Heacham railway station

Infobox UK disused station
name = Heacham
gridref = TF668375


caption = Former waiting rooms on platform 2 of the old station, now converted into holiday accommodation.
manager = Lynn & Hunstanton Railway
Great Eastern Railway
owner = London and North Eastern Railway
Eastern Region of British Railways
locale = Heacham
borough = King's Lynn and West Norfolk, Norfolk
platforms = 3
years = 3 October 1862
events = Opened
years2 = 5 May 1969
events2 = Closed [Butt, R.V.J. (1995). "The Directory of Railway Stations", Patrick Stephens Ltd, Sparkford, ISBN 1-85260-508-1, p. 116.]

Heacham was a railway station which served the seaside village of Heacham in Norfolk, England. Opened in 1862, the station served as a junction where services left the King's Lynn to Hunstanton line for Wells on the West Norfolk Junction Railway which opened in 1866. [Cite book | author=Oppitz, Leslie | authorlink= | coauthors= | title=Lost Railways of East Anglia (Lost Railways) | date=1999 | publisher=Countryside Books | location=Newbury, Berkshire | isbn=1-85306-595-1 | pages=p. 16] The station closed with the Hunstanton line in 1969.

History

Situated around a mile to the west of Heacham village, the station was constructed to tap into the thriving holiday market which had developed in the nineteenth century. A favourite resort of Queen Alexandra, the village attracted large numbers of caravans and chalets to its shingly foreshore. [Cite book | author=Jenkins, S.C. | authorlink= | coauthors= | title=The Lynn & Hunstanton Railway and the West Norfolk Branch | date=1987 | publisher=Oakwood Press | location=Headington, Oxford | isbn=0-85361-330-3 | pages=p. 94] The King's Lynn to Hunstanton line proved an instant success, and encouraged the construction of a second line, the West Norfolk Junction Railway from Heacham to Wells, which opened in 1866, thereby making Heacham a junction station. [Cite book | author=Joby, R.S. | authorlink= | coauthors= | title=Forgotten Railways: Vol. 7 East Anglia | date=1985 | publisher=David & Charles | location=Newton Abbott, Devon | isbn=0-946537-25-9 | pages=p. 47]

Services to Wells started and terminated in a bay platform to the east of the line, while trains to Hunstanton and King's Lynn departed from a two-faced bay platform just to the west. The station was rebuilt at least twice, with the Great Eastern Railway adding platform canopies, a turntable and improving the platform buildings. [Jenkins, S.C., op. cit. p. 95.] More substantial modifications were carried out by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1937 as Heacham had by then become a significant holiday destination, and it was necessary to extend the passing loop to accommodate 13-coach trains. A lattice girder footbridge linked the platforms, while a signal box was situated on the down side. Arriving passengers could find lodgings for the night in the nearby "West Norfolk" hotel. [Jenkins, S.C., op. cit. p. 96.]

The post-war boom experienced by the King's Lynn to Hunstanton line was not felt on the West Norfolk Junction Railway whose inconveniently-sited stations contributed to declining passenger traffic. Passenger services from Wells were eventually withdrawn from 31 May 1952, but the line remained open to freight. However, following the North Sea flood of 1953, the track between Wells and Holkham was so severely damaged that British Rail considered it not worth repairing and the line was closed completely between these two places. The King's Lynn to Hunstanton line survived seventeen more years before itself closing in 1969 amid falling traffic and service cutbacks. [Jenkins, S.C., op. cit. p. 112-113.]

Present day

The station buildings have mostly survived and, as from 1993, were converted into holiday accommodation, with a camping and caravan site on the old trackbed. [Jenkins, S.C., op. cit. p. 96.] The owners of the site acquired a British Railways Mark 1 first class carriage from the Battlefield Line Railway in 2006 with the aim of converting it into further holiday accommodation. [ [http://www.heacham-on-line.co.uk/station/coach.htm Heacham Online, "All Aboard for Heacham Station - and its Nov 2006!".] ] The old signal box survived for many years, but was removed to make way for a housing estate. [Oppitz, L., op. cit. p. 17.]

See also

* List of closed railway stations in Norfolk

References