Mystery find at County School station

A mystery find has been made at the Mid-Norfolk Railway’s County School station. The find was made during maintenance work on the railway’s permissive footpath that runs alongside the track bed at the station.

“As some of our volunteers were carrying out routine maintenance of the railways Permissive footpath, they found a piece of metal buried. After digging it out, it appeared to us, that we had found the Firehole deflector plate from a steam locomotive.” Richard Cullen, the MNR’s volunteer County School Stationmaster, who is overseeing the restoration of this part of the railway.

This plate is part of the arrangement on steam engines where the fireman, shovels coal into the firebox that in turn provides the heat to the boiler.

The mystery is however, how did this come to be buried by the side of the line near the station?

County School station was originally built by the Great Eastern Railway in 1886. It served as a junction station between the railway’s Dereham to Fakenham line and the East Norfolk Railway’s branch line to Aylsham and Wroxham. The station however never had an engine shed, or any facilities to service or repair steam locomotives.

During January 1915, there was however a collision of two Great Eastern Railway steam trains close to the station site, with both locomotives being damaged. Richard and the volunteer team wonder, could this plate be a reminder of that accident?

This accident happened when a freight train travelling from Wroxham collided with a passenger train from Fakenham. As the collision fortunately only happened at slow speed it resulted in both engines and some of the wagons and coaches being damaged but there were no injuries.

Already a damaged buffer, believed to be from the tender of one of the locomotives, is on display at the station museum. This buffer was previously discovered at the site and the deflector plate, once conservation work is completed, will be added to this growing museum.

County School station presently serves as a visitor centre and small museum including a display about the Norfolk County School / Watt's Naval School that gave the station its unusual name.

“We at the railway would be delighted to hear from anybody who might have some knowledge on this unusual find and of course we are always on the lookout for volunteers to join us, to help with the restoration of the railway at this wonderful station.” Richard Cullen, MNR County School Stationmaster

At this time, due to Covid-19, the museum remains closed to the public, but it is planned to reopen in Spring 2021.

MNR Members buy Class 31 locomotive

The future of Mid-Norfolk Railway resident class 31 locomotive, 31255 has been secured for the railway following its purchase by several MNR members for use on the railway.

The purchase of 31255 has been agreed with the previous owner, Harry Needle of the Harry Needle Railroad Company and means the locomotive will, once restored be used on the railway. Restoration work has immediately begun on the locomotive following its arrival at Dereham from long term storage on sidings at Hardingham station on the MNR.

The first step of the process is a thorough examination and assessment. A plan of works will then be drawn up which will see the mechanical and electrical systems restored first, followed by the bodywork, before ultimately the restoration will be completed by deciding on a which livery the engine will carry.

The immediate aim is to have the engine restored to a standard that it can be used in service safely for the 2021 running season at the MNR. The full restoration will however be a more long term project.

The group of members have bought the locomotive as the class 31s were synonymous with the railway’s history for over 60 years. As such the MNR will once again see class 31 hauled passenger trains in the future on a regular basis.

“This is yet another important and exciting development for the railway in this our 25th Anniversary. The railway trust council and the membership are extremely pleased that some members have secured this locomotive for long term use on the railway and it will make an important addition to our mission of celebrating the railway heritage of East Anglia.” Charlie Robinson, MNR Chairman

MNR Volunteers return to work

It is full steam ahead at the Mid Norfolk Railway as the volunteers have returned to work on several projects at the railway following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions.

Currently the railway remains closed to the public with no passenger trains running because of CV-19. The railway itself however has never closed to traffic, with regular movements by Greater Anglia amongst others, as they have used the MNR to stable part of their new fleet of trains and also as an initial storage location for old stock as it is withdrawn.

As the Government has relaxed the Covid-19 restrictions, in addition to the essential workers needed to operate the railway, volunteers have now been able to return to work. First on the agenda was a bridge refurbishment and the commissioning of another signalling box by the Permanent Way and Signalling teams respectively. The carriage and wagon team have also restated work on restoring and refurbishing railway coaches.

During routine inspection last year, the railway identified that refurbishment work was needed on bridge number 1683 just north of Hardingham station. The work was planned for this summer and has now been completed.

The issue that had been identified was that, what are known as the “Waybeams” needed replacing. These large wooden beams sit in metal toughs and are used to carry the rails across the bridge and the inspection had revealed that the beams were approaching the end of their working life.

To replace the beams is therefore a significant task, as they weigh 2.5 Tonnes each, and this would require careful planning. Starting on the 10 July the railway’s Permanent Way team plus volunteers from the railway’s other teams, first removed the rails and ballast before then removing the old beams.

Once the beams were out, the exposed metal work of the bridge was inspected and the ironwork treated. The new beams were then installed set in a special preservative resin, and new rails re-laid. The second part of the project required specialist plant and was carried out by Sonic Rail Services, a regular contractor for heavy infrastructure work on the railway.

“This has been a very important project for the railway, our volunteers and Sonic Rail Services have made an excellent job of the refurbishment work. On behalf of the railway I would also like to thank Sonic Rail Services for their support in making this project happen.” George Saville, MNR General Manager

As the work was progressing on the bridge, a small team of volunteers from the Signalling team has been working on the railway’s Dereham North signal box. The structure of the box has stood at the end of Platform 1 at Dereham station since 2007, where it was erected following its recovery from Lowestoft

Now the Signalling team have installed the signalling frame and associated infrastructure ready to commission the signal box as a working box.

"This is another important step along the road to our eventual aim of reopening the line to County School Station.” Charlie Robinson, MNR Chairman

The MNR’s main running line currently reaches the level crossing at North Elmham, and this work will allow the railway to begin the process of restoring the signalling on the line north from Dereham.