nnrailway.co.uk/special-events/. Tickets include unlimited travel all day allowing passengers to ride on several different trains and hop off to explore the attractions at each station including model railways, children’s play carriage, 1930s railway cottage and the Midland & Great Northern Railway museum at Holt; the delightful Edwardian surroundings of Weybourne Station; and station buffet and gift shop at Sheringham.

 

The North Norfolk Railway runs steam and heritage diesel trains on most days until 2 November when the line then closes to prepare for its ever-popular festive services. More details can be found on the line’s website www.nnrailway.co.uk. Advance booking is strongly recommended and passengers doing so receive at least 15% discount on their fares.