SUPPORTING HERITAGE RAILWAYS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: sept 2014 :: RMTnews 20 A line of grim-faced German Wehrmacht soldiers line the platform as our train steams into the station and the mood darkens. Just one stop back passengers had been waving at the friendly French resistance forces holding the territory around Yaxham station. There is nothing quite like one of Mid-Norfolk Railway’s World War Two weekends to recreate the bygone age of steam which holds such a fascination for many. This re-enactment weekend is created with the help of local enthusiasts in characters ranging from spivs selling nylons, suspicious policemen, soldiers on leave, swaggering yanks and, of course, vintage hardware from jeeps to staff cars. It is enjoyable and fun events like this and others like the beer festival, jazz trains as well as the Halloween and Santa specials that won the MNR Heritage Railway of the Year 2013. The railway's headquarters at Dereham is a fine Victorian railway station restored to the way it would have looked just after the war complete with period ticket office, tearoom and displays of local railway artefacts. The stations at Yaxham, Thuxton, Hardingham and Kimberley are all being tastefully restored and retain many original features. Train rides on steam or diesel units offer extensive views of the surprisingly rolling and evocative countryside for a generally flat East Anglia. At the other end of the 11.5 mile run is Wymondham Abbey station located close to the beautiful Abbey Church and the friendly Green Dragon Inn. If all this sounds idyllic, well, it is. The railway is entirely staffed by volunteers who are happy to answer any questions about the line. These volunteers, organised in the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust, are understandably proud of what they have achieved through sheer determination and a lot of hard word work. Many are also RMT members including Josh Quirk who works full-time at a ticket office in a far-flung corner of Essex. Despite his youth Josh, originally from Dereham, has been an MNR volunteer for nearly ten years, starting at the tender age of 14 as one of Santa’s elves on a Christmas special and he has never looked back. “MNR volunteers are a real community and some end up working on the mainline railway after gaining valuable experience here. “Most of us either work on the railways or are retired railway people,” he says. He explains that the MNR in a ‘new generation’ heritage railway in that it has been operating for less than 20 years following decades of torturous trials and tribulations. This is surprising as, following the infamous 1963 ‘Beeching Report that butchered Britain’s railways, passenger services between Dereham and Wells ceased way back in 1964. Dereham became an intermediate station between Norwich and King’s Lynn, as the line from Wroxham to County School had lost its passenger service as early as 1952. After that sidings were taken up and signal boxes demolished as part of an attempt to reduce SUPPORTING HERITAGE RAILWAYS RMT News meets the volunteers that run the Mid-Norfolk Railway, a heritage line that runs from Dereham to Wymondham